On Germs

Posted in Father Philosophy | 5 comments

What germs am I meant to be avoiding again?

Here’s another question: Is western, industrialized culture too germophobic?  After seeing Namibian baby Ponijao sip out of some random stream, and OM NOM NOM on a chicken bone he found in the dirt, these are the questions I have been asking myself lately.

All indications so far seem to show that Ponijao, along with millions of other third world babies are living and thriving, all without the aid of the newest anti-bacterial wipes and soaps. Are they at greater risk of contracting something due to harmful bacteria? My ill-informed common sense meter* indicates that because they are exposed to harmful bacteria more often, they probably get sick more frequently.

I’ve heard another theory thrown about though, one that also makes sense to me: Germ exposure is beneficial to a baby’s growing immune system. I had to hit up Google to find out if this was just an old wives tale or not, turns out it’s real, and it’s called the Hygiene Hypothesis.

As an adult I am not as worried about either germs or dirt. The only major change (hygiene-wise) since Cole arrived  is that I am much better about washing my hands than I used to be (because honestly, who knows where these hands have been? I probably couldn’t accurately or honestly account for them 25% of the time).

Exception! When we are out in public. We have yet to run into the situation where I would have to break out my made-up-brazillian-ju-jitzu yet, but I am fully on guard at keeping strangers a respectable distance when cooing at Cole. No need to introduce brand new germs from new people (who I lovingly refer to as “the infected”).

The basic rule we seem to have come up with is that if it’s in the house, if Mommy is exposed to it regularly, we are not going to stress about it all that much. We might feel differently about this if either of us were sickly as kids or as adults, but we both seem to be from pretty sturdy stock.  Additionally, we (and by we I mean Christine) breastfeed, which bolsters Cole’s immune system much better than if he were formula fed. Basically, antibodies are passed to Cole any time Christine is exposed to germs.

I think what I’m getting at, fellow dads, the message you should really be taking from this post, is that if you are a new father of a child who is being breast-fed, it is your duty to cough in your wife’s face. For the sake of the baby**.

The more serious question I have for you though: Am I right-thinking on this issue? As a new dad, I could use some views from the peanut gallery on what you parents are/were thinking with regards to germs.

Helpful Links:
Are germs good for children’s health?
In Defence Of Dirt

*The common sense meter is used often at Casa de Gilberts.

**For the love of God, don’t really cough in your wife’s face. And if you are dumb enough to actually do that, don’t rat me out as the guy who put you up to it, ya tattletale.