Baby’s first bacteria arrive sooner than we thought
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ls_newborn_shutterstock_77125552_free.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
For more than a century, scientists have assumed that babies come into the world germ-free after nine months in a sterile womb. Not so, new studies find: Bacteria lurk in the placenta, amniotic fluid and umbilical cord blood, making the womb a germy place.
rSnapshotPhotos/Shutterstock