Teacher Believes Kids Are Getting Sicker Because Parents Are Keeping Them Too Isolated From Germs As Infants
Would you let someone kiss your newborn?
Ground Picture | Shutterstock It is a parent’s job to protect their children from anything that may pose a threat to them, including contagious illnesses that could compromise their health.
However, have modern-day parents gone too far shielding their children from germs that they will eventually be exposed to? One teacher seems to think so.
The teacher claimed that kids are getting sicker since their parents do not expose them to any germs as infants.
The teacher’s observation came in response to a viral video of a grandma holding her newborn granddaughter. In the video, the grandma asks the baby’s parents if she is allowed to kiss her on the top of her head. Before she can even finish her question, the parents jump in with a firm “NO.”
“If your face gets closer than it is right now, I have to remove her [from your arms],” the baby’s mom can be heard saying.
The teacher’s husband, Robbie Harvey, responded to the grandma’s video, admitting that he “doesn’t know how to feel” about the parents’ rules, believing that they may be doing their daughter more harm than good.
“My wife is a teacher, and she says that lately, over the past couple of years, they’re seeing more kids get sicker,” he said in his own TikTok video. “And when they get sick, they’re out longer because the illnesses seem to be more severe.”
According to the man’s wife, the reason that children are getting sicker for longer is because modern-day parents have completely isolated their children from germs, weakening their immune systems.
"I completely respect this mother's decision," he said of the original video. "But I believe there are health benefits from physical touch from the people who love you."
He questioned if there is truly any health benefit from "taking away the love of a grandmother," as he put it.
Some commenters claimed that a newborn’s immune system is far too fragile to expose them to any kind of germs.
“My 3-month-old was diagnosed with RSV and life flighted to a children's hospital three hours away, after a family member kissed them (and was diagnosed two days after the incident)," one TikTok user shared. "Absolutely no kissing."
“When they’re tiny, they’re still developing their immune systems. I was like that with my two who were born during 'sick season.' I let people hold them but not kiss them,” another commenter shared.
Halfpoint | Shutterstock
“There’s a difference between childhood exposure and newborn exposure when they don't even have an immunity to fight something off in the first place,” a third user added.
Other parents in the comments insisted that worrying less about germs made their children’s immune systems stronger.
“My kids are little farmers, in the dirt, cleaning animals," one commenter wrote. "I let my family kiss my babies and fed them as babies what I ate, and they have no allergies and have never taken an antibiotic."
“I never kept my kids away from family and friends. Basically from birth, they were out around people and germs. They are rarely sick,” another user shared.
Babies, especially newborns, are more at risk of infections and illness.
Johns Hopkins Medicine pointed out that "newborns have not had time to develop their immune system, so they are at higher risk for developing infections from both bacteria and viruses." This includes serious infections, such as sepsis and meningitis, especially because they have not yet gotten vaccinations.
They advise against allowing people to kiss newborns and stress the importance of good hygiene practices when introducing new people to your baby. "Anybody with fevers, runny noses, coughs, diarrhea, or other symptoms should not visit the baby until they are resolved completely," the added.
No parent wants to see their baby sick. However, germ exposure is inevitable, and shielding them for most of their early lives will do more harm than good. It is important to strike a balance between overbearing isolation and complete disregard for the risks associated with germs.
At the end of the day, it is the parent's decision. If someone tells you not to kiss their child, do not kiss their child. It's not up to you to decide what germs they are allowed to encounter.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.