Treating babies with antibiotics in the first week of life is linked with a decrease in healthy bacteria necessary amongst others to digest milk and an increase in antimicrobial resistance, research suggests. Experts say that clinicians should consider using antibiotics in a way that causes least harm to the newborns microbiome — the community of microbes that live in our body.

Experts say that clinicians should consider using antibiotics in a way that causes least harm to the newborns microbiome — the community of microbes that live in our body.

Under current guidelines, antibiotics directed at a wide range of bacteria — known as broad-spectrum — are currently prescribed to four to 10 per cent of all newborns for suspected infections.

However, experts say that in most cases the antibiotics are prescribed unnecessarily as only a small proportion of those who receive the drugs are eventually diagnosed with an infection.

This overprescription is to ensure early treatment for those who are ultimately found to have an infection as any delay may quickly become life-threatening.

Researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Birmingham, and the Spaarne Hospital and University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands, conducted a clinical trial involving 227 babies to analyse how antibiotics affect a newborn’s microbiome.

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Materials provided by University of Edinburgh. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.