I Can't Kiss The Baby?

Over the last week many people have been led to believe that kissing babies could cause peanut allergy. The immunologists cited in the article warn that kissing babies who have eczema, right after you've eaten peanut, increases the risk of the baby developing peanut allergy. They continued to say that though kissing was an important part of childhood development, kisses with a high volume of saliva should be avoided ... not sure what the volume threshold is but I suspect that most of the kisses you give your kids are just fine.

There are many related stories to the release of this news from LEAP and it consistently seems that the real news is that there appears to be a definitive link between peanut allergy and eczema.

While sensational kisses are getting the headlines, albeit those with high volumes of saliva, there really is profound news here: babies with eczema are at greater risk to develop a peanut allergy.

But this is not the full story ... it is yet to be determined whether the children who go on to develop peanut allergy are genetically predisposed to peanut allergy or if the childhood exposure combined with eczema is a 'cause'. Best to err on the safe side and practice avoidance of course, but I look forward to a day when this question is answered.