Analysis of a study concerning sleep stage and reflux. Dr Pamela Douglas May 2023

Chronic SNS-HPA hyperarousal affects the gut microbiome and metabolic and immune settings

The gut is a major microbial-host interface, and a dominant immune organ.

Immune function, HPA axis regulation, and the microbiota-gut-brain axis interact and co-evolve in the mother-infant complex adaptive system, and are each affected by stress.

The infant gut microbiome in very early life has life-long effect on the settings of metabolism, immune, endocrine, and gut health. Gut dysbiosis is associated with impaired gut barrier integrity, inflammation and autoimmune disease.90, 91

The NDC neurobiological model proposes that widespread inappropriate medicalisation of infant behavioral cues, usually as signs of gut problems, results in a failure to identify and manage the underlying environmental factors which precipitate chronic SNS-HPA hyperarousal in very early life. Inappropriate medicalisation of upregulated behavior and the failure to identify and manage underlying clinical problems have deleterious effects on gut health long-term.

An infant who cries and fusses a lot in...