Expectant parents no longer need to give away the family pet for fear their baby might develop asthma from being around the pet.
A Swedish study suggests that infants who are exposed to puppies and ponies by age six may be a at less risk to develop asthma, Reuters reports.
The study revealed that exposure to dogs during infancy was linked with a 13 percent lower risk of asthma in school-age children, while exposure to a farm was linked to a 52 percent risk reduction.
"To let children have a pet in their home is likely to enrich the family life in many ways, and perhaps also enriches the child's microbiome and immune system," lead study author Tove Fall of Uppsala University in Sweden said by email.
For the study, Fall and colleagues studied data on more than one million children born in Sweden from 2001 through 2010.
The authors found that exposure to dogs and farm animals during the first year of life cut the risk of asthma for preschoolers, too.
Preschoolers had a 10 percent lower risk of asthma if they'd been exposed to dogs, and a 21 percent lower risk with exposure to farm animals.
Exposure to animals did not seem to protect children under age three.
The author said that the study did not expect to pinpoint why the animals might be linked to a reduced asthma risk.
"It might be due to a single factor or more likely, a combination of several factors related to dog ownership lifestyle or dog owner's attitudes, such as kids' exposure to household dirt and pet dust, time spent outdoors or being physically active," Fall said.
"As a parent in a dog and baby household, it is nearly impossible to keep everything clean, and maybe this is a good thing for your baby's future health," Fall added.
Dr. Frank Virant, an allergy researcher at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital said that the children who are exposed to dogs or farm animals might be exposed to bacteria linked with lower risk of bacteria.
