To Lick or Not to Lick?

Dropping a pacifier on the ground, usually numerous times an hour, is one of the most popular hobbies for babies and toddlers.  I’m convinced that there is a secret Drop Your Paci Society where babies can earn points for the number of times per day that they fling their pacis, forcing Mom and/or Dad to stoop down and find it, clean it off, and restore to Fussy Baby’s mouth.

Extra points are scored for dropping the paci on wet and dirty surfaces, or for flinging them hard enough to lodge it in hard-to-reach places. Superstar babies have learned to disengage the paci clips that came with baby shower gifts even when Mom has only turned her back for a second.

So what do you do when your child drops their paci on the floor? Do you retrieve it, wash it thoroughly in hot soapy water and return it to your child? That doesn’t work well when you are out and about. Do you carry a fanny pack full of pacis so you can quickly replace the dirty one with a clean one? Or are you one of the less germophobic parents who simply wipe the paci clean on a burp cloth or even your jeans? Or are you a renegade who actually licks the paci clean?

GROSS! (Did you just think that?) Does the idea of licking a dirty paci and returning it to your child’s mouth make you feel a little ill? Well, it turns out, that cleaning a paci with your own saliva and giving it back to your baby may actually keep him or her from getting sick! Seriously? Yes, it’s true.

A study of 184 Swedish infants (those crazy Swedes) published in the journal Pediatrics showed that babies whose parents licked their pacis clean were less likely to develop allergic conditions like eczema and asthma because their parent’s saliva altered the biome (collection of helpful bacteria) in their mouths.

The American Dental Association (ADA) disagrees with the conclusions of this study, saying that it is limited in scope and doesn’t take into consideration the effect that the bacteria in the parent’s mouth may have on baby’s emerging teeth.

“A child’s teeth are susceptible to decay as soon as they begin to erupt,” said Dr. Jonathan Shenkin, a pediatric dentist in Maine and a pediatric dental spokesperson for the ADA. “Cavity-causing bacteria, especially Streptococcus mutans, can be transferred from adult saliva to children that may increase their risk of developing cavities.”

So what is a parent to do? Do we lick and have kids with rotted teeth or not lick and end up with wheezy kids? I guess the answer is the general answer I rely on for most parenting dilemmas – Moderation is the key in everything (or use lots of mouthwash!).