Cohort of human mothers and babies from El Salvador

This project is a longitudinal, observational exploration of infant microbial ecology in a semi-rural village of Joya de Ceren, El Salvador. It is currently underway with support from a Fulbright fellowship, and consists of two main methodological domains: a) an ethnographic exploration of the social ecology and political economy of infant care and health; and b) a longitudinal study of infant microbial development, growth patterns, and health outcomes. Variables under study include infant diet (breast milk/formula, and weaning foods), maternal and infant health histories, antibiotic consumption, allocare-giving and paternal involvement, household demographics, measures of subjective and objective socioeconomic status, records of household/infant psycho-social stressors, birth-mode, birth weight, early medical treatment, infant growth curves, and anthropometrics. Extensive participant observation (PO) has also produced qualitative records of daily activities, child-care networks and food preparation techniques among many of the participating households, providing a deeper contextual understanding of each infant's microbial ecology. The combination of PO, interviews and biological measures will allow me to discover discrepancies between what participants say, and what they do, and the impact of these actions on infant microbiota and health