Babies under the age of five are more at risk of serious infection if they were born by caesarean-section rather than vaginal delivery, a study has found Babies under the age of five are more at risk of serious infection if they were born by caesarean-section rather than vaginal delivery, a study has found

C-section babies more likely to be hospitalised during first 5 years of life

Babies born by C-section are more likely to be hospitalised during their first 5 years of life because they miss out on 'good' bacteria from their mothers' birth passage, study finds

  • Experts studied 7.2 million births from Australia, Denmark, England and Scotland
  • A quarter were C-sections and 57 per cent of these were emergency operations 
  • Of the study babies, 1.5 million had serious infections before the age of five
  • 32,500 of these infections were the result of the baby being born by C-section

Babies under the age of five are more at risk of serious infection if they were born by caesarean-section rather than vaginal delivery, a study has found.

Researchers led from Australia found that caesarean births mean that babies are not expose to the 'good' bacteria in their mothers' birth passage.

Such bacteria — which can also be transferred after birth via breast-feeding and through early skin-to-skin contact — help to bolster newborns' immune responses. 

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By Ian Randall / Newsweek Deputy Science Editor

Ian Randall is Newsweek's Deputy Science Editor, based in Royston, U.K. His focus is reporting on science and health. He has covered archeology, geology, and physics extensively. Ian joined Newsweek in 2023 from the Daily Express U.S. and had previously worked at Express.co.uk and MailOnline, alongside freelancing for various specialist science publications including Science, Physics World and Chemistry World. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford and City, University of London. You can get in touch with Ian by emailing [email protected]. Languages: English.

 

(Source: dailymail.co.uk; November 19, 2020; https://tinyurl.com/y5g8vazx)
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