Alanna Collen

Rob Knight and Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at New York University, are now running a large clinical trial to establish whether transferring microbes from a woman’s vagina to her newborn might ameliorate some of the short- and long-term effects of C-sections. The experimental technique is simple: a small piece of gauze is inserted into the mother’s vagina an hour before she is due to go into the operating theatre. Just before the first cut is made, the gauze is removed and placed in a sterile pot. A few minutes later, when the baby is out, it is rubbed with the gauze – first in its mouth, then across its face, and then over the remainder of its body.

Once again, we can take instruction from the koala, and other marsupials, this time about the importance of the oligosaccharide content of milk. Most marsupials have two teats, which are inside the pouch. Only one of these is used by the joey for the duration of its suckling life. If two joeys are born in two consecutive seasons, they each have their own teat. Remarkably, the two teats provide milk that is tailored to the age of each joey. The newborn receives milk high in oligosaccharides and low in lactose, whereas the older joey receives a lower dose of oligosaccharides, but far more lactose. Once a joey has left the pouch, the oligosaccharide content of its milk supply drops even further.