A Finnish study has recently looked into dates babies were born to see if some are more prone to allergies than others. The study was published in 2010 but involved children born between April 2001 and March 2006.
Their results showed that positive food allergies were more common in babies born in October to November, and less common in babies born in June and July. The main allergies were to milk and eggs. This research has come up with some interesting results but it still leaves the question as to why? The researchers are suggesting that these Autumnal babies maybe more susceptible to allergies as the foetal immune development (first trimester) is happening around the time of the high pollen season. This is only a suggestion and there may be other factors to rule out which can only be confirmed with more research. However they are interesting findings, yet they are only specific to the area in Finland they were carried out in, it will now be interesting to see if any other countries try to test the same theory.
Another proposal was these babies born close to winter are more likely exposed to viral infections, which could possibly increase the risk of them having allergies. The researchers did not look into this hypothesis.
These results on their own are not strong enough to make couples prevent pregnancies in a high pollen season.
So do any of your children have allergies (especially to milk and eggs)? When were they born?
Also if these results were proven again in multiple countries, would it make you consider exactly when to conceive?
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