Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 28, 2026
Individualized Reconstitution of Human Milk Microbiota: A Feasible Approach in Real-World Settings
Published on: February 7, 2025
[A pilot study on bacterial culture results of expressed breast milk]
Xiao-Yan Yang1, Yan-Ling Hu, Chao Chen
1Department of Pediatrics, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China. tj1234753@sina.com.
Objective:
To study the bacterial culture results of expressed breast milk.
Methods:
A total of 1178 expressed breast milk samples were collected for bacterial culture. The breast milk sampled from the mothers of preterm neonates (n=615) and term neonates (n=563) who were hospitalized between May 2014 and April 2015.
Results:
There was no significant difference in bacterial counts between the preterm and term sample groups (P>0.05). Potential intestinal pathogens were found in 55 samples (4.63%) of the 1178 samples, with no significant difference between the preterm and term sample groups (P>0.05). The second expressed milk samples from 33 mothers were cultured. Only 10 samples (30%) were found to have the same bacteria as the first time. The detection rate of bacterial load of ≥ 10⁵ CFU/mL was higher in those samples with potential intestinal pathogens, as compared with those samples without potential intestinal pathogens (43.64% vs 14.87%; P<0.05). There was no correlation between the incidence of neonatal infections and potential intestinal pathogens in breast milk.
Conclusions:
Breast milk is not sterile. Bacterial loads and phylotypes are variable. Random breast milk cultures can neither describe bacterial colonies in breast milk, nor be a predictor of neonatal infection.
