Infant pacifier cleaning and the risk of food allergy in children

The rational for this study is the understanding that environmental microbial exposure have a role in the development of the child immune system which effect the risk of food allergy.

The study goal was to asses whether infant pacifier use and cleaning habits in the first year of life effects the risk of proven food allergy after the age of one year.

Methods – 894 Australian families with healthy children followed up from birth until the child turned 1 year of age.

Pacifier use and pacifier cleaning habits were collected and challenge proven food allergy was done at the age of 1 year for cow’s milk, egg, peanut, cashew and sesame.

Results – the main findings in this study was the antiseptic cleaning of pacifier (tap water and chemical antiseptic), was associated with much higher risk for food allergy later in life. Other options such as pacifiers parental own mouth cleaning and pacifier-boiling water cleaning were not associated with food allergy. There was also a link between parental own mouth cleaning and less food allergies as was proven in older study (link coming soon).

Discussion – this is another interesting study which prove the hygiene theory. Or in other words, the more your infant grows in a clean and sterile conditions, the higher risk for him to have allergic and atopic diseases.

Where do you cross the line between just being clean to being too much clean, I don’t know.

But I know that in most case antiseptic cleaning of the pacifier is too much….