“Vaginal seeding,” the controversial practice of exposing babies born by C-section to their parents’ vaginal fluids after birth, may benefit the newborns’ gut microbiomes, a new study suggests.
Babies born by C-section do not have the same gut microbes as those born vaginally, possibly because they are not exposed to their parents’ microbes. vaginal microbiome during childbirth. Studies have shown that the gut microbiomes of C-section newborns more closely resemble the microbial communities that normally inhabit the skin rather than the gut. This raised questions about how birth methods affect infant development, given that the community of microbes in the gut, or gut microbiota, shapes brain and immune system at an early age.