The Developing Microbiome of the Preterm Infant.

PURPOSE: To determine the importance of the neonatal microbiome in intestinal and overall health. METHOD: A review of existing literature. FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS: The microbiome is increasingly understood to have a significant role in health and disease. However, the microbiome of the preterm infant is unique, with simple microbial communities exposed to a consistent diet in a regulated environment, and development from naive to stable under the influence of the neonatal intensive care unit. This early microbiome encounters a still developing host and thus has the potential to program fundamental pathways with implications for neonatal and later outcomes.