For years parents have been warned not to share any utensils with their babies and especially not clean their babies' pacifier by putting their mouths on them. These actions were considered harmful because of the spreading of germs between parent and child.

However according to the New York Times, in a new study published on Monday, scientist found that infants whose parents sucked on their pacifier to clean them can develop fewer allergies than children whose parents rinse or broil their pacifiers to get them clean.

Parents who do this also have children with lower rates of eczema, fewer signs of asthma and smaller amounts of a type of white blood cell that rises in response to allergies and other disorders.

The findings add to growing evidence that some degree of exposure to germs at an early age benefits children. It furthermore states that microbial deprivation might backfire and actually prevent the child's immune system from developing a tolerance to trivial threats.

The study, which took place in Sweden, did not prove that the pacifiers laden with parents' saliva were the direct link to the reduction of allergies. However Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University said that the practice of using salvia as a cleansing tool may be marker for parents who are generally more relaxed about shielding their children from dirt and germs.

"It's a very interesting study that adds to this idea that a certain kind of interaction with the microbial environment is actually a good thing for infants and children"

"I wonder if the parents that cleaned the pacifiers orally were just more accepting of the old saying that you've got to eat a peck of dirt. Maybe they just had a less 'disinfected' environment in their homes."

But Dr. Joel Berg, president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry expressed his reservations about this study and said that the findings are misguided, "I think, like any new study, this is going to be challenged and questioned."

"But what it points out pretty clearly is that we are yet to fully discover the many and varied benefits of saliva."

The study was published in the journal Pediatrics on May 6th.