This study examined the early breastfeeding experiences of mothers with an FMR1 premutation (FXPM) and their infants with and without fragile X syndrome (FXS) to identify early feeding needs and potential opportunities for intervention. Data collection occurred through a retrospective national survey that captured data on breastfeeding experiences and co-occurring conditions of mother and child. Participants were 246 mothers with an FXPM. Of their 384 infants, 287 had FXS and 97 were unaffected (i.e., they did not have FXS or an FXPM). Unaffected infants had a longer breastfeeding duration relative to infants with FXS, and infants of mothers who had postpartum depression (PPD). Additionally, infants who were reported to display aggressiveness towards others later in childhood had a shorter breastfeeding duration than those who did not go on to display aggression. Approximately 42% percent of mothers reported difficulties with breastfeeding infants with FXS compared to only 17% of unaffected infants. The most common reason for breastfeeding cessation for mothers of children with FXS was perceived difficulties in breastfeeding for the child (37%), whereas the most common reason for mothers of unaffected infants was a personal choice to stop (37%). This study provides preliminary evidence that infants with FXS show early phenotypes that make breastfeeding more difficult. Future research should investigate whether interventions for infants with FXS could improve breastfeeding outcomes.

Human milk represents a cornerstone for growth and development of infants, with extensive array of benefits. In addition to exceptionally nutritive and bioactive components, human milk encompasses a complex community of signature bacteria that helps establish infant gut microbiota, contributes to maturation of infant immune system, and competitively interferes with pathogens. Among bioactive constituents of milk, human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are particularly significant. These are non-digestible carbohydrates forming the third largest solid component in human milk. Valuable effects of HMOs include shaping intestinal microbiota, imparting antimicrobial effects, developing intestinal barrier, and modulating immune response. Moreover, recent investigations suggest correlations between HMOs and milk microbiota, with complex links possibly existing with environmental factors, genetics, geographical location, and other factors. In this review, and from a physiological and health implications perspective, milk benefits for newborns and mothers are highlighted. From a microbiological perspective, a focused insight into milk microbiota, including origins, diversity, benefits, and effect of maternal diet is presented. From a metabolic perspective, biochemical, physiological, and genetic significance of HMOs, and their probable relations to milk microbiota, are addressed. Ongoing research into mechanistic processes through which the rich biological assets of milk promote development, shaping of microbiota, and immunity is tackled.

Maternal breastfeeding has an impact on motor and emotional development in children of the next generation. Elucidating how breastfeeding during infancy affects brain regional structural development in early adolescence will be helpful for promoting healthy development. However, previous studies that have shown relationships between breastfeeding during infancy and cortical brain regions in adolescence are usually based on maternal retrospective recall of breastfeeding, and the accuracy of the data is unclear. In this study, we investigated the association between breastfeeding duration and brain regional volume in a population-neuroimaging study of early adolescents in Japan (N ​= ​207; 10.5-13.4 years) using voxel-based morphometry, which enabled us to analyze the whole brain. We evaluated breastfeeding duration as indexed by maternal and child health handbook records during infancy. The results showed a significant positive correlation between the duration of breastfeeding and gray matter volume in the dorsal and ventral striatum and the medial orbital gyrus. Post hoc exploratory analyses revealed that the duration of breastfeeding was significantly correlated with emotional behavior. Additionally, the volume in the medial orbital gyrus mediated an association between breastfeeding duration and emotional behavior. This is the first study to evaluate the effect of breastfeeding during infancy on regional brain volumes in early adolescence based on maternal and child health handbook records. Our findings shed light upon the importance of maternal breastfeeding for brain development related to emotional and motivational processing in early adolescence.

While the nutritional and physical health benefits of breastfeeding are well established, accumulating research demonstrates the far-reaching psychological effects of breastfeeding on children and their mothers. Here, we provide a non-exhaustive review of the empirical evidence, showing that breastfeeding impacts children's brain, cognitive, and socio-emotional development. In mothers, research is presented indicating that breastfeeding influences mood, affect, stress, and maternal care. The current review aims to provide a broad overview of existing findings on the psychological effects of breastfeeding, highlighting the important role that breastfeeding plays across several dimensions of psychological functioning. We also discuss the potential mechanisms that may underpin the observed effects, provide a constructive commentary on the limitations of the existing work, and put forth some considerations when evaluating this line of research.

Evidence is growing that environmental exposures-including xenobiotics as well as microbes-play a role in the pathogenesis of many neuropsychiatric disorders. Underlying mechanisms are likely to be complex, involving the developmentally sensitive interplay of genetic/epigenetic, detoxification, and immune factors. Here, we review evidence supporting a role for environmental factors and disrupted gut-immune-brain axis function in some neuropsychiatric conditions.

Studies suggesting the involvement of an altered microbiome in triggering CNS-directed autoimmunity and neuropsychiatric disturbances are presented as an intriguing example of the varied mechanisms by which environmentally induced gut-immune-brain axis dysfunction may contribute to adverse brain outcomes. The gut-immune-brain axis is a burgeoning frontier for investigation of neuropsychiatric illness. Future translational research to define individual responses to exogenous exposures in terms of microbiome-dependent skew of the metabolome, immunity, and brain function may serve as a lens for illumination of pathways involved in the development of CNS disease and fuel discovery of novel interventions.

