Baby Swimming and Wheezing in Children of Allergic or Asthmatic Moms

Filed in archive Allergy: Research and Development , Asthma , Living with Allergies on April 16, 2008

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If you are a new mom, and you have (or had) allergies or asthma, you might want to wait a bit before you let your child participate in baby swimming lessons. A new study indicates that children with mothers who have allergies or asthma have an increased risk of wheezing in the chest if they take part in baby swimming before 6 months of age.

Among children of mothers with asthma and allergy, 44 percent of those who did not go swimming had tightness or wheezing in the chest. This was compared to the 47 percent of children who swam and experienced tightness and wheezing who had mothers with asthma and allergies.

- The difference is not large but it indicates a tendency to respiratory problems, says Wenche Nystad, primary author and Department Director at the NIPH's Division of Epidemiology.

Source: Norwegian Institute of Public Health