Longitudinal Profiling of the Human Milk Microbiome from Birth to 12 Months Reveals Overall Stability and Selective Taxa-Level Variation

Human milk bacteria contribute to gut microbiome establishment in breastfed infants. Although breastfeeding is recommended throughout infancy, temporal variation in the milk microbiome-particularly beyond solid food introduction-remains understudied. We analyzed 539 milk samples from 83 mother-infant dyads between 1 week and 12 months postpartum using full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing.

Citation:
Xu R, Gridneva Z, Payne MS, …….. Cheema AS, Geddes DT, et al. Longitudinal Profiling of the Human Milk Microbiome from Birth to 12 Months Reveals Overall Stability and Selective Taxa-Level Variation. Microorg. 2025;13(8).

Keywords:
16S rRNA gene sequencing; breastfeeding; determinants; human milk microbiome

Abstract:
Human milk bacteria contribute to gut microbiome establishment in breastfed infants. Although breastfeeding is recommended throughout infancy, temporal variation in the milk microbiome-particularly beyond solid food introduction-remains understudied. We analyzed 539 milk samples from 83 mother-infant dyads between 1 week and 12 months postpartum using full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing.