Ask any first-time mama what she fears about labor. Likely she’ll tell you she’s nervous about the pain, about something going wrong, and about having a bowel movement while she’s giving birth. The thought that you might poop while pushing, or at any other time during labor, makes most expectant moms cringe.
“That’s the one thing all of my friends and I feared,” a mom of two who lives in Bishop, Georgia confided in me this week. “I heard that over and over: Please, God, I just don’t want to poop.”
But birth is messy. It’s also smelly. It’s virtually impossible to push a baby out your vaginal canal and into the world without defecating. It’s almost guaranteed that this fear will be realized: you will likely poop.
But, instead of being afraid this might happen, pooping during birth is something to celebrate. Nature’s design isn’t flawed. Pooping during childbirth isn’t just inevitable, it’s likely beneficial.
As it turns out, there may be good reasons the human anus is so close to the vagina.
The Fecal Microbiome
We humans think of ourselves as human. But we are actually teeming with non-human life. We co-habitate with all sorts of microscopic critters, including trillions of bacteria, as well as viruses, fungi, mites, and even microscopic worms. We are a consortium of species. Like the 19th century poet Walt Whitman famously wrote, we contain multitudes.
Many of our non-human hitchhikers help us be healthier humans. Without our bacterial symbionts we wouldn’t be able to digest our food, absorb nutrients, and fight off invasive or pathogenic bacteria. There’s also evidence that they even help us be more social.
You’re probably also aware of the hygiene hypothesis: the idea that we humans need to get dirty. While basic hygiene is credited with reducing mortality rates among humans, too much hygiene is associated with chronic diseases and disrupted immunity.
As the National Wildlife Federation’s 2012 report explained:
“Dirt and germs can actually be good for kids. The things small children want to do outside, like building mud castles, splashing around in puddles and rolling down hills until their clothes are irreparably grass-stained—all those things that make mothers reach for hand sanitizer and laundry detergent—may, in fact, be a grubby little prescription for health and happiness.”
A little dirt, it seems, can go a long way, not only in reducing the risk of allergies and autoimmune dysfunction but in also keeping babies, kids, and grown-ups happy and healthy.
Our excrement is also teeming with non-human life. Excrement is the unusable part of our food. It’s the waste product that the body does not want. But scientists are starting to realize that early exposure to the mom’s fecal matter actually helps a baby begin to distinguish between self and other, jumpstarting the baby’s acquired immune system so the baby can more effectively fight off disease. In addition, a 2009 study found that some of the same beneficial bacteria are found in both the mother’s vaginal flora and her fecal flora.
“All the secretions that come with birth, that’s the baby’s introduction to their normal microbiota, and that’s a wonderful thing,” Andy Kumitz, M.D., an Oregon-based family physician who practiced medicine for almost forty years, told me.
In addition, Kumitz continued, it’s not just the mom’s vaginal flora that is good for the baby, it’s also her excrement.
How Your Poop Helps Your Baby’s Immune System
At least four studies have shown that exposure to the mother’s fecal matter, in addition to her vaginal flora, helps seed a baby’s microbiome with bacteria that the baby needs to promote good health.
In addition, a 2020 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell found that giving babies born via cesarean birth some of their mother’s diluted fecal matter (yum!) can actually improve the babies’ microbiomes.
The science about the microbiome is ongoing, cutting-edge research. I’m not sure that scientists really understand all the whys or hows of all of this.
But it makes good sense to me that there’s a reason your anus is near your vagina and that pushing poo out when you push out your baby may have benefits. All your sweat, blood, vaginal gunk, and even your excrement is healthy for your baby, a remarkable being who is made from the fusion of your egg and your partner’s sperm and who grows inside your body—without any conscious help from you—and emerges from the womb into the world.
If you’re a microbiologist, immunologist, or someone fascinated with human immunity and the microbiome and you have some thoughts about this, please share them in the comment section below.
The Take-Away
Birth shouldn’t be sterile and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with or embarrassing about pooping when you have your baby. In fact, you should be happy if you defecate. Exposure to your excrement may very well help your baby survive and thrive.
Must be why Nathan’s never sick!
I pooped. My obstetrician was old school. No nonsense. Natural childbirth all the way. When she delivered my son she laid him on my chest for 10 minutes before cutting the cord. Didn't understand the significance at the time. Best experience ever!!