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Pacifier cleaning practices and risk of allergy development

Bill Hesselmar1, Fei Sjöberg, Robert Saalman

  • 1Queen Silvia Children's Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. bill.hesselmar@vgregion.se

Pediatrics
|May 8, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Parents who clean pacifiers by sucking them may reduce allergy risk in infants. This practice may stimulate the infant immune system through microbial transfer from parental saliva.

Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Microbiology
  • Pediatrics

Background:

  • Exposure to commensal microbes may prevent allergy development.
  • Oral microbes can transfer from parents to infants via pacifiers.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if pacifier cleaning practices influence allergy development risk in infants.
  • To explore the association between parental pacifier cleaning and infant allergy and sensitization.

Main Methods:

  • A birth cohort of 184 infants was followed from birth to 36 months.
  • Pacifier use and cleaning practices were recorded at 6 months.
  • Infant allergy, sensitization, and salivary microbiota were analyzed at various time points.

Main Results:

  • Infants whose parents sucked pacifiers showed reduced odds of asthma, eczema, and sensitization at 18 months.
  • Protection against eczema persisted to 36 months.
  • Parental pacifier sucking and vaginal delivery had independent, additive protective effects on eczema.

Conclusions:

  • Parental pacifier sucking may lower allergy risk in infants.
  • This protective effect might be mediated by microbial transfer and immune stimulation via saliva.
Abstract

Keywords:
allergyasthmachildeczemainfantmicrobiotapacifierssensitization

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