Mental health problems in children and adolescents include several types of emotional and behavioural disorders, including disruptive, depression, anxiety and pervasive developmental (autism) disorders, characterized as either internalizing or externalizing problems. Disruptive behavioural problems such as temper tantrums, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional, defiant or conduct disorders are the commonest behavioural problems in preschool and school age children. The routine Paediatric clinic or Family Medicine/General Practitioner surgery presents with several desirable characteristics that make them ideal for providing effective mental health services to children and adolescents. DSM-5 and ICD-10 are the universally accepted standard criteria for the classification of mental and behaviour disorders in childhood and adults. The age and gender prevalence estimation of various childhood behavioural disorders are variable and difficult to compare worldwide. A review of relevant published literature was conducted, including published meta-analyses and national guidelines. We searched for articles indexed by Ovid, PubMed, PubMed Medical Central, CINAHL, EMBASE, Database of Abstracts and Reviews, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic reviews and other online sources. The searches were conducted using a combination of search expressions including "childhood", "behaviour", "disorders" or "problems". Childhood behaviour and emotional problems with their related disorders have significant negative impacts on the individual, the family and the society. They are commonly associated with poor academic, occupational, and psychosocial functioning. It is important for all healthcare professionals, especially the Paediatricians to be aware of the range of presentation, prevention and management of the common mental health problems in children and adolescents.

To assess the association between breastfeeding duration and externalizing behaviors in childhood and adolescence.

Data from the 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort was used. Information on breastfeeding was assessed at 12 months of age. Behavior was assessed at 4 years of age using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and at ages 11 and 15 years using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), both administered to the mother or caretaker. Of 5 249 cohort participants, those with complete data on breastfeeding and externalizing behaviors were included: 630 children at 4 years of age, 1 277 adolescents at 11 years, and 1 199 at 15 years. Poisson regression with robust variance was used to assess the association between breastfeeding duration and externalizing behaviors.

After adjustment for confounders, children who were breastfed for least 6 months had lower risk of hyperactivity (RR = 0.54; 95%CI: 0.32-0.91) at age 11 compared to those breastfed for less than 1 month. However, no association was observed between breastfeeding duration and externalizing behaviors at ages 4 and 15.

Although breastfeeding for at least 6 months was inversely associated with hyperactivity at 11 years of age no association was observed at 4 and 15 years of age. Further longitudinal studies should focus on other aspects influencing externalizing behaviors, such as presence of the father in the family, domestic violence and abuse, and the quality of mother-child relationship.

A growing body of research explores whether breastfeeding during infancy influences the development of attachment security in offspring. Studies to date have generally yielded inconsistent results, with some studies detecting an association between breastfeeding and attachment security, and others failing to do so. The purpose of this study is to empirically consider whether (1) any association between breastfeeding and offspring attachment security is robust to both familial and genetic confounding and (2) whether the breastfeeding-attachment relationship is significant for both male and female offspring.

The present study uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) to examine whether twins who differ in their extent of exposure to breastfeeding exhibit different attachment patterns by the time they reach toddlerhood.

The results suggest that, independent of genetic and shared environmental influences, breastfeeding duration increases the security of attachment in offspring, but only among females.

A longer duration of breastfeeding may help to facilitate a secure attachment among female offspring.

Recent experimental evidence suggests that gut microbiota may alter function within the nervous system providing new insight on the mechanism of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Seventy-five infants who were randomized to receive Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103) or placebo during the first 6 mo of life were followed-up for 13 y. Gut microbiota was assessed at the age of 3 wk, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 mo, and 13 y using fluorescein in situ hybridization (FISH) and qPCR, and indirectly by determining the blood group secretor type at the age of 13 y. The diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Asperger syndrome (AS) by a child neurologist or psychiatrist were based on ICD-10 diagnostic criteria.

At the age of 13 y, ADHD or AS was diagnosed in 6/35 (17.1%) children in the placebo and none in the probiotic group (P = 0.008). The mean (SD) numbers of Bifidobacterium species bacteria in feces during the first 6 mo of life was lower in affected children 8.26 (1.24) log cells/g than in healthy children 9.12 (0.64) log cells/g; P = 0.03.

Probiotic supplementation early in life may reduce the risk of neuropsychiatric disorder development later in childhood possible by mechanisms not limited to gut microbiota composition.

Converging evidence has highlighted the association between poverty and conduct disorder (CD) without specifying neurobiological pathways. Neuroimaging research has emphasized structural and functional alterations in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) as one key mechanism underlying this disorder. The present study aimed to clarify the long-term influence of early poverty on OFC volume and its association with CD symptoms in healthy participants of an epidemiological cohort study followed since birth. At age 25 years, voxel-based morphometry was applied to study brain volume differences. Poverty (0=non-exposed (N=134), 1=exposed (N=33)) and smoking during pregnancy were determined using a standardized parent interview, and information on maternal responsiveness was derived from videotaped mother-infant interactions at the age of 3 months. CD symptoms were assessed by diagnostic interview from 8 to 19 years of age. Information on life stress was acquired at each assessment and childhood maltreatment was measured using retrospective self-report at the age of 23 years. Analyses were adjusted for sex, parental psychopathology and delinquency, obstetric adversity, parental education, and current poverty. Individuals exposed to early life poverty exhibited a lower OFC volume. Moreover, we replicated previous findings of increased CD symptoms as a consequence of childhood poverty. This effect proved statistically mediated by OFC volume and exposure to life stress and smoking during pregnancy, but not by childhood maltreatment and maternal responsiveness. These findings underline the importance of studying the impact of early life adversity on brain alterations and highlight the need for programs to decrease income-related disparities.