Over the years I have heard many arguments over the need to sterilize everything when new baby arrives. Well we are 5 months into new baby, and while we do sterilize bottles and teats and boil water before making the formula, we don't actually 'sterilize' the home. Who has the time?
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It seems, that dirt just may be good for our little ones. Now before you dash off and serve up a bowl of dirt for breakfast, lets clarify dirt. Kids, especially when they first learn to crawl, are forever putting things in their mouth. Its natural, its normal, its part of learning. What hasn't been known for very long is that during this process the child is also ingesting bacteria - yes, both good and bad.
Now the bad bacteria can make them sick. However, the good bacteria actually have life-long benefits. These bacteria, once they get into the gut, help to break proteins in food that can be toxic to us - hence the allergic reaction. If we sterilize everything then we kill both the good and the bad bacteria.
Back to the dirt. I don't know if I want my little ones eating dirt. These days you don't exactly know where the dirt has comes from, what contaminates it may have, and what long term effect they may have. But plain dirt in minute quantities is supposedly good for them. A real quandary.
These days, I let my little play in the dirt, if they eat some,well I say yuk, but I don't go out of my way to stop them. We clean the house, but only undertake basic sterilization practices - toilet, bathroom, bottles etc. If they get a little tummy upset, well it may actually be doing them more good than harm.
I have one final little question. We use a powdered formula for our little one. We wash and sterilize the bottles and teats etc. We boil the water as required. However there are two areas that now intrigue me. The first, when you open a new tin, you have to go digging for the measured scoop - now that cannot be exactly hygienic. Secondly, here in QLD Australia, it is very warm now, summer is approaching, its very humid as well. After I open a tin of formula, this hot moist air is then trapped inside the tin until I next open the lid - I wonder how many bugs are living in that warm moist air trapped inside the tin.
Makes you wonder.
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And What About Breastfeeding Mothers??
Breastfeeding mothers don't sterilize their breasts before feeding. I'd like to see them stick these delicate appendages in a container of sterilizing solution, or even into a pot of boiling water.
I understand that formula grows bacteria, as does any food/drink, but think of this. The breasts often leak the excess of milk off, and this is then kept against the skin of the breast for a while, which means bacteria will grow. The breasts, being part of the body, have a temp of around 37.6 degrees (slightly warmer due to being a production machine).
Why then do even breastfeeding mothers feel the need to sterilize their homes into cold enviornments? Why don't they sterilize their own breasts? Because they have never been told they need to, so why go nuts with the house?
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