When I was pregnant with my first child I remember (every so often) having some weird cravings, and then at one point my entire “sense of taste” changed. Things I had LOVED before I was pregnant made me cringe and stuff that I would have never eaten before made my mouth water.

The reason I bring this up is due to an interesting study stating that “…pregnant women who eat nuts or nut products like peanut butter daily raise the risk their children will develop asthma by 50 percent.”

Luckily for me, my husband manages to eat all peanuts, almonds, cashews or anything else that goes well with a cold beer before I even know its in the house, and I have never been crazy for PB&J. But I know that there are thousands of people who eat peanut butter or “nut-based” products daily!

On the plus side the study also showed that moderate amounts did not seem to have an effect, so I suppose it’s too soon to say whether or not pregnant women should give up nuts completely - especially since they contain a lot of important nutrients and healthy fats that a developing fetus needs.

You can read the full report Here

As new parents, one of the questions you may have is whether you need to wash your babys clothes in special detergent? I know that for the first 9 or 10 months, we washed all my sons clothes with Dreft because we didnt want to use the “normal” detergent on his clothes and blankets. But that was merely personal preference.

It really boils down to your own personal preference, family history and any skin reactions after your baby arrives. As it stands, most of the special detergents are different in the sense that they are scent free and use fewer ingredients that may be likely to irritate sensitive skin. Although some of these detergents have a light scent to them that can be described as that “class baby” smell.

On the other hand, you can certainly wash your baby’s clothes in regular detergent, but keep an eye out and make sure your baby doesn’t have any allergic reactions or skin irritation afterwards.

A recent article published by a German research institute lays claims to the theory that growing up with a pet can train the immune system to be less sensitive to certain triggers for allergies like asthma, eczema and hay fever.

“Our results show clearly that the presence of a dog in the home during subjects’ infancy is associated with a significantly low level of sensitization to pollens and inhaled allergens,” said Joachim Heinrich of the National Research Centre for Environmental Health in Munich.

This idea has been talked about for years. I know that when I was growing up, my father would tell me that doing yard work would help me get over my allergies… and who was I to disagree. Although looking back at it, once the work was done and I walked inside with a runny nose and my eyes swollen shut - I certainly didn’t feel as If I’d conquered my allergies. Hmm…

You can read more about the study here.