Rubbing babies after cesarean with the mother’s vaginal secretions increases their development 15.06.2023, 22:19

Scientists from the Southern Medical University in Guangzhou have found that vaginal bacteria transfer from mother to newborns born by cesarean section may be beneficial for the early development of the baby’s nervous system. Research published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.

According to previous research, babies born by cesarean section have a very different composition of gut bacteria compared to babies born vaginally.

To see if vaginal microbiota transfer could fix this, the scientists wiped the lips, skin, and hands of 32 newborns born by cesarean section with gauze soaked in their mother’s vaginal secretions. The other 36 neonates were rubbed with saline-soaked gauze, this group served as a control.

Mothers were pretested for infections: sexually transmitted diseases and group B streptococci.

The team found that newborns who got vaginal germs had more bacteria in their guts than their mothers’ vaginal fluid 6 weeks after birth. This suggests that maternal vaginal bacteria successfully reached and colonized the infants’ intestines. Also, the number of mature bacteria in their gut was the same as those born naturally. None of the infants experienced serious adverse events during the experiment.

Surveys of mothers showed that after three and six months, infants had significantly higher rates of neurodevelopment after bacterial transfer. It was comparable to that of naturally born children.

Also, after transfer of vaginal microbiota, children had indole lactic acid secreted by a greater number of bacterial species. clostridium. Previous studies have shown that people with Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease have lower levels of indole lactic acid compared to healthy people.

While babies born vaginally ingest early intestinal bacteria from the mother’s birth canal, bacteria found in the mother’s skin, breast milk and the environment dominate the microbiota of cesarean section babies. While the difference tends to disappear with age, the researchers suggest that early gut microbiota is associated with infant immune development and may influence the risk of disease, including diabetes, later in life.