Sticks and stones might break my bones…but a little dirt won’t really hurt me. We can all agree that times have changed from when our parents raised us. Everything from taking prenatal vitamins to the way our babies sleep has changed. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the need to wash our child’s hands as often as possible to avoid the spread of germs and prevent illnesses. Or has it?

There is a fairly new “hypothesis” out there that raised my eyebrows. The hygiene hypothesis suggests that organisms that enter the body along with “dirt” spur the development of a healthy immune system. Furthermore, continuing studies suggest that WORMS may help to redirect an immune system that has gone awry and resulted in autoimmune disorders, allergies, and asthma. Huh? I spent the first whole year of Ilan’s life hovering down his neck ready to snatch anything and everything that he attempted to put in his mouth. I wasn’t always as fast at my “hovering” as I should have been. This is confirmed by the hospital bills we are STILL paying for. Ilan was in the hospital twice in 3 months. The first time because he caught a virus somehow. Hmmmm! And the second time because he got Salmonella poisoning somehow. Hmmmm! Could it have been that he put something in his mouth that had the germs, virus, or bacteria that resulted in our admittance into the hospital? I think so.

Read more about the Hygiene Hypothesis here. This is actually a really interesting article. I buy it. But my husband, Jorge, doesn’t. Until we can agree, the only “dirt” and “worms” Ilan will be eating will look like this…

Mmmmm! not Hmmmm!

-Victoria

Tags: dirt, hygiene hypothesis, immune system, worms

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 10:10 am and is filed under Victoria's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.