Allergy season is upon us and nothing is more difficult than watching an infant suffer.
But a new Swedish study suggests a surprising new way you could help your newborn overcome weeks of congestion: suck on the baby's pacifier.
It may sound kind of gross, but researchers found that oral bacteria, transferred from adults to babies, trains their developing immune system to ignore germs that will not cause any real harm.
"If your immune system is not presented with enough microbes, it just defaults to doing harmful attacks against things that are not harmful, like food, cat dander or dust mites,” Pediatric Analyst at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Dr. Ron Ferdman said.
The study found that children who reap the benefits of their parents’ spit were significantly less likely to develop asthma, eczema and general allergies.
Researchers looked for families that had at least one allergic parent to see if that affected the child’s immune system differently. A total of 206 pregnant women were included in the study and 187 infants.
The study was conducted by fingerprinting bacterial DNA in 33 infants' saliva, 21 of which had parents sucking on pacifiers, to watch the transfer of microbes.
All of the babies were followed through 18 months of age, with most, 174 to be exact, followed until they hit 3 years old. These specific periods in the children’s lives were chosen because eczema develops early.
However, the idea of early introduction of microbes has not completelyl sold Dr. Ferdman yet.
"It's a small number of babies studied, so it's hard to generalize," he said.
Dr. Ferdman was not involved in the study. He said that the best way to prevent allergies in your child is to expose them to a normal microbial environment, breast feed for four to six weeks, and do not smoke or allow your child in the presence of secondhand smoke.
