[nudephil (OP)]

Our latest question of the week comes from listener Pavel:

On one of the Naked Scientists programmes it was mentioned that a newborn baby has initially sterile intestines and gets most of its microbiome during the passage through the uterus and vagina. What happens to children that are brought into this world via caesarean?

More recent research seems to suggest that newborn babies' guts aren't sterile after all. Any insights?

[evan_au]

Babies will suck on anything they touch. I am sure they will pick up a variety of bacteria this way - most of it won't survive in the human gut - but a small amount will.

Babies will also pick up a small amounts of human gut bacteria from contact with members of their family - or, at least, they did before the current compulsion to wash your hands every 5 minutes.

I heard that some people were "innoculating" C-section babies with samples of bacteria from their mother...

[Jolly2]

Our latest question of the week comes from listener Pavel:

On one of the Naked Scientists programmes it was mentioned that a newborn baby has initially sterile intestines and gets most of its microbiome during the passage through the uterus and vagina. What happens to children that are brought into this world via caesarean?

More recent research seems to suggest that newborn babies' guts aren't sterile after all. Any insights?

I would have assumed most babies gain gut bacteria from the umbilical cord and breast milk.

[Bored chemist]

I heard of a discussion on mumsnet or some such:
Q at what age do you stop sterilising the baby's bottle?
A when you find them chewing daddy's shoe.

The problem isn't getting bacteria into the baby, it's trying to limit the extent of that process.

[Petrochemicals]

Our latest question of the week comes from listener Pavel:

On one of the Naked Scientists programmes it was mentioned that a newborn baby has initially sterile intestines and gets most of its microbiome during the passage through the uterus and vagina. What happens to children that are brought into this world via caesarean?

More recent research seems to suggest that newborn babies' guts aren't sterile after all. Any insights?

I would have assumed most babies gain gut bacteria from the umbilical cord and breast milk.

I would assume also, it seems pretty unlikely that a sterile baby would be able to survive long anyway. But this is science. A babys first bowel movement after birth is a very strange discharge made up of the fluid and whatnot in the womb. I should think that is what the claim is made about. Premature babies i would imagine are more vunerable to the op's mechanism.