SMILEY
Study of MIcrobiota and Lifestyle in the Early Years

Maternal stress is thought to have ‘programming’ or long-term effects on offspring development. In the SMILEY project we investigate various underlying mechanisms, such as the gut microbiota. The gut bacteria are essential for nutrition, intestinal health and immune function. Remarkably, recent studies show that the gut bacteria also influence brain development and behavior. The colonization of the gut by bacteria takes place early in life and is prone to environmental influences, such as type of delivery, medication use, and type of feeding. In SMILEY, we will investigate whether and how maternal stress influences the offspring’s gut colonization process. Other underlying mechanisms that will be studied are maternal caregiving behavior, maternal diet and breast milk composition. 

Recruitment started in December 2019 and finished in April 2021, resulting in the enrollment of 160 pregnant women. The mother-infant dyads were followed from eighteen weeks of gestation till twelve weeks postpartum. The initial wave of data collection and a follow-up measurement at eight months (including assessment of cognitive development) has finished. Currently, a second follow-up measurement is still ongoing with the two year old children and their mothers. With this prospective longitudinal study, we aim to get a better understanding of the association between maternal (prenatal) wellbeing and development in early life.

The following people from our lab are working in this study: Hellen Lustermans, Nina Bruinhof, Roseriet Beijers, Carolina de Weerth