Testing Maternal and Commercial Bacterial Treatments to Restore Gut Microbiota in C-Section Born Infants

What this Trial Is About

This research aims to evaluate different bacterial products to restore natural gut microbiota in infants born by C-section. The study compares whether bacteria derived from the mother are more effective than commercially available probiotic strains in making the gut microbiota of C-section born infants resemble that of vaginally born infants. It addresses the concern that C-section birth disrupts normal microbiota, which may increase the risk of chronic diseases. Infants will be randomly assigned to receive one of several bacterial mixtures orally once daily for either one or four weeks. These include probiotic strains currently on the market, bacteria isolated from the infants own mother in varying mixtures, bacteria from unrelated donors, or a placebo treatment without bacteria. The study is conducted at the University of Helsinki and uses a double-blind design. Participants will provide fecal, urine, and saliva samples at multiple time points up to one year to analyze microbiota composition and fecal metabolites. Researchers will monitor changes at 1, 5, 11, 26, and 52 weeks. The trial includes healthy mothers with singleton pregnancies planning to breastfeed and healthy infants born by planned C-section. The observation period extends through the infants first year of life.

Infant Microbiota Restoration With Maternal Microbes