Microbiota development in very low birthweight infants exclusively fed mother's own milk

Exclusive breast milk feeding confers health benefits to infants. Many of those benefits are attributed to breast milk promoting a gut microbiome that is composed of beneficial bacteria. Breast milk is critical for very low birth weight (VLBW, <1500 g) infant health. Exclusive breast milk feeding by VLBW infants is associated with improved feeding tolerance, fewer severe infections and a reduced risk of necrotizing enterocolitis. Few VLBW infants are exclusively fed mother's own milk (MOM) as many VLBW mothers are unable to express enough milk to feed their children. Little is known about VLBW infant microbiomes and previous studies have been unable to study the effect of MOM for practical and ethical reasons. Thus, while it is clear that exclusively MOM-fed VLBW infants have better health-outcomes, we remain ignorant of MOM's effect on VLBW microbiome composition/development. To address this gap in knowledge, we profiled the microbiota composition of stools collected from exclusively MOM-fed VLBW infants admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto and enrolled in the DoMINO trial (ISRCTN35317141).