Researchers found that incubating gauze in a mother’s vagina for an hour before a caesarean section and then swabbing her newborn in the mouth, on the face, and on the body colonizes the baby with some of the microbes typically acquired through vaginal birth. “When my own child was born by unplanned C-section,” said the study’s leader, “we took matters into our own hands.”

Researchers found that incubating gauze in a mother’s vagina for an hour before a caesarean section and then swabbing her newborn in the mouth, on the face, and on the body colonizes the baby with some of the microbes typically acquired through vaginal birth. “When my own child was born by unplanned C-section,” said the study’s leader, “we took matters into our own hands.”