For older babies, at least 9-12mo, I think it’s perfectly acceptable to “suck off” a dirty pacifier in an emergency out of the house (as in only binky, kid will turn head 360 and levitate if not put back in mouth w/in 15 seconds, and it just fell on the floor of a very public area). Adult saliva has defensive enzymes and most importantly, sIgA, the Ig that a child this age has the least of (we’ll ignore IgE for obvious reasons). So while some new bugs may (will) be transferred, so too are some increased defenses.

This leads to another important issue, one of immunologic development. Pretty much coinciding with the “oral” phase of 0-2 years is the most important time of the neonate’s thymus as developing T-cells are going through major, grueling “boot camp” and being released. The more immunologic challenges that can occur during this period, the more equipped the host defenses will be. Obviously, a balance must be struck here–we’re still talking about an immature immune system overall. However, all the ‘cooties’ the little one picks up putting things in his/her mouth is part of a necessary process. The extreme version of this is the child raised by germophobic parents who never gets challenged by ANYTHING like a “bubble baby,” then unleashed on to the world as an older toddler, will be a miserably sick child indeed.

Am I off base here? Surely there’s something in the above you can agree with? Please?

BTW, when my two-year old drops food on the floor (which is like, almost never?!) and we’re not close to a garbage can, I pick it up off the floor and sometimes eat it myself. Provided it’s something good, like a cookie or a cracker with no spit on it. I have no idea why. Do you? Do you really think my child could be experimenting on me?

Moof: Geographic tongue has to do with some sort of code sent by the gods. If you put everyone side-by-side who has geographic tongue, it will make a topographical map of where Noah’s ark is hidden.

Smak: Very good! I suppose you can use a battery and charge it up using some sort of pass-through suction device. More to the point, I think children as a whole are an untapped resource. The energy they expend could be well-used for decreasing dependence on foreign oil. Some sort of motion-activated dynamo would seem to be the best thing. Stick it in the pants of a 2-year old. I do believe the children are our future. Hook them up and let them lead the way.

If you help me figure this out, I’ll split the earnings with you.

I’ve always thought that if we could somehow harness the energy that a baby puts into sucking on those binkies, we’d be much less dependent on fossil fuels. Some sort of super-binky-generator, in the vein of wind energy. But this won’t interfere with migratory bird patterns, or the Kennedy’s views off of Nantucket.

You heard it here first.

Dr. Smak

While I have your attention … I want the little stars back. I liked clicking them! I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight without getting my clicky-thing in for the day!

Re pacifiers, or “plugs,” as we always called them, I never licked one. Just the thought … *cough* … anyway, my daughter, as an infant (she doesn’t use plugs anymore now that she’s a mommy too) ended up with something called a “geographic tongue” from doing that gravity thing with her plug too often. Is that because the plug was well traveled?