Here’s one more argument for avoiding antibiotics in young children unless they’re truly needed.

   A new study has found that infants younger than 12 months who have had antibiotics may be more likely to develop asthma when they get older. 

   Researchers at the University of British Columbia looked at seven studies that compared kids who hadn’t had antibiotics before age 1 to those who had. In some of those studies, kids who had been given antibiotics were nearly three times more likely to develop asthma than those who hadn’t. 

   In other studies, the odds were about the same for each group.
   The analysis was published in the March issue of CHEST, the professional journal of the American College of Chest Physicians. 

   Parents shouldn’t panic if their kids have been treated with antibiotics as babies, said Holly Molberg, a pediatrician at Southwest Children’s Clinic in West Jordan. 

   ”I wouldn’t be too alarmed,” she said. “They found an association. We don’t know if it’s cause and effect.”
   Researchers acknowledged that they don’t know exactly what the relationship is, only that treatment with at least one antibiotic as an infant appears to be associated with the development of childhood asthma.
   The association may point to some common factor among kids who had the antibiotics, said Dave Folland, a pediatrician at Mountain View Pediatrics in Sandy. 

   ”It may be that children who eventually get asthma tend to get more bacterial infections and therefore are more likely to get antibiotics,” he said.
   The most important thing for parents to remember is that antibiotics are effective only against bacterial infections - such as a urinary tract infection or strep throat - and not the common cold.
   ”With a true or serious bacterial infection, especially in the first year of life,
antibiotics can be lifesaving and can save a child a lot of pain and complications,” he said. “Out of desire to have their child well, some parents hope for something to make them better, including antibiotics.”