Microbes are microorganisms that are about a nanometer across. They outnumber all visible plants and animals on earth by a factor of 100 million. The total number of a bacteria is a 1 with 30 zeros following: a nonillion. Without assistance from humans, fish, ferns, or trilobites, they ran it all for about 3 of the last 4.5 billion years. Scientists were aware of the existence of the microbiome, but have just recently begun to understand its effect. There are 1.3 microbial cells for every cell in your body.
If your baby’s pacifier falls on the floor, what’s the best way to clean it? Many would think to run it under hot water. Bacteria in tap water is unlikely to hurt you, but it isn't beneficial. Instead, the best way would be to put it in your mouth, swish it around, and give it back. This will coat it with germ-fighting peptides designed to fight human diseases.
Helping children grow a protective microbiome is important, and dirt is the best way to do that. Kids with dogs have a 13 percent less chance of developing asthma. Children on farms have even better chances with a 50% reduced risk.
Read more here: Newsela
1. Would you clean a pacifier by putting it in your mouth?
If the surface it fell on wasn't disgusting, I would do that knowing it was benefiting the child. Most of the time I would probably just wipe it off or run it under water though.
2. Would you ever eat dirt?
I wouldn't eat dirt for no reason. I wouldn't be opposed to doing it for a bet.
3. Maybe you believed that everything a baby touches should be sanitized first. Has your position on that changed?
Well, I'm not a germ freak, but I definitely learned something new that I will keep in mind when dealing with children.
Replies
Well done Maya!
I wouldn't because the surface it fell on is probably disgusting. I would wash the pacifier first before giving it back to the baby. I would never eat dirt because it is filled with many germs, even though scientists say it might be beneficial the subject is very new and hasn't been studied enough for me to go and eat dirt. I don't normally think that everything a baby touches should be sanitized because if everything is sterile for the first month of their life, what would happen when they go outside and are introduced to lots of bacteria? Plus sanitizing everything would be an extremely long process.
Being reluctant to accept a new concept like this is expected, and not feeling comfortable eating dirt (like suggested) because of the lack of research is very justifiable. I like your point about how lengthy the sanitization process would be; I hadn't considered that.
No, I wouldnt it needs to be washed in warm water, that is gross! No I wouldnt its gross and has so much bacteria. It should but nobody has the time to sanatize everything a baby touches.
I understand not wanting to eat dirt or put a dirty pacifier in your mouth, but I'm surprised that looking at the facts presented didn't have an affect on your opinion at all. I think a good happy medium in regards to the pacifier would be to run it under warm water before putting it in your mouth.
1. i would do it and know the child if its work or not.
2. i would not say no or yes because in some reason i may might eat and some reason i might not.
1. I don't like sharing anything with someone in general so i don't think i would clean it by putting it in my mouth. If the surface it fell on wasn't too disgusting i may do it for the benefit of the child but probably not.
2. I don't believe that dirt is terrible but with the bugs and pesticides and weed killers today not to mention other factors that make it not just dirt i wouldn't eat dirt or let my child eat dirt if i could prevent it. if i knew the dirt and grass was free of pesticides and in all other aspects "clean" then i wouldn't get too worried about it.
3. My position has not changed at all because i am not a clean freak. I believe that common sense and keeping a healthy level of cleanliness is sufficient for my child. If i wouldn't sanitize if for myself i wouldn't sanitize it for my baby. I don't believe in over protecting my child and i believe that letting them fall once in a while is healthy and can help make them more independent as they grow older.
Mentioning the bugs, pesticides, and weed killers we use today is a great point! I didn't think of that. I really like your stance on the cleanliness of the things babies touch. Not sanitizing something for your baby that you wouldn't sanitize for yourself is a great way to go about that.
I would not 'clean' a pacifier with my own saliva, I don't feel like it would benefit anything. I would not eat dirt for no reason or for a reason. I still believe that everything should be sanitized before a baby touches it.
I understand having doubts about the benefits of saliva as a "cleaner." However, scientists did not previously have a very good understanding of the microbiome with accessibility to research being fairly recent, so the majority of the ideas are new to both the people and scientists. With that in mind, I think we need to consider being open-minded with this topic.