Feb 02, 2016 10:23 PM EST By Rashmi Kalia, UniversityHerald Reporter

A small study suggests that swiping cesarean babies with their mothers' vaginal secretions restores some of the helpful bacteria that newborns pick up when they pass through the birth canal, Heath reports.

The study was published online Feb. 1 in the journal Nature Medicine.

The vaginal bacteria "pick up and bloom" in different sites of the baby's body, "resembling vaginally delivered babies," study lead author Maria Dominguez-Bello, associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone in New York City, said in a conference call to discuss the findings.

The study authors noted that early exposure to germs, or "microbes," in the birth canal aids the newborns' immune systems to distinguish between helpful and harmful bacteria.

However, it still remained to be seen if this technique can protect C-section babies from developing diseases such as asthma.

According to Gregory Buck, professor of microbiology and immunology at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond,

"Those bacteria can establish themselves in the gut, the skin, the eyes, other orifices of the baby that are exposed."

Dabbing a C-section baby with mom's vaginal secretions is "a less intensive exposure to the bacteria" than a baby would have during vaginal delivery, said Buck.

Buck is principal investigator of a U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded project examining how vaginal bacteria affect preterm birth.

Scientists believe that Cesarean babies have a greater risk of asthma, allergies, obesity and autoimmune diseases later in life. However, studies haven't proven a direct cause-and-effect relationship, the authors of the new study said.

For the study, the researchers studied 18 infants and their mothers, including seven born vaginally and 11 delivered by scheduled C-section. Four of the cesarean babies were exposed to vaginal fluids at birth.

The researchers found that cesarean babies exposed to vaginal fluids had bacterial communities that were similar to vaginally delivered infants, as compared to C-section babies who were not exposed to the mother's vaginal fluids.

In particular, the researchers reported that there was "early enrichment" of Lactobacillusbacteria, followed in week 2 by Bacteroides, two types of healthy bacteria that are diminished in babies born by C-section, according to Sciencemag.

 "Our results establish feasibility, but not health outcomes," Dominguez-Bello stressed.

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit