A study by the Melbourne-based Murdoch Children's Research Institute has found children born to mums who took antibiotics during pregnancy can have up to a 20 per cent higher chance of being hospitalised with an infection.
Those whose mothers who took antibiotics while pregnant and had vaginal births were at a greater risk of infection than those delivered by caesarean section.
The findings, published on Monday in the International Journal of Epidemiology, were based on a data from Denmark where about one-in-five mothers were prescribed antibiotics during their pregnancies.
The study's lead author Dr Jessica Miller said the findings highlighted the importance of using antibiotics sensibly to treat infections in pregnant women as the drugs can reduce the amount of "good" bacteria in the mother's gut's microbiome, which is passed on to babies during vaginal births.
