In the first trimester of pregnancy, stress can alter the total number of microbes that lives in the vagina of mother and it also impacts the gut microbiome of the babies and it also influences the development of brain. During a baby is born by vaginal birth, the baby is exposed to the microbes of vagina of the mother. Such microbes are called microbiota. It is seen in a clustered form in the gut of the newborn baby and helps it to make its immune system more mature by influencing the rate of metabolism. Stress during pregnancy can influence the overall development (including the brain) of your offspring. This happens due to differences in the vaginal microbiome that is passed during a vaginal birth. The C – section babies generally miss the initial exposure as they are more exposed to the local environment. Such a change can make your baby more prone to neurodevelopment disorder s like autism and schizophrenia.
To conduct the study, a group of pregnant mice were exposed to stress like novel noise, restraint and predator odour, early gestation in the first trimester. The team had also assessed microbiota from the vagina of mother and the colons of the offspring in the day after birth. The brains of the baby were examined to measure transportation of amino acids that is essential for the metabolism and development of brain. It was also found that early pregnancy can have a long lasting effect on the vagina of the mother.
