Bacterial Metagenomic Samples from Human Breast Milk

Breast milk contains complex microbial communities that are thought to colonize her infant's gastrointestinal tract; a process that remains understudied in preterm mother-infant dyads. Colonization of the preterm infant's gastrointestinal tract via mother's milk may play a key role in protecting the infant against morbidity and mortality both in-hospital and throughout childhood. However, very little is known about the breast milk microbiota from mothers of preterm infants. Therefore, we profiled the bacterial composition of breast milk samples across the first 8 weeks postpartum from mothers of preterm infants (born <1250 grams) enrolled in the OptiMoM Fortifier Study (NCT02137473).