Microbirth film screening

I’m going to be a doula.

I’m not there yet. It will still take a few years but I have certainly come a long way since I arrived in Norway. I’m an Italian woman, mother of two small children. I have been living in Oslo for a little over 6 years now. Contact with the Norwegian culture has greatly enriched me; first with the publication of my first book on children and sleep (only in Italian for now, “Dormire bene per crescere felici”) and then later when I decided to enroll in an international doula school.

Because of these studies I became aware of this new research about the human microbiome. This is what the indie-funded movie “Microbirth” is about.

Jack Gilbert and his Earth Microbiome group recently published a new paper about signature microbes (www.sciencemag.org) that follow or rather inhabit every human being, like people in a house, a personal microbiome that uniquely identifies ourselves.

If the microbes in our body weaken, any pathogen agent will find favourable conditions to proliferate in this “empty building”. If on the other hand, our microbiome is healthy, we will be healthier, with less risk of getting sick.

Is there a way we can improve the health of our microbiome?

Turns out there is. For example, opening windows to get fresh air, having some plants in our apartment, or getting a pet friend.

Ongoing research suggests that our microbiome health is established from the very moment of our birth and the microscopic processes that happen during childbirth could influence the future health of the baby, particularly regarding immune-related diseases like asthma, type-1 diabetes, celiac disease and obesity.

One of the hypotheses in Microbirth is that the increased rate of cesarean section births could be correlated to the increased frequency of those diseases, as natural birth strongly contributes to the inception of a baby’s microbiome and thus to his or her immune system.

I think the research shown in this documentary is revolutionary and of vital importance. What if all the research mentioned in the film were to be confirmed?

What if the way our babies are born could actually influence our long-term health? Our microbiome is given to us by our mother. If this chain were to be broken due to C-section increasing rates, what could be the consequences for humans in the span of many generations?

Would we be ready to change?  Should we start now?

Don’t miss this free public screening at Eldorado Bokhandel in Torggata 9A, Friday 10th of October 2014, at 18:00 o’clock.