Did you know that
cleaning your child’s pacifier with your own saliva may reduce the likelihood
that they’ll develop eczema and allergies later on? While it may sound like
nasty business, researchers in Sweden reported that an infant’s immune system
against eczema, allergies, and asthma is stimulated when parents introduce gut microflora
onto the pacifier through their spit. This system works because of the exchange
of oral bacteria from parent to child who then swallows the bacteria, which in
turn helps to regulate the development of tolerance in their gut.
The study* was
conducted among 136 children, all of whom used pacifiers during the first six
months. Out of the 136 children, 65 of them had parents who sucked on the
pacifiers to clean them. After 18 months, the researchers found that the
likelihood of eczema and asthma were reduced in the children who sucked on
spit-cleaned pacifiers. This effect held for eczema through the age of 3. It is
important to note that spit cleaning had no effect on the transmission of
respiratory illnesses from parent to child.
Children also receive
these immune system-boosting gut microbes when they pass through the birth
canal during a natural vaginal birth. Considering this, researchers recommend that
parents who delivered through a cesarean section should at least lick their
child’s pacifier because these children are more likely to develop allergies
than those delivered by natural birth.
(Journal of Drugs in Dermatology – May 2013)
*http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2013/04/30/peds.2012-3345.abstract
