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I am all for baby eating dirt---but honestly LO isn't born yet, so that may change.
I know I ate plenty of dirt as a baby and small child and I turned out pretty well (if I do say so myself).

I don't think you necessarily have to let them eat straight dirt...lol But I know it's not good to be a clean/germ freak when it comes to kids because they won't get immune to things. When things drop on the floor or ground, wipe them off, don't go sterilizing every things that ever falls on the floor or ground, kids need those extra minerals

Nope! I wash, clean & sterilize everything for DD & she's not been sick yet & it almost 11 months old. I mean if she eats a little dirt when she's a bit older well what can you really do? But if I saw it I would stop it.

Maybe not *eat* it by the handfuls, but I'm fine with them playing in it. I have friends whose parents were germaphobes and it seemed like they were always sick. Me? I played in the mud, dirt, sand and rarely got sick.

We've been playing in the yard with LO a lot in the nice weather we've been having and she's not one to stay on the blanket. So she's definitely eaten some dirt. The biggest amount was when I was digging little holes in the garden with a spoon and when I put the spoon down she used it to pick up a mass of dirt to try and eat. She got a mouthful before I got to her.

But in general as long as it's not right on the edge of the yard where dogs might pee or poo and she's not trying to spoon feed herself dirt I'm not really worried about her getting bits or it here or there. Little dirt never hurt.

I don't give DS anything that's dirty, be it his pacifier or food. But I also don't sterilize things, let him play with my shoes, crawl on the ground outside, etc... I haven't ever sterilized his toys and only boiled his pacifiers and bottles when I first got them, to get off any lingering plastic-y chemicals off. Other than that I just hand wash stuff.

Yeah, I don't know about letting my LO eat food that's covered in dirt. I use to sterilize everything like a mad woman when he was newborn (and probably will with baby #2 too). But once he got into the crawling stage, there's nothing you can really do since they're hands are touching everything anyway, including the floor. I don't mind a little dirt here and there, which I think they get exposed to on a daily basis anyway. I just wouldn't purposely feed him dirt.