Maternal-Neonate Microbiome: Considerations for Future Studies

Abstract

The vital relationship between a mother’s natural vaginal mucosa and an infant’s healthy development is tied closely to one another. Recent studies have revealed that transferring this maternal microbiome to an infant during delivery may play a primary role in developing a child’s immune system, among many other critical components of physiologic development well into adulthood. Conversely, some studies suggest that infants delivered via cesarean section who bypass this transfer of microbiota may have an increased risk of specific health deficits. Though many of these studies retain a wide range of depth, certain diseases and conditions have been identified to have higher rates of occurrence among cesarean-delivered infants, such as asthma, obesity, diabetes, allergies, ADHD, intestinal and respiratory infections, autism, dermatitis, inflammatory conditions, immune susceptibility, and more. This paper explores each of these claims through a literature review as well as proposes several considerations and indications for future studies involving the vaginal seeding of cesarean-delivered infants to compare health outcomes between infants delivered vaginally as well as cesarean alone. This qualitative study provides the opportunity for a potential change in standard clinical practice for cesarean sections, possibly shedding light on a new method of preventative medicine that has been seldom explored, which may assist in lowering the overall disease burden within populations.