Infants whose parents “clean” their pacifiers by sucking on them are at lower risk for developing asthma and eczema, a small study inPediatrics indicates.

Researchers in Sweden followed nearly 200 infants, 80% of whom had at least one allergic parent. At 6 months, parents were asked how they cleaned their child’s pacifiers. Nearly half said they sucked them before returning them to the infant.

Parental pacifier-sucking was associated with significantly reduced risks for asthma and eczema at 18 months, compared with other cleaning methods. By 36 months, only the association with eczema was still significant.

DNA analysis of infant saliva collected at 4 months showed that infants whose parents sucked their pacifiers could be identified based on the patterns of saliva microbes. The authors conclude: “Exposure of the infant to parental saliva might accelerate development of a complex oral/pharyngeal microbiota that … might beneficially affect tolerogenic handling of antigens.”

Source: Pediatrics