A squeaky clean dummy is not what your baby REALLY needs

Parents who clean their child’s dummy by sucking it, are three times less likely to suffer from eczema. It’s a germ thing…..

You’ve opted to get your baby “quiet”, with the help of a pacifier / dummy.

You did your homework and invested a fortune to obtain the latest greatest model, which has been designed by an orthodontist, it is BPA free etc.

But, no matter how great the design – babies suck and then…………. SPIT them out.

Dummy moves

Some really do, SPIT it out.

That was me.

In short, pacifiying me with a hunk of plastic, was a pointless exercise. My Mom attempted to sweeten the deal, by plopping sweet treats on the device. This made my sugar gremlin VERY HAPPY, but only brought short term relief. As soon as the sweet treat had been licked off………………….. the dummy was ejected. And the screaming continued. Sugar gremlin

Sorry Mom.

Others, genuinely find comfort in the device, but it can be a challenge to keep it IN the mouth.

The dummy is dirty

This means, the dummy is often DIRTY.

Translated – it is FULL of GERMS.

Nasty little guys, who could make your baby VERY VERY sick. So the dummy must be cleaned.

And, the best way to clean a dummy is….

Cleaning a dummy 101

Sterilize it.

Dip it in boiling hot water or some kind of anti-septic.

Kill every possible bug on the thing.

And when this is not practical. Run it under the tap for a minute or so. Flush the little “suckers” down the drain.

Or.

Pop it in your mouth and lick the “dirt” off.

GROSS !

I don’t do that

You should.

This is the best way to clean your child’s dummy. This is what a group of Swedish researchers from the University of Gothenburg discovered.

Parents who admit to this “unsavoury” practice, protect their little one from being ALLERGIC.

The reason…..

THEY’RE SHARING THEIR GERMS.

Mouth germs matter

It turns out, the mouth is actually a BIG part of the immune system.

REALLY ? Think TONSILS and ADENOIDS.

I know, we’ve been made to believe these bits and pieces are expendable. But, they represent the immune system in your mouth. And, since the mouth is the first port of call, for most “foreign invaders”, the mouth’s immune system is important.

The mouth guard

The tonsils are full of T cells with a regulatory phenotype – these are the guys that determine when the immune system should launch a full out attack and when it should stand down.

People who are ALLERGIC, tend to have immune systems that REACT.

The reaction is inappropriate. And this is what causes ALL the trouble. Overactive immune systems are not just a result of the genetic lottery, the immune system is trained to NOT react.

The training programme requires “GERM” EXPOSURE.

Spit is packed full of “germs” (the oral microbiome), making it a great training tool for the developing immune system.

More germs mean less reactivity

In this study, the research team followed 184 children from birth till 3 years – to see who became ALLERGIC. The little ones enrolled in this study, were “destined” to be allergic, since they had at least one parent, who suffered from allergies.

And sure enough……………. 25 % of them were itching their way through eczema by the time they reached the 18 month mark. Shame !

But, when the team carefully examined which children were itching, a pattern emerged.

Parents who habitually sucked their kids pacifier were three times less likely to suffer from eczema.

THREE TIMES.

It’s in the numbers

The protection came, because the kids had more “germs” coming into their mouths.

The researchers found, the resident germs of the kids, looked pretty much the same as the resident germs of their parents. Dummy sucking had served to transfer the oral microbiome between generations.

Suck your baby’s dummy

In the process, you’ll be transferring the hundreds of different bacteria that live in your mouth, to junior and facilitating immune system training…………….

This will decreases the odds your child will be ALLERGIC.

NB. This is particularly important if your little one was born by c-section and /or has not been breast fed – they need help acquiring good bacteria.

Pacifier Cleaning Practices and Risk of Allergy Development. PEDIATRICS (2013) 131(6):e1829-e1837. B. Hesselmar, F. Sjoberg, R. Saalman, N. Aberg, I. Adlerberth, A. E. Wold.