Methods
SEVERE BIRTH ASPHYXIA
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial recruited preterm neonates and their mothers at the Turku University Central Hospital from April 2014 to March 2018. The trial was registered in October 2011 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01454661). Children born during a 25–35-week gestational period, younger than 3 days of age, admitted in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and those who were able to provide a faecal sample at the age of 7 days were eligible for the study. The exclusion criteria were severe birth asphyxia and significant anomalies in the gastrointestinal tract. In total, 68 mother-child pairs were accepted into this study (Fig. 