Vaginal delivery has a variety of advantages over a cesarean delivery for the mother and newborn. There are factors such as exposure to hormones such as oxytocin, endorphins and adrenaline that play an important role in childbirth, attachment development and general well-being of the mother and newborn.
There is another benefit of vaginal delivery, which is the baby’s exposure to the bacterial flora of the mother’s vagina these bacteria play an important role. In the ideal development of the baby’s immune system, which has been, developed for 9 months in environment free of bacteria infections. Together with the mother’s skin contact and breastfeeding, they create the foundation for a strong immune system that will protect children for life.
Babies born by caesarean section are not exposed to these bacteria and some follow-up studies have found that these children are more likely to have diseases like asthma. Allergies when they grow up. The alarming rate of cesareans in our country and the world at large has led researchers to find ways to give these babies some of what they do not receive from their mothers through a cesarean section. Lack of these seed bacteria affects the development of the baby’s micro biome.
A study published in Nature
States those 18 pregnant women were selected from whom the bacterial flora of the vagina, anal area, mouth and skin were collected. Seven of these women had vaginal deliveries and the other 11 by cesarean section. Four women who were going to have cesareans inserted gauze into the vagina shortly before starting the surgery. Once the baby was born, they applied the gauze of their mothers to the babies, in the mouth, face and body.
During a month, the researchers took samples of the microbioma of the babies finding that those who received the gauze had the maternal bacteria not the babies who did not receive the gauze. This is the first step in understanding how maternal bacteria protect and strengthen baby’s immune systems. Long-term studies are needed to answer the questions we have today but at least there is an awareness of its importance.
The best prevention is to educate families about the differences between a vaginal and cesarean delivery. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that between 10% and 15% of deliveries be by cesarean section due to dangers to the well-being of the mother or baby. However, in our country it reaches values above 50%.
