Long Duration of Oral Care Using Maternal Own Milk Influences Oral Microbiota and Clinical Outcomes in Very-Low-Birthweight Infants: Randomized Controlled Trial. Streptococcus agalactiae

Several studies have focused on the clinical outcomes of oral care using colostrum for a limited time in very-low-birthweight infants. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding the effect of long-term maternal own milk on the oral microbiota and clinical outcomes. In this open randomized controlled trial, very-low-birthweight neonates were randomly assigned to oral care by maternal own milk or sterile water groups until they achieved independent oral feeding. The alterations in the oral microbiota and clinical outcomes were observed. Microbiota profiling was performed using Illumina 16s rRNA targeted sequencing. Alpha and beta diversity, relative abundance, and linear discriminant analysis effect size were compared between groups.