ASK: What is the infant microbiome? Why should I care?

TRANSCRIPT OF ANSWER

The infant microbiome is a really exciting new field of research, I say new, but scientist have known about it for about a hundred years. And what it is, is it’s the baby’s bacterial ecosystem that’s transferred from the mum, during vaginal birth and breastfeeding. That’s not to say so if you have a c section, your baby was still have a microbiome. Giving birth is an amazing event. It’s fantastic and it’s just a wonderful event where we’ve got the arrival of a new human into the world, but at the same time microscopic events are happening and this is the transfer of the mother’s bacteria to the baby. And you might think, oh, a bacteria is a bit yucky, it’s germs, but actually those bacteria help train the baby’s immune system. And to set up that immune system, and in the best possible way. Becoming a parent is amazing. It’s fantastic. Is the arrival of a new human being and you care. I know you care about, how much you love your baby and you care about your baby feeling loved and you care about what that baby eats. How that baby is raised and the relationships between you as a parent, the siblings, and relationships with your grandparents, your aunties and uncles and your friends. But there’s this critical thing which parents perhaps need to think about and this is the, and this is where you need to kind of think about the microscopic events that are happening during the, the narrow window that surrounds birth. So that’s the, the hours days, weeks, months around childbirth because that will train the infant immune system to set up the baby’s health for the rest of its life. The latest evidence based science is indicating that it’s really important what happens in those first few hours, days, weeks, months, years, of a baby’s life. Because this sets the foundations for lifelong health. And to understand the, the baby’s microbiome means that you could give your baby the best possible infant immune system so it can give. So to set it up in the right way, trains the baby’s immune system to protect the baby for the rest of his life.