Maternal Vaginal Fluids Mimic Microbe Transfer of Vaginal Birth

Amazing stuff!

"Babies born by C-section carry an increased risk of immune and metabolic disorders later in life, which studies have suggested may be associated with the communities of microbes on and in their bodies at the time of birth. The diversity of microbes hosted by Cesarean-born babies differs from that of those born by vaginal delivery, a difference that may arise because vaginally born neonates are colonized by microbes as they pass through the birth canal. ...
While this study is based on the idea that the vagina is the source of a child’s first microbes, that’s still debated. Willem de Vos, a microbiologist at the University of Helsinki and Wageningen University who was not involved in the study but has collaborated with one of the coauthors, says that fecal—not vaginal—microbes are the ones colonizing the infant gut. This new study shows that the vagina could work as “a delivery system of fecal microbes,” he says, but adds that a fecal transplant might be more efficient than exposure to vaginal fluids. ..."

Maternal Vaginal Fluids Mimic Microbe Transfer of Vaginal Birth | The Scientist Magazine® Swabbing infants born by Cesarean-section with a gauze harboring their mother’s vaginal fluids made their skin and gut microbiota more closely resemble that of vaginally born babies.

Naturalization of the microbiota developmental trajectory of Cesarean-born neonates after vaginal seeding (open access)