It probably isn't unusual to see the current illness being passed through out a family. Having a large family means more people who could possibly get sick. Is that necessarily a bad thing?
It seems not, because recent asthma studies are showing that babies who are put in day care before the age of six months had lower risks of getting asthma. The studies also show that having siblings also decreases the risks. It appears that children with two are more siblings are at a lower risk than those that didn't have any. The risks drop even lower when the number of siblings is increased to three or more.
Researchers aren't positive what it is about day care or large families that causes the reduced risk of asthma, but one theory is the earlier exposure to bacteria. Could the exposure of bacteria that older siblings provide help improve the immune systems of the younger children? This is definately a possibility.
As the parent of a large family I am definately biased in choosing a large family over day care, to provide my children with the increased benefits of a better immune system. I'll take the minor colds in babies over having my older children suffer worse illnesses in later life. To read more about large families and asthma please see this article in the Washington Post newspaper: The New England Journal of Medicine also has an article entitled "Please, Sneeze on My Child", in their August 24, 2000 issue, Vol. 343, No. 8. |
