ReviewFrontiers in medicine2018
A Critical Review of the Bacterial Baptism Hypothesis and the Impact of Cesarean Delivery on the Infant Microbiome.
Review in Frontiers in medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 143 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reducing Rates of Cesarean Delivery in Rural US Communities: A Systematic Review of Interventions and Approaches to Care.Preventing chronic disease · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A systematic review of the factors influencing microbial colonization of the preterm infant gut.Gut microbesPooled it
- Maternal exposures and the infant gut microbiome: a systematic review with meta-analysis.Gut microbesPooled it
- Cesarean delivery on maternal request and common child health outcomes: A prospective cohort study in China.Journal of global health · 2022Trial
- Parental microbiome programming of early-life neurodevelopment: multi-niche contributions through the microbiome-gut-brain axis.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Perinatal Factors Associated with Neonatal Microbiome Development and Their Implications for Nursing Practice: An Integrative Review.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2026Review
- The maternal and infant gut microbiome: implications for pregnancy outcomes, immune development, and health in the first 1000 days.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- The Placenta-Gut Microbiota Axis in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: Molecular Mechanisms, Crosstalk, and Therapeutic Perspectives.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Mutual Interactions Between Microbiota and the Human Immune System During the First 1000 Days of Life.Biology · 2025Review
- Unlocking the Microbial Symphony: The Interplay of Human Microbiota in Cancer Immunotherapy Response.Cancers · 2025Review
- Maternal gut microbiota and placenta-derived tissues microbes are important for initial gut microbial colonization in infants.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Intestinal dysbiosis during pregnancy and microbiota-associated impairments in offspring.Frontiers in microbiomes · 2025Review
- Maternal Transmission of Rotavirus to Calves and Comparison of Colostrum and Fecal Microbiota in Holstein and Hanwoo Cattle.Veterinary sciences · 2024Article
- Unraveling the Microbial Symphony: Impact of Antibiotics and Probiotics on Infant Gut Ecology and Antibiotic Resistance in the First Six Months of Life.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Assessment of species distribution and virulence factors of oral fungal carriage among hospitalized patients with COVID-19: a case-control study.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2024Article
- Delivery by cesarean section leads to heavier adult bodyweight in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster).Hormones and behavior · 2024Article
- Maternal-Foetal/Infant Interactions-Gut Microbiota and Immune Health.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- Association of maternal constipation and risk of atopic dermatitis in offspring.International journal of medical sciences · 2024Article
- Gut Microbiota and Insulin Resistance: Understanding the Mechanism of Better Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.Current diabetes reviews · 2024Review
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Numerous studies suggest that infants delivered by cesarean section are at a greater risk of non-communicable diseases than their vaginal counterparts. In particular, epidemiological studies have linked Cesarean delivery with increased rates of asthma, allergies, autoimmune disorders, and obesity. Mode of delivery has also been associated with differences in the infant microbiome. It has been suggested that these differences are attributable to the "bacterial baptism" of vaginal birth, which is bypassed in cesarean deliveries, and that the abnormal establishment of the early-life microbiome is the mediator of later-life adverse outcomes observed in cesarean delivered infants. This has led to the increasingly popular practice of "vaginal seeding": the iatrogenic transfer of vaginal microbiota to the neonate to promote establishment of a "normal" infant microbiome. In this review, we summarize and critically appraise the current evidence for a causal association between Cesarean delivery and neonatal dysbiosis. We suggest that, while Cesarean delivery is certainly associated with alterations in the infant microbiome, the lack of exposure to vaginal microbiota is unlikely to be a major contributing factor. Instead, it is likely that indication for Cesarean delivery, intrapartum antibiotic administration, absence of labor, differences in breastfeeding behaviors, maternal obesity, and gestational age are major drivers of the Cesarean delivery microbial phenotype. We, therefore, call into question the rationale for "vaginal seeding" and support calls for the halting of this practice until robust evidence of need, efficacy, and safety is available.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.