The Center for Asthma Research at VUMC is recruiting pregnant women scheduled for a cesarean section (C-section) for the “MOdification Of THe Early-Life Respiratory Microbiome Through Vaginal SEEDing” (MOTHERSEED) study.
You may be eligible to participate in this study if you are a pregnant woman scheduled for a C-section at VUMC.
The main purpose of this study is to evaluate if vaginal seeding of a child’s nose is a feasible and safe procedure. For this study, your child may be randomly assigned to receive an intervention called vaginal seeding. This intervention involves swabbing your baby’s nose with your vaginal fluids soon after birth. This is done to expose cesarean-born babies to the same bacteria they would have been exposed to at birth if they were born by vaginal delivery. Some studies have suggested that vaginal fluids could be a source of “good” bacteria, which may help in the development of a child’s immune response (that is, how a child’s body defends itself against infection or reacts against different exposures).
Researchers will follow you and your child throughout pregnancy and until your child is 6 months old. During this time, researchers will conduct surveys and gather information from your and your child’s health records. We will also collect samples from you (such as a blood, urine, and vaginal samples) and your child (such as nasal, stool, and urine samples) at different time points. You will be compensated up to $450 for your participation.
Your participation will help us learn about potential interventions to change the bacteria living in the nose of children born by C-section.
For more information about this study, please contact the MOTHER SEED study team by emailing us at motherseed@vumc.org or by calling us at (615) 936-5552. You may also visit our website at https://www.vumc.org/motherseed.
