On 17 and 18 January (2019), the 2nd international conference Mind Mood & Microbes took place at the KIT Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam. It brought together academics, industry, and healthcare professionals.  Exciting new research about the relationship of the gut microbiome and mental health was presented and discussed. Henrik Eckermann presented a poster about the results of one of his research projects. He looked at whether entrance into childcare at very young age had an effect on the composition of the gut microbiota. He found no major effect of childcare entrance on the gut microbiota composition. Carolina de Weerth gave an invited talk on how gut bacteria and stress in early development may influence development in healthy children.