Licking your baby's pacifier can help prevent future illnesses; "don't wash or sterilize it, you must lick it," says research

All moms know that babies always drop their pacifiers on the floor. As soon as you blink, they'll jump away from you, and your reaction is always the same: grab it, rinse it off, and hand it back to the child. But now that could change. According to research conducted by the Henry Ford Health System (USA), washing the pacifier isn't the best option; you should now lick it.

Some babies were studied, and those whose parents licked their pacifiers had lower levels of immunoglobulin antibodies between the ages of 10 and 18 months. This antibody is directly linked to the onset of asthma and allergies, so the fewer the better.

The study was conducted at 128 months old; 53 of them used soap and water to wash their pacifiers, 30 used sterilizers like dishwashers or boiled them in water, and 9 of them licked them clean. The study clearly shows that babies receive beneficial bacteria from their parents that can help prevent future illnesses.

 "While we can't say there's a cause-and-effect relationship, we can say that the microbes a child is exposed to early in life will affect the development of their immune system," says Eliane Abou-Jaoude, MD, allergist and lead author of the study, on the institution's website.

The study also agrees with another conducted in 2013 in Sweden, which came to the same conclusion: babies have a lower risk of developing allergies if their pacifiers are licked by their parents. This study, conducted with 184 mothers, also demonstrated that bacteria passed from mother to child were beneficial and protected the baby from disease.

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An American researcher Jack Gilbert says in his book Dirt is Good, in 2017 that we don't need to worry about washing the child's pacifier or not, he should take it and put it straight in his mouth because dirt is good for the little ones' bodies.

 "This way, she will be exposed to microbes and even some type of dirt, which will stimulate and train her immune system," he said in an interview on the subject with a North American television network.