c-section

Tiny doses of maternal poo mixed with breast milk and given to Cesarean-born infants makes their gut microbiota resemble those of babies born vaginally.

Research on hundreds of babies finds the delivery method is linked with a greater abundance of taxa more frequently seen in hospitals.

Delivery guidelines should be updated to reflect these results, the authors write.

Countries with populations whose average adult height grew late last century are more likely to have high rates of babies delivered surgically.

Vaginal birth leads to changes in the development of offsprings’ microbiomes not seen among mice born via C-section, which researchers suspect might contribute to the weight differences.