Dúvida existencial

Agora que a pequena criatura está quase a gatinhar eu questiono-me:
será boa ideia andar a limpar o chão mais frequentemente ou assim como assim até é boa a porcaria para ele criar muitos anticorpos e tal?

Can you be too clean?

If you're looking at a trail of crumbs over the floor and feeling guilty, or letting the dog slobber all over your toddler, or not keeping your house spotlessly clean all the time, you can stop worrying. Though your baby may have a few more colds now than her peers living in spotless environments, she may be less likely to suffer chronic problems with asthma and allergies later in life, according to the latest research.

Over the past few decades, there has been a huge increase in the numbers of children with asthma and allergies worldwide, particularly in developed countries. In 1989, an epidemiologist writing in the British Medical Journal suggested that the rise in allergies might be due to declining family sizes and higher standards of cleanliness; these two circumstances provide young children with less exposure to germs. This, in turn, is thought to give children's still-developing immune systems less practice in fighting off intruders. The result, the theory goes, is that the under-challenged immune system wants to be used, so it becomes primed to see harmless substances like dust and pollen as dangerous invaders, leading to allergies and asthma.

Recent studies show that there may be some truth to this idea, which has come to be known in medical circles as "the hygiene hypothesis". In 1997, a study of almost 12,000 families in England and Scotland found that the more children a family had, the less the incidence of asthma. A May 2000 study in an American journal reported that among almost 1,200 teenagers in Canada, those who grew up on farms were 40 per cent less likely to have asthma than their urban and suburban counterparts.

And in a more comprehensive study, scientists at the University of Arizona followed a group of 1,035 children from infancy until they were as old as 13. They found that among babies under six months, those who had older siblings or were in nursery were more likely to have asthma symptoms such as wheezing. But after the age of six, these same children were 40 per cent less likely to be suffering from asthma.

"What do siblings, animals, and nursery have in common?" asks Dr Thomas Ball, assistant professor of Clinical Paediatrics at the University of Arizona and one of the authors of the study. It sounds unpleasant, but the answer is probably contact with trace amounts of faeces. Ball speculates that what actually causes that decrease in asthma later isn't actually the number of infections a baby has, but rather the amount of contact she has with endotoxins, which are substances that are given off by bacteria when they die. Faeces are loaded with them.

But the important thing to note from Ball's study is that the window of opportunity for affecting the developing immune system seems to occur during the first year of life. Research has shown that a baby's immune system begins preparing for microbial onslaught even before birth, with the placenta acting as a filter that lets through small amounts of innocuous allergens and microbes. Babies, it seems, are born ready to have their immune systems challenged.

So don't stress too much about the various bugs your baby may be encountering at nursery or from the family pet. They may be the best thing for her in the long run!

in babycenter.co.uk

sinto-me:

tags: desenvolvimento do bebé, gatinhar

publicado por Claudia Borralho às 20:16

link do post | comentar | favorito

5 comentários:

De cc a 21 de Novembro de 2007 às 09:23

Como tens uns gatos de peluchia, que largam mais pêlo que eu sei lá, talvez fosse melhor limpares mais vezes... se não, qualquer dia o meu afilhado escorrega nessa alcatifa de pêlo, e vai de nariz ao chão ;-D

responder a comentário

De nes a 21 de Novembro de 2007 às 17:11

Ainda no outro dia uma médica que é casa com um pediatra estava a contar como tinha sido com as filhas, que ela era maníaca das limpezas, mas que o marido dizia para ela não limpar mais do que limpava antes (ou o essencial pra casa não se tornar uma lixeira), porque é bom o contacto com todo o tipo de coisas :)

responder a comentário

De May a 22 de Novembro de 2007 às 00:01

Pois também não sei. A verdade é que não há certezas. E nesse artigo não falam do factor poluição que está também relacionado com as alergias e as asmas tão comuns nos países desenvolvidos e nos centros urbanos.

Mas dá-me ideia que poderá haver um fundo de verdade aí. Talvez uma abordagem pelo meio-termo seja o mais lógico.

responder a comentário

De xilileca a 22 de Novembro de 2007 às 10:50

Eu não tenho gatos nem cães, acredito que se os tivesse teria mais cuidado, que é o que acontece quando estou em casa da minha mãe que tem cão e gato, mais pelos perigos de engolir pelos do que pelas alergias, o meu irmão era muito alérgico aos pelos dos animais e o alergologista nunca nos disse para darmos os bichos, apenas aconselhou a que não dormissem connosco.

responder a comentário

De Mãe do Miguel Afonso a 24 de Novembro de 2007 às 11:27

Tem uma certa lógica.

Bjs,
Ana

responder a comentário

Comentar post