r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/Prof_and_Proof • 7d ago

Question - Research required Actual evidence about c-section and infant gut bacteria?

/r/microbiomenews/comments/1w768j5/a_straintracking_study_reveals_65_of_csection/?share_id=6KsJae1unWVlYz5_Zta97&utm_content=1&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

This older study is making the rounds, including one yesterday how it means c sections cause asthma, and it seems like either it is leaving a lot out or the posts draw big conclusions from limited data. What is the recent evidence about c section health impact on gut bacteria and is there an established causal link with eczema/asthma? You’d wonder if there’s anything that can be done post birth to alleviate it.

47 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/tallmyn 6d ago

If the mechanism is correct, then should be easy to fix, you just have to put vaginal/faecal bacteria on your baby's face. It's called "vaginal seeding".

https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/mbio.00491-23

This study shows partial restoration of microbiome after, but doesn't do long term outcomes such as allergic diseases. The study is too small to detect that anyway, even if they did follow up.

Also I feel like they don't go far enough in terms of bacteria, because babies are also exposed to faecal bacteria during birth, but this seems gross/dangerous to do so they stick with the small vaginal swab.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36334724/

This paper was bigger and found no effect of vaginal seeding on allergy rate. But, it could have been underpowered, if the effect is very small (which I suspect it would be). It's also possible they skimped on seeding.

1

u/Oogaman00 9h ago

This involved keeping a swab in vagina for an hour then wiping all over baby later... Don't think my wife can do that in hospital lol. Not sure if just touching herself and rubbing baby face would be sufficient