If you suck your child’s pacifier clean, there’s no need to be embarrassed. You may actually be helping your kids avoid eczema and asthma, Swedish researchers say…

Other interesting findings from the study and comments in the article:

• Spit-cleaning the binkie had no effect on respiratory illness — meaning babies aren’t more likely to get cold or flu viruses from their parents sucking on the paci.
• Dr. Hesselmar [pediatric allergist] encourages moms to lick the pacifier if a child was delivered through caesarean section. C-section babies don’t receive the hefty dose of microbes that vaginally-delivered babies do and can be more prone to allergies.
• Tots throw their pacifiers on the floor all the time… [but] parents needn’t worry about picking up nasty germs themselves if they stick it in their mouths to clean. “I haven’t heard of anyone getting ill from it,” [Dr. Hesselmar] says. “There isn’t much bacteria on the floor.”

All this is still less gross to me than using that awful nasal suction bulb…