Sterilization and Disinfection Are Necessary for Keeping Your Children Clean, But…
Do you overdo it when it comes to your children’s hygiene? How many hours a week do you spend sweeping your floors and sterilizing all spaces and toys your child touches? And how many times a day do you insist they wash their hands? How hard do you try to distance them from pets?
Have a look at the most important things you should know in terms of your children’s hygiene:
Over-emphasizing Hygiene Could Hurt Your Children
Have you ever thought about the fact that moderation is key, even when it comes to children’s hygiene?
Maybe it’s time to take that approach. It’s been observed that children who are exposed to allergens and bacteria early in their infancy suffer less from the allergies and asthma later on.
Asthma and immune system specialists stress that excessively clean environments can promote allergies in later stages of children’s lives, especially food allergies and asthma. That’s because they were not exposed to allergens and bacteria at the beginning of their lives.
Rates of Asthma and Allergies Are Higher in Developed Countries
This theory is based on an important observation about the high rates of asthma or, for example, eczema in developed countries, compared with the rates recorded by third world countries where standards of hygiene are looser and more dependent on the immune system.
It was also observed that children brought up on farms were less affected than others by different types of allergies. As a result, specialists translate these results into scientific health standards.
Children’s hygiene experts’ preliminary recommendations for you:
- There’s no harm in your child getting dirty while playing or eating.
- Don’t over-sterilize your child’s hands during the day.
- Avoid antibiotic soap as much as possible, and make sure your child washes with water and soap made of natural ingredients.
- Don’t be afraid to share food or drinking water with your child—as long as you’re not sick, of course.
- Finally, avoid giving your child antibiotics for every health issue, and work with their doctor to treat these cases of illness with as little medication as possible.