Interview pregnant and breastfeeding mothers in the Gainesville, FL area to optimize; clinical study recruitment and retention, patient-centered outcomes, and stool collection procedures.

This is an interview study that will enroll mothers during 28 weeks or greater of pregnancy and assess recruitment, patient-centered outcomes, and stool collection procedures via individualized interviews and data collection. Participants will be recruited from the greater Gainesville, FL area. Data collection will include questionnaires/surveys as well as minimal risk non-invasive biological samples such as stool, human milk, saliva, vaginal swab, and urine collection. Participants will be seen at a location convenient for them.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Females 18>45, between 28-38 weeks pregnant, lives in Gainesville, Florida, and committed to exclusively breastfeeding through 6 months.
• Females 18>45, actively breastfeeding for <12 months and lives in Gainesville, Florida

Exclusion Criteria:

• Mothers who do not plan to exclusively breastfeed their infant for at least the first 6 months or actively breastfeeding.
• Mothers who do not live in Gainesville, FL
• Mothers who are not between the ages of 18-45
• Mothers who are not between 28-38 weeks of gestation or a breastfeeding mother.
• Mothers who have only one breast which is capable of producing milk and/or have a history of inadequate milk production.
• Mothers who have consumed alcohol during this pregnancy.
• Mothers who have abused drugs during this pregnancy.
• Mothers who have smoked during this pregnancy.
• Mothers who have been diagnosed with pre-eclampsia during this pregnancy.
• Mothers who have had a previous pre-term delivery (baby born 2 months before the due date or <35 weeks).

The research team will recruit pregnant women (n = 30) and breastfeeding mothers' (n = 30) paired with infant (n=30) to participate in individual, in-depth, semi structured, and audio-recorded interviews.

In accordance with the NIH Data Sharing Policy of award 1U24DK097193, all data generated by Southeast Center for Integrated Metabolomics (SECIM), along with the corresponding metadata, will be deposited into the NIH Metabolomics Data Repository and Coordinating Center (DRCC) as soon as all quality control steps are completed. Data will be embargoed for one year and, after the expiration of the embargo, made visible to the scientific community regardless of publication status for the data.