The human microbiome is established initially during birth through vertical transmission from the mother. This seeds and helps to build the infant’s immune system. There is a matrilineal transmission that has taken place from grandmothers, to mothers, to babies for centuries. We now have even more research that supports the importance of striving for the natural, physiological way of birth.
Seed:
- Eat lots of fresh whole foods, including fruits and vegetables, and fermented foods.- This provides food for the mothers microbiome, which changes during pregnancy.
- Walk in nature and have a dog as part of your family (or hang out with one on a regular basis). This helps to expose the mother and baby to more of the good, diverse, naturally occurring microbes.
- Spend some time meditating, praying, or being mentally and emotionally mindful and peaceful. This helps to support the immune system by reducing stress. Stress can contribute to a weakened immune system.
- Educate yourself in how best to have a healthy pregnancy and vaginal birth. A vaginal birth is initially how a baby’s immune system is seeded. Babies born by cesarean have increased risk of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, obesity, autoimmune diseases, and asthma. During a cesarean babies are exposed to the microbes of hospital staff and environment, rather than the mother, which are often the most harmful types of microbes. Antibiotics necessary during surgery kill off most of the beneficial microbes.
- Avoid artificially breaking the bag of waters, sweeping membranes, cervical checks, and antibiotics. – The amniotic fluid environment is mostly sterile, and some natural colonization does take place when it breaks. You want the microbes the baby is exposed to to be from the mother, not the care provider. Antibiotics wipe out the beneficial microbes
- Skin to skin after birth – naturally occurring microbes found on the mothers skin help to seed the baby’s immune system/microbiome.
- Delayed cord clamping/cutting – Blood from the placenta, through the umbilical cord, supplies the baby with 1/3rd of their blood volume, 6 mos. to a years’ worth of iron supply, antibodies, immunities and stem cells.
Feed:
- Nurse your baby. – Not just feeding human milk through pumping and bottles. Actively nursing your baby at the breast promotes an enzymatic communication between the mother and the baby. Seeding continues to take place as the baby has contact with the skin of the mother’s breast. Human milk contains HMO’s ( Human Milk Oligosaccharides), which are non-digestible sugars that feed the microbes that train the infant’s immune system.
*Fun Fact:
For babies born by cesarean, nursing exclusively after that can reverse the negative effects to the baby’s microbiome/immune system. Combination feeding will not have the same effect.
How best to achieve all of this in the face of medicalized birth practices in the United States? Hire a Midwife, and take a Bradley class! Having a Midwife as your medical caregiver can reduce your chances of a cesarean significantly, and taking Bradley classes can reduce your chances of a cesarean by 50%, and your chances of needing other influencing interventions by 80%. Find out more by contacting Amy at www.healthybirth.net
Source:
Turn the Microscope on Birth: The Microbiome and Midwifery, by Toni Harman, BA, goldmidwifery.com , 2/27/23
References:
Dietert RR. Microbiome First Medicine in Health and Safety. Biomedicines. 2021 Aug 27;9(9):1099. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines9091099. PMID: 34572284; PMCID: PMC8468398.
Complete references available upon request.
Amy V. Haas, BCCE®2023
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