Recent findings in perinatology show that metabolomics may reveal the mechanisms at the beginning of labor as well as the differences between vaginal delivery and Caesarean section and their impact in the short and long term.
The investigation into mother’s milk has shown the presence of a certain number of bacteria (microbiota), whose composition is highly individualized and unique in each mother; it may have important implications in colonization of the intestine and in the short- and long-term health of the child. A study of the metabolomics of milk has also enabled a detailed comparison between mother’s milk and formula. A personalized fortification of the milk of the mothers of preterm neonates is important. Finally, in mother’s milk we find stem cells whose function is not yet entirely known, but it is thought that they may trigger the beginning of the immune response of the just-born organism.