Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40387412›Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council2025

Postpartum Maternal Stress is Unrelated to the Infant Fecal Microbiome, but is Associated With the Human Milk Microbiome in Exclusively Breastfeeding Mother-Infant Dyads: The Mother-Infant Microbiomes, Behavior, and Ecology Study (MIMBES).

Elizabeth A Holdsworth, Janet E Williams, Ryan M Pace, Beatrice Caffé, Maria Gartstein, Mark A McGuire, Michelle K McGuire, Courtney L Meehan

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In one paragraph

Article in American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Elizabeth A HoldsworthDepartment of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6095-2378
Janet E WilliamsDepartment of Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9769-1789
Ryan M PaceMargaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8771-2603
Beatrice CafféDepartment of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6849-1921
Maria GartsteinDepartment of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-5866-7751
Mark A McGuireDepartment of Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-5513-8424
Michelle K McGuireMargaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8214-2229
Courtney L MeehanDepartment of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2034-652X

Funding

Health Equity Research Center, Washington State UniversityMedelaNational Institute of Food and AgricultureNIGMS NIH HHS
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThis study aimed to evaluate whether postpartum maternal stress is associated with infant gastrointestinal microbiome composition and diversity, and whether this relationship may be mediated by maternal caregiving and breastfeeding behaviors and human milk microbiome (HMM) composition.

methodsInfant fecal and human milk samples were collected from 51 exclusively breastfeeding mother-infant dyads in the Pacific Northwest between 1 and 6 months postpartum. Infant fecal samples with sequencing read counts > 773 (n = 48) and milk samples with read counts > 200 (n = 46) were analyzed for bacterial alpha diversity (richness, Shannon diversity), beta diversity (Bray-Curtis dissimilarity), and genera differential abundances. Infant fecal microbiome (IFM) measures were tested for associations with mothers' self-reported Parenting Stress Index total and subscale scores in regression (richness, Shannon diversity), envfit (beta diversity), and MaAsLin2 (genera abundance) models. Potential mediators of the relationship between maternal stress and IFM were explored (observed total time breastfeeding; maternal-infant physical contact frequency; and HMM alpha diversity, beta diversity, and genera abundance).

resultsMaternal stress was not associated with IFM alpha or beta diversities. Two maternal stress subscales were associated with differential abundances of Erysipelotrichaceae UCG-003 (positively) and Eggerthella (negatively) in infant feces. Maternal total stress and two stress subscales (Role Restriction, Attachment) were associated positively with HMM beta diversity (q

conclusionsPostpartum stress is not consistently associated with IFM composition during exclusive breastfeeding. However, postpartum maternal stress is associated with HMM diversity, suggesting that maternal stress might influence other developmental pathways in the breastfeeding infant.

Indexed as

Breast FeedingFecesGastrointestinal MicrobiomeMilk, HumanMothersPostpartum PeriodStress, PsychologicalAdultFemaleHumansInfantInfant, NewbornMaleYoung Adultbreastfeedingbreastmilkfecal microbiomehuman milkmicrobiomepostnatal stresspsychosocial stress

Identifiers

PMID40387412
PMCPMC12087434

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.