Baby elephants and other newborn animals eat adult's poop which gives them the necessary bacteria that can become established in their guts and help them with their immune system. Now, there are trials trying to see if giving human infants a tiny amount of mom's poop and see if it will help infant. #science #nature #immunity https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03449-4
@Ruthat Baby is not exposed to Mom's bacteria while in-utero. Mom does filter baby's excretions. Baby does get minimal bacterial exposure if it is a vaginal birth. If it is a C section birth...No.
@Victor I’d love to have been a fly on the wall when that grant application was submitted :)
@MookyTroubadour Not too different than fecal transplants for older kids and adults. Taking feces from another person and transplanting it into another person to treat a variety of conditions, including: Recurrent Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infections, Irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn disease, Constipation, and Ulcerative colitis. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/25202-fecal-transplant
@Victor oh no- don’t get me wrong. I am aware of the science of it all. I’m just saying my inner nine year old would be laughing uncontrollably :)
@Victor Yup, I remembered reading a while back that babies born by C-section miss out on the benefits of coming in contact with some of their mom's microbes. Found this from 2019; apparently the boost is short-lived, though.
@HaikuHedgehog If you add breastfeeding to the equation it assists tremendously in providing infant with immunity until it becomes older.Breast milk has components that boosts an infant's immunity.
@Victor Doesn't that happen naturally when the soon to be born poops in the womb?