Seeding your new baby - for C-Section Births

As we have seen the number of hospital births and C-Section's increase we have also seen the amount of asthma, allergies, and other health issues rise. Are these all correlated? At this time we are unsure and there is much debate about the potential connections between these things. One thing we do know is that babies who are born from cesarean surgery are lacking the bacteria of their mother in their gut. It is becoming clearer and clearer that these gut flora have an integral part in growth and development. In one study they found that the gut flora of infants born from C-Section matched the gut flora of the babies doctors and nurses, as they were the first to fully interact with the baby. A way doctors and scientists have found to hopefully alleviate this issue and promote mother/baby gut flora matching is by a process called seeding. A cotton swab of mom's vaginal fluid is collected and wiped all over baby...mouth, hands, ears, etc. This can be done for a series of hours or days. Research is being conducted to see how often and how much of the babies body this needs to be applied to. Moral of the story, if you have to undergo a surgical birth, don't let your vaginal bacteria go to waste...your baby needs it xoxox

Journal of Immunology Research 2012
British Medical Journal 2016
Nature​ 2016