It’s a precursor to a larger study.

You’re missing a point.

Who said anything about fundamentally integral? And I think the logic was more like:

How do you think the baby comes out of your vagina? In shrink wrap? Your vaginal secretions are ALL OVER the baby. It’s by design.

If we rejected or accepted studies based on how they were reported in the popular media, no scientific progress would be made. Ever.

We are getting more and more women requesting this where I work and we (midwives, doctors and theatre team) do all we can to help facilitate it. We are also doing delayed cord clamping at section (when it is safe to do so) and skin to skin in theatres. It is great, good for babies, good for families. What is not to…

well, if they’re born vaginally, they’re getting a hefty dose of it in every crease and crevice. Nothing gross or weird about that.

Me too. I was really surprised by the tone of the article too - placenta smoothie this is not.

It’s not a trend! It’s a goddamn scientific study.

I’m baffled and dismayed by all the negative responses.

It’s believed that the bacteria from the vaginal canal are the important missing ingredient that C-section babies don’t get. Those bacteria are specific to the mother (it would probably be a bad idea to jam any old vaginal bacteria from a stranger onto your baby) and they are possibly affected by pregnancy and…

yeah.. as someone who required the surgical removal of babybunnybunny three years ago, i begged the supervising OB to do this. he balked of course.

little did they know, i just didn’t bathe the kid for three months. boom!

No, they’re not, nor do they need to be. Your skin has a microbiome, as does your gut (hence the recommendation to swab the mouth).

Thank you! I listened to an NPR program about this. Children born through c-section have a higher incidence of various diseases, and that absolutely has to do with not receiving the microbiome of the mother while passing through the birth canal. I am puzzled by all the commenters who think this is ‘so gross’. If you…

Jez really needs a science editor.

Not the microbiome! Amniotic fluid being sterile and ORs / c-sections as well, means that c-section babies start behind the curve on cultivating theirs.

Ummm, if my information is still good (I’m an old, after all) the baby comes out of a vagina, so....isn’t it already covered in “vagina juice”?

If you’re totally freaked out by the idea, then you can just try to make sure that you have pretty good flora yourself (lots of yogurt and probiotics) and the baby will slowly get your bacteria through exposure anyway. People have FLOATING CLOUDS of bacteria surrounding themselves, it’s going to happen.

Unlike many (many many many) birthing trends, I’m actually cool with this one. I mean, I get being squicked out, but the idea has some solid merit. Most babies pass through the vagina and get well and truly rubbed in its juices during the birthing process; that’s not gross, right? Why is this? Colonization by the…

Actually Jezebel you are kind of full of shit. This is a technique that comes out of more than a “boutique study.” NYU researchers have published and have been highlighted in more than one news source for the results of swabbing C-section born children in order to create the microbiome, e.g. gut flora, who diversity…