Exposure to a mother’s fecal matter can help restore the infant gut microbiome of a baby born by C-section

This recent research could be a game-changer!

A small “proof of concept” study shows exposing babies born by C-section to some of the mother’s feces immediately after birth helps restore the baby’s gut microbiome, so that it looks like the “normal fecal microbiota development” associated with vaginal birth.

The study published in Cell included just 7 Finnish babies born by C-section. Each baby was given some of their mother’s feces mixed in with breast milk.

This was a kind of fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) — the microbes collected from their mother’s 3 weeks before.

With vaginal birth, babies usually acquire gut microbes from their mother from contact with her fecal matter (her poop).

But babies born by C-section come out through the mother’s abdomen, and so don’t usually come into contact with the mother’s fecal matter.

Having an altered gut microbiome could impact optimal immune training.

According to a very easy-to-understand article in CTV News “Researchers found that by three months of age, the microbiotas of the babies who received the oral FMTs were similar to those of babies born vaginally.”