Mother’s prenatal gut microbiota may predict child behavior: Study Increased diversity of a mother’s gut microbiota during the third trimester of pregnancy may influence a child’s brain development and behavior, says a new study from Australia. Data published in EBioMedicine indicated that increased maternal alpha diversity during pregnancy was associated with a reduction in internalizing symptoms in children at two years of age. In addition, researchers reported that butyrate-producing families of bacteria called Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae were more abundant in moms of kids with “normative behavior”. “This is the first human study to investigate the relationship between maternal fecal microbiota during pregnancy and behavioral outcomes in children,” wrote the researchers, led by Professor Peter Vuillermina from Deakin University in Australia.