Do you know that the intestines of newborns are sterile? Yet, by the time a child begins to eat semi-solids, there will be some 100,000 billion bacteria living in the guts, more than 10 times the number of body cells. These bacteria are largely harmless and only a few of these are potentially harmful. There is a group, however, that are crucial to our health. These are the probiotics.
Where do these come from? The first inoculation actually comes from the mother’s birth canal, as the baby is born. Another is through breast-feeding. So what happens if a child is born by C-Section and not breast fed? The real answer is that nobody knows because scientists have not studied it in detail. In my work with autistic children, I have found that a very large number are born by cesarean section (C-Section). Some studies have also suggested such an association. (Please note, an association is not a cause, we have to keep an open mind at this stage.)
One possible theory is that in such cases, the child’s guts remain sterile and unprotected for a period of time, messing up the natural immune system. The child is likely to succumb to infections and antibiotic is the normal treatment, further messing up the guts and the immune system. Then you have leaky guts, multiple allergies and casein/gluten intolerance, etc.
Perhaps, it may not be a bad idea to inoculate a newborn under such circumstance with some strains of probiotics that are known to be safe: Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. I recommend Dr’s Formula’s 20 billion CFU probiotics for this purpose.
