At age 13, 38 percent of the thumb-suckers and/or nail biters had an allergy sensitivity compared with 49 percent of their non-thumb-sucking, nail-biting peers. Some 40 percent of children who had only one “bad habit” had an allergy, but 31 percent of those that had both habits had an allergy.
For parents, does this mean they should go out and encourage their children to suck their thumbs or bite their nails?
No, says Dr. Mai Duong a pediatrician and co-chief of pediatrics at Austin Regional Clinic. With thumb-sucking and nail-biting, parents do have to worry about tissue and skin infections, Duong says. “The human mouth is never clean,” she says.
While this study might give parents of thumb-suckers and nail-biters some reassurance, not enough is known about the hygiene hypothesis. “We don’t know enough about what exposure is good,” she says. And, of course, there are some germs you don’t want any exposure to at all.
Duong doesn’t see the American Academy of Pediatrics and Pediatricians changing their recommendations on the level of cleanliness you should give your child. Even with this study and previous studies, Duong recommends parents take precautions especially for newborns. That means sterilizing pacifiers and bottles. It means washing your hands before and after a diaper change. And it means washing around a baby’s nose and mouth, especially those first three months.
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