Daycare Increases Allergy Risk?

Filed in archive Living with Allergies on May 8, 2006

My son attended daycare short after he turned one. Could this have contributed to his allergies? I'm not convinced, since he showed allergic symptoms at around 6 months, when we tried to introduce him to solid food. But if the new Swedish study is to be believed, they say putting your child in daycare could increase his allergy risks.

Researchers say they have a 75 percent higher risk for developing a doctor diagnosed hay fever, a 2 percent higher risk of developing a food allergy and are 23 percent more likely to be diagnosed with asthma.

A lot of people say that while children who attend daycare do get sick more often because of exposure, this early infections may toughen up their immune systems, and may therefore later on protect them from further infections. The authors of the study said, however, that daycare attendance did not show any signs of protection against allergic diseases til the kids were 6 years old.