FEEDING babies born by C-section “milkshakes” with a tiny bit of their mum’s poo could protect them from disease later in life, scientists claim.
Under no circumstances should parents try doing this at home, they stressed.
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That’s because the poop needs to be checked for dangerous germs that could make babies sick before it’s used.
The study – whose early results were presented at an annual meeting of infectious disease experts – is the first to test out the stomach-turning concept of “poo milkshakes”.
It builds on previous research suggesting that the bacteria in gut, known as the microbiome, may influence our overall health.
An imbalance has even been linked to conditions such as depression, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, obesity and diabetes.
Faecal microbiota transplans (FMT) that involve introducing a healthy person’s stool – with all their gut bacteria – into the bowel of another unwell person to combat diseases is also an area of emerging research.
Now, Finnish scientists claim feeding some babies a tiny amount of poop mixed into milk may have a positive effect on their microbiome.
It’s been suggested that babies delivered by Caesarean section rather than vaginal birth, have a higher risk of asthma, inflammation of the digestive system and other diseases that have been linked to dysfunctional immune system.
Scientists think that this might be because babies born by C-section aren’t exposed to microbes in their mums’ vaginas and guts.
Research also suggests that babies born by C-section have different distributions of bacteria in their gut compared to those born vaginally.
Doctors recruited women scheduled for a C-section at the Helsinki University Hospital.
They mixed 3.5 milligrams of a mum’s poo into milk and gave the concoction to the corresponding baby.
Fifteen babies received the “milkshake” during their first feed and another 16 were fed a placebo concoction.
An analysis of the babies’ poo samples showed that the two groups had similar microbial diversity when they were born.
But researchers observed a big difference between babies who were fed tiny amounts of poo and those that weren’t. This lasted until six months of age, around when babies start eating solid food.
What are the risks of C-sections?
A caesarean is generally a very safe procedure, but like any type of surgery it carries a certain amount of risk.
Some of these include:
- Infection of the wound (common) – causing redness, swelling, increasing pain and discharge from the wound
- Infection of the womb lining (common) – symptoms include a fever, tummy pain, abnormal vaginal discharge and heavy vaginal bleeding
- Excessive bleeding (uncommon) – this may require a blood transfusion in severe cases, or possibly further surgery to stop the bleeding
- Deep vein thrombosis (rare) – a blood clot in your leg, which can cause pain and swelling, and could be very dangerous if it travels to the lungs (pulmonary embolism)
- Damage to your bladder or the tubes that connect the kidneys and bladder (rare) – this may require further surgery
Women are now given antibiotics before having a caesarean, which should mean infections become much less common.
For babies, the risks can include:
- A cut in the skin (common) – this may happen accidentally as your womb is opened, but it’s usually minor and heals without any problems
- Breathing difficulties (common) – this most often affects babies born before 39 weeks of pregnancy; it’ll usually improve after a few days and your baby will be closely monitored in hospital
A caesarean may be carried out because:
- Your baby is in the breech position (feet first) and your doctor or midwife has been unable to turn them by applying gentle pressure to your tummy, or you’d prefer they did not try this
- You have a low-lying placenta
- You have pregnancy-related high blood pressure
- You have certain infections, such as a first genital herpes infection occurring late in pregnancy or untreated HIV
- Your baby is not getting enough oxygen and nutrients – sometimes this may mean the baby needs to be delivered immediately
- Your labour is not progressing or there’s excessive vaginal bleeding
Source: NHS
The trial is ongoing and is set to monitor the babies’ health for a total of two years.
But researchers said early results are similar to a small study the same team set up in 2020.
It found that the microbiomes of seven babies given a maternal faecal transplant developed similarly to those of babies born by vaginal delivery.
Yan Shao, a microbiologist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute told Nature: “It isn’t surprising that maternal faecal microbiota transplantation would make a difference to the c-section infant microbiota.”
But he noted that the trial doesn’t directly compare the microbiome of treated C-section babies with that of babies born vaginally – which would be needed to demonstrate that “poo milkshakes” can restore microbiomes affected by C-sections.
‘Don’t try this at home’
Researchers stressed that you shouldn’t try the technique at home.
That’s because mums participating in the trial were extensively screened before their poo was used.
Otto Helve – director of the public-health department at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare who lead the new study – said: “You have to be certain that the faecal matter that you give to the newborn doesn’t include pathogens that could cause a disease.”
From 90 women initially included in the trial, 54 were excluded because possibly harmful pathogens were detected in their poop or due to other reasons.
“Even if it sounds simple, it should be well controlled,” Dr Helve added.
He warned that poop milkshakes might not be a good fit for all babies born via C-section.
His team is now studying whether babies at high risk of developing certain diseases would benefit most.
Dr Shao said that pinpointing specific maternal gut microbes that are most likely to colonise babies’ guts is an important next step.
He also voiced concerns over the technique’s safety, saying: “There is no clear evidence to suggest Caesarean-section birth causes bad outcomes to a child’s health.”
If changes to gut bacteria are needed, it could be safer to use species grown in a lab rather than risk the unknown species from the mum’s faeces, he added.
