Experts: Crawling Babies ‘Kick Up’ Dirt Which Enters Their Lungs — But It’s Actually Good For Them

A research has found that crawling babies ‘kick up’ dirt, skin cells, and bacteria which goes into their lungs — but experts say it’s actually good for them.

Researchers say that when babies crawl, they inhale substances, which include pollen and fungal spores, that are four times what an adult would breathe in walking on the same floor.

They explained that babies’ crawling movement is the one to blame for stirring up the particulate into the air, and that their mouths and nostrils are closer to the floor.

Although it may seem alarming, they said it’s actually good for the babies.

In a research, which is the first of its kind and was published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, lead researcher Brandon Boor of Purdue University in Indiana, US, said that being exposed to these pollutants can actually protect babies.

“Many studies have shown that inhalation exposure to microbes and allergen-carrying particles in that portion of life plays a significant role in both the development of, and protection from, asthma and allergic diseases.

“There are studies that have shown that being exposed to a high diversity and concentration of biological materials may reduce the prevalence of asthma and allergies later in life,” he said.

The team used a robotic crawling baby, which crawled on actual carpet samples they had removed from homes. They then measured and analysed the particulates in the breathing zone.

The results showed that ‘a concentrated cloud of resuspended particles formed around the robot and concentrations around them can be as much as 20 times greater than the levels of material higher in the room.’

Dr Boor explained that since babies cannot block this ‘dust storm’ with their young bodies, the particles make it to ‘the deepest regions of their lungs.’

“For an adult, a significant portion of the biological particles are removed in the upper respiratory system, in the nostrils and throat.

“But for very young children, they more often breathe through their mouths, and a significant fraction is deposited in the lower airways the tracheobronchial and pulmonary regions. The particles make it to the deepest regions of their lungs.” he said.

He added that the high concentration of microbes entering an infant’s body can actually help develop a better immune system.

“Exposure to certain bacterial and fungal species can result in the development of asthma, but numerous studies have shown that when an infant is exposed to a very high diversity of microbes, at a high concentration, they can have a lower rate of asthma later in life.

“Such exposures act to stimulate and challenge your immune system,” Dr Boor said.

British epidemiologist David Strachan first proposed in the late 1980s, the “hygiene hypothesis”, which explains that an super clean environment may suppress the development of the immune system.

Allergists also sometimes refer to this as “the farming effect”.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

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