Your microbiome is a collection of microbes and microorganisms that live on and in you and essentially create a mini-ecosystem. For every human cell, we have between one and three microorganisms.
Our skin is teeming with them and they act as our first line of defense by trying to stop anything bad getting through to us. Another big one is the gut! We have multiple ‘species’ of bacteria in our guts (and trillions of microorganisms) – the more species we have, the better!
Research into the topic is a more recent development but we already know that our microbiome influences:
Mental Health
Autism
Obesity
Multiple sclerosis
Inflammatory bowel disease
Diabetes
Depression
Colitis
It has huge impact on the immune system and we know that the gut and brain communicate and that the healthier your gut microbiome is, the more likely you are to have better mental health.
So what does this have to do with birth and your baby?
We now believe that when babies are in the womb they are essentially ‘sterile’ in that they don’t seem to have any of their own bacteria. Your microbiome will form the basis of your child’s and that process starts with labour and birth.
In the run up to birth the bacteria in the birth canal (vaginal microbiome) changes – the PH adapts and we get more of the ‘good’ bacteria. Think of it as preparing to pass on to the baby.
To best explain it, there’s a 3-step process during birth:
The first stage is when the waters break and baby passes through the birth canal. During this phase babies get covered in wonderful bacteria and their microbiome begins to form.
The second stage is through skin-to-skin after birth. When you’re having this special bonding time your baby is also getting skin bacteria from you, it coats them and as we spoke about earlier, our skin bacteria is our first line of defence and incredibly important.
The last step is through breastfeeding as breastmilk is packed full of incredible bacteria.
Think of it as a starter kit because once infants hit age three, between 60% and 70% of their microbiome is set and cannot be changed.
When babies don’t pass down the birth canal (with a caesarean birth, particularly when it’s planned) it’s good to think about what we can do to help baby’s microbiome as they don’t get the vaginal microbes.
So, what can we do?
You could explore where possible, not admitting antibiotics until after your baby has been born (antibiotics can pass on and affect the bacteria), skin-to-skin in theatre is always a possibility, not only does it allow you to coat your baby in protective bacteria but it also allows you to bond and promotes breastfeeding. You could also consider harvesting some colostrum before you go into theatre and then giving it to your baby. Breastfeeding, even if it’s once, is incredibly helpful.
What can you do during pregnancy to help your microbiome (and by extension, your baby’s):
You are what your microbes eat! Make sure you’re eating a wide variety of non-processed foods, pack in as many different types of plants (fruits, veg, herbs etc) as you can.
Some helpful foods that benefit your current microbes include onions, leeks, yoghurt, bananas, apples and many more.
Some foods you can eat to introduce new microbes include miso soup, sauerkraut and kefir.
Stress is another huge factor – microbes don’t do well with stress, it damages them so make sure you’re protecting your peace, investing in your state of mind and setting boundaries.
Avoiding unnecessary antibiotics – the overuse of them is increasingly becoming a problem, they have a huge negative impact on our microbiome (and you can also become resistant if you take them too often). Antibiotics are wonderful but only when they’re really needed.
Look at what you use in your environment, like the cleaning products in your house. Anti-bacterial sprays are not always good in pregnancy because not all bacteria is bad and they don’t distinguish between the good and bad! Of course, sometimes things need to be properly cleaned but not all the time, everywhere.
Getting outdoors helps our microbes! There are lots of microbes outside that are beneficial to us.
Finally, exercise. Regular exercise will help with pregnancy, birth and mental health! It doesn’t have to be anything huge, getting off the bus a couple of stops early, going on a regular walk, dancing around your kitchen, small things often have a big impact.
Fun fact: Introducing a dog to your baby in their first two years of life reduces the rate of allergies and asthma (this is mostly to do with microbiomes and bacteria being more diverse).
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