Discussion
breast-fed
ACUTE INFECTIONS, ADVERSE EFFECTS
In early life, the profile of the gut microbiota of a full-term, vaginally delivered, breast-fed infant is considered the gold standard.Our study has a number of limitations. The intervention groups were small because several different interventions were included. Nevertheless, our study is of importance for future research on the administration routes of probiotics as no similar studies have been carried out before. The children started to receive the supplementation at the median age of 3 days and the faecal samples were collected at the age of 7 days. The short time interval between the commencement of the intervention and sample collection may not reveal the full extent of the effect of the probiotic supplementation. Albeit, the short and early intervention was sufficient to modulate the gut microbiota of the preterm infant when administered directly but not through the mother. The adequate dosage of probiotics is not yet known.The results of this study bespeak differences in early gut microbiota in preterm and full-term children. Our results, in agreement with those of previous studies,Taken previous studies - mostly in full-term children – into account, it appears that specifically a greater number of bifidobacteria among the early gut microbiota is associated with a lower risk and shorter duration of acute infections,Specific probiotic bacteria have been shown to stabilize the gut microbial environment and the permeability barrier of the intestine, and to enhance systemic and mucosal IgA responses.No adverse effects were observed in our study even if preterm neonates were directly administered living bacteria. This observation is strengthened by previous findings of the safe prophylactic use of LGG in preterm infants over a 12-year period.