Having a good microbiota, which ensures good health and protects against disease, is partly determined by the mode of delivery at birth. Being born by caesarean section would not allow the acquisition of the maternal microbiota, unlike vaginal delivery. A recent study, published in the scientific journal Cell Hosts and Microbes, suggests that breastfeeding could compensate for the lack of exposure to maternal microbiota at birth. Explanations.
Cesarean delivery and the infant microbiota
Advances in research on the microbiota demonstrate its major role in the proper functioning of the body and the prevention of multiple chronic pathologies. In uterothe fetus develops in a sterile environment and its microbiota begins its development at birth, when it meets another microbiota:
- Most often, the mother’s vaginal microbiota, when it passes through the natural channels during childbirth;
- The microbiota of the environment, when the child is born by caesarean section.
The latest studies have shown that birth by caesarean section and therefore the absence of contact with the maternal microbiota are associated with health risks. The risk of childhood obesity is thus increased by 30% in children born by caesarean section, compared to children born vaginally. Can this situation be compensated by breastfeeding? The studies conducted so far suggested that breastfeeding does not compensate for the lack of contact with the maternal microbiota during childbirth.
The infant’s microbiota very similar to that of its mother, regardless of the mode of delivery
In a new study, researchers looked at the maternal contribution to the infant’s microbiota. They evaluated the seeding of microbiota between the mother and her child during the first 30 days of life in 120 mother-child pairs in:
- Six maternal niches of microbes (nasopharynx, saliva, skin, breast milk, faeces, vaginal microbiota);
- 4 infantile niches of microbes (skin, nose, saliva, intestinal microbiota).
In total, the researchers analyzed no less than 2,453 samples.
Their observations showed that microbiota transfers between mother and child were multiple and took place through contact between different parts of the mother’s and child’s body. On average, 58.5% of the composition of the infant microbiota could be attributed to a maternal origin of the microbes, regardless of the mode of delivery. Likewise, they showed that several maternal niches seed several infantile niches. The infantile microbiota would therefore not only be formed during contact between the vaginal microbiota and the fetus during childbirth.
Breastfeeding able to compensate for the effects of caesarean section on the microbiota
The infant microbiota would be shaped by different factors. In children born by caesarean section, the contribution of the microbiota of breast milk to the infant microbiota would be greater than in children born vaginally.. A l’inverse, children born by caesarean section would have a lower contribution of the maternal faecal microbiota to their own faecal microbiota, than children born vaginally. Thus, the infant microbiota would be formed from different contributions, depending on the mode of delivery, then the mode of breastfeeding.
These different contributions could compensate each other, allowing each infant to acquire his or her microbiota, regardless of the modes of transmission of the microbiota. The mode of delivery would have a greater impact on the composition of the faecal, nasopharyngeal and cutaneous microbiota. On the other hand, the mode of breastfeeding would have a stronger influence on the cutaneous, salivary and faecal microbiota. These new data show that the infant’s microbiota is largely determined by that of the mother, regardless of the mode of delivery. The choice of breastfeeding, capable of at least partially compensating for the absence of contact with the natural ways, would be of even greater importance for children born by caesarean section and should therefore be encouraged as much as possible.
Estelle B., Doctor of Pharmacy
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