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349 points zdw | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.52s | source
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forgotoldacc ◴[] No.45652698[source]
There was a period of a few decades (I guess still ongoing, really) where parents sheltered their kids from everything. Playing in the dirt, peanuts, other allergens. It seems like all it's done is make people more vulnerable as adults. People assume babies are super fragile and delicate, and in many ways they are, but they also bounce back quickly.

Maybe part of it is a consequence of the risks of honey, which can actually spawn camp infants with botulism. But it seems that fear spread to everything.

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supportengineer ◴[] No.45653220[source]
I have a great example of this. For our first kid, we had created a Sterile Field in our kitchen for pacifiers, baby bottles, etc. The sanctity of the Sterile Field was never violated. We would wash things by hand and then BOIL them and place them into the Sterile Field. This kid is allergic to tree nuts and a few other things.

For baby number 2, soap and water is enough. There's no time for Sterile Field nonsense. This kid isn't allergic to anything.

There was a local mom who had 4 thriving kids. When their baby dropped the pacifier in the dirt, it just got brushed off and handed back to the baby. I don't think those kids had any allergies.

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0xDEAFBEAD ◴[] No.45654060[source]
I wonder if smearing a bit of probiotics on the pacifier could work even better than dropping it in the dirt?
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IAmBroom ◴[] No.45656372[source]
Probiotics is basically a marketing term, and scientifically meaningless. So: no.
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1. 0xDEAFBEAD ◴[] No.45664656[source]
Citation? I see studies testing the impact of various alleged-probiotic bacteria fairly frequently. What am I missing?
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2. AuryGlenz ◴[] No.45665488[source]
I wouldn't go as far as the commenter above but probiotic strains that we can actually produce are an absolutely tiny fraction of the bacteria that can exist in our gut. There's a reason fecal transplants are a thing, and it's not because they're fun for all involved.