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Researchers say that babies delivered by caesarean section are slower to acquire certain types of "good bacteria" in their gut and have higher levels of potentially problematic bacteria than those born in the bad.
A study of more than 100 babies showed that the composition of their gut microbiome (clusters of intestinal microbes) was very different in badlly-born infants, making babies by caesarean section more susceptible to respiratory infections. The differences narrowed as babies grew up.
Previous studies have suggested that delivery mode affects the newborn's microbiome, but some have said that this may be due to the fact that many mothers who have had a caesarean section need antibiotics.
The new research, which will be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Amsterdam, confirms that it is precisely the delivery method that makes the difference.
The research involved the faeces collection team 10 times in the year with 46 babies born by caesarean section and 74 badl babies, from their first feces, and badyzed the microbial composition.
Critically, the team said that, if necessary, antibiotics were given to mothers only after the baby was born, which meant that babies were not directly exposed to antibiotics.
The results, based on the stool badysis of the mother and the baby, also showed that babies born by caesarean section were slower to acquire certain "good bacteria" which play an important role in the digestion of milk and presented higher levels of certain types of potentially harmful viruses. bacteria than those born badlly.
"We believe that it is proven that the delivery mode is an important factor of the intestinal microbiome in young infants," said Professor Debby Bogaert of the University of Edinburgh, who worked on the project with colleagues in the Netherlands.
She added that her conclusion was corroborated by the finding that antibiotics given to mothers after delivery did not appear to affect their own intestinal microbiome, and that differences in the microbiome of babies were also observed in bottle-fed babies. , which does not suggest to babies receiving antibiotics through bad milk.
The team adds that babies with higher levels of potentially harmful bacteria tended to have more respiratory infections during their first year.
This could help, explains Bogaert, to explain why some studies suggest that babies born by caesarean section are at greater risk of respiratory infections.
A second study presented at the conference aimed to determine whether the microbes found in babies' guts were related to their risk of becoming overweight as they grew up.
The team of Finnish researchers has collected the excrement of 212 newborns, including the first stool pbaded after birth, which is thought to form when the baby is in the womb. The results show that the composition of the microbiome in the first stool of a baby is related to the fact that the child is overweight at three years.
Katja Korpela, one of the researchers involved in the University of Oulu study, said that many factors could affect the microbial composition of the baby's first stool, including the use of antibiotics by the mother during pregnancy. pregnancy and the living environment of the pregnant woman.
However, it is not clear whether the observed link is a cause-and-effect relationship or whether the delivery method influences the outcome.
"The concept of fetal microbiome is very controversial and the process of colonization after birth is better understood than the process of colonization before birth," said Korpela. But it is interesting to note that the microbiome formed before birth may be related to the future health of children.
Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London and a specialist in the human microbiome, said the studies had expanded what had previously been suspected about the importance of human immunodeficiency. intestinal microbes early in life.
"One study confirmed extensive cross sectional studies on cesarean section causing immune problems later in life with an increased risk of infections and the other showing that the very first microbes of a baby, who often come from the mother, increase the risk of obesity, "he said." We need to take our gut health more seriously when we are dealing with babies if we want to improve their health later in life. "
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