Maternal Vaginal Fluids Mimic Microbe Transfer of Vaginal Birth

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.

Written byAlejandra Manjarrez, PhD

| 4 min read

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a newborn C-section baby in the gloved hands of doctors

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ABOVE: An infant delivered via C-section
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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. According to a paper published June 17 in Med, this natural colonization event could be mimicked by swabbing Cesarean-delivered newborns with a gauze soaked with their mothers’ vaginal fluids. The skin and gut bacteria of C-section babies treated with this procedure were more similar to vaginally delivered babies, at least during their first year of life, than those not exposed to vaginal fluids.

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Meet the Author

Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD
Alejandra Manjarrez is a freelance science journalist who contributes to The Scientist. She has a PhD in systems biology from ETH Zurich and a master’s in molecular biology from Utrecht University. After years studying bacteria in a lab, she now spends most of her days reading, writing, and hunting science stories, either while traveling or visiting random libraries around the world. Her work has also appeared in Hakai, The Atlantic, and Lab Times.
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