Microorganisms (Mar 2024)

Associations of Infant Feeding, Sleep, and Weight Gain with the Toddler Gut Microbiome

  • Magdalena Olson,
  • Samantha Toffoli,
  • Kiley B. Vander Wyst,
  • Fang Zhou,
  • Elizabeth Reifsnider,
  • Megan E. Petrov,
  • Corrie M. Whisner

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12030549
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 3
p. 549

Abstract

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This study examines how feeding, sleep, and growth during infancy impact the gut microbiome (GM) in toddlers. The research was conducted on toddlers (n = 36), born to Latina women of low-income with obesity. Their mothers completed retrospective feeding and sleeping questionnaires at 1, 6, and 12 months; at 36 months, fecal samples were collected. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene (V4 region) revealed that breastfeeding for at least 1 month and the introduction of solids before 6 months differentiated the GM in toddlerhood (Bray–Curtis, pseudo-F = 1.805, p = 0.018, and pseudo-F = 1.651, p = 0.044, respectively). Sleep had an effect across time; at 1 and 6 months of age, a lower proportion of nighttime sleep (relative to 24 h total sleep) was associated with a richer GM at three years of age (Shannon H = 4.395, p = 0.036 and OTU H = 5.559, p = 0.018, respectively). Toddlers experiencing rapid weight gain from birth to 6 months had lower phylogenetic diversity (Faith PD H = 3.633, p = 0.057). These findings suggest that early life nutrition, sleeping patterns, and growth rate in infancy may influence the GM composition. Further verification of these results with objective sleep data and a larger sample is needed.

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