To think dad should have stopped babies touching handrails on the tube and then sticking their hands in their mouth after?

Thanks for guidance - but been there, seen it, done it, got the t-shirt!

Disorders aside, it's still important for people to protect themselves. Sanitiser doesn't kill all germs and baby wipes certainly don't! So not 'better than nothing' by a long way.

Respectfully, if you think that's sufficient, it's no wonder so many bugs go around.

If you ever have a baby, because there's no possible way you already do, then never go to toddler group, and never ever ever go to soft play. The amount of dribbling and licking of everything that goes on in the those places would probably cause you to combust.

These posts always make me think of my mum who was such a clean freak. One day she had finished cleaning the kitchen floor and thrown the dirty floor rag into a bucket in the utility then gotten distracted by the phone. She returned to the kitchen where she found my baby brother had crawled into the utility and was sitting on the dog's bed sucking the floor rag 😂

He survived - of course!

I was never overzealous about things like this when my DD was a baby. She's pretty healthy now at 28 yrs old. Has only been sick maybe 3 or 4 times in her life.

At least it wasn't the other way around. Now that would have been disgusting.

SARS spread through an entire floor of a building just from one button in the lift.
I am immunosuppressed and I clean my hands frequently when using public transport and I never eat without washing or cleaning my hands.
I taught my dc to do the same and, honestly, We hardly had any tummy bugs in our house.

A construction worker! 😱 How horrendous.

Is that worse than someone who works in a bank scratching their arse?

You’re being ridiculous. Regardless of where you are, if you’re in public then communal surfaces are going to be covered in germs. It’s totally unreasonable to think that at some point anyone - child or not - won’t touch something and then at some point put their fingers in their mouth after. Unless you’re constantly sanitising your hands (which in itself isn’t good for you) , you’ve probably done it yourself. Granted the tube will be especially dirty but germs are germs. Mind your own business! Also consider how appreciative you would be if a stranger had approached you in public with such helpful advice. SMH.

I once saw a Mum pick up a very young baby's soother from the tube floor and stick it back in his mouth 🤮

Well if that’s the worst they get ….

YABU what a stupid thing to be judging people you don't even know over.

I've spent many a tube ride telling my kid to stop sucking her thumb after she's touched it and following her round with sanitiser. I've given up. It's not killed her

That’s awful that you weren’t believed and were fined for your kids being unwell.

Viruses , stomach bugs etc - all the things that have meant they’ve had either high fevers with illness or d and v. It happened so much that in the end school didn’t believe us and obviously with d and v you don’t see the gp so we didn’t have proof and it was marked as unauthorised so we got fined.

We are pressure so this is the only thing I can think of to try and limit illnesses

@TawnyT lots of illnesses are spread through touch norovirus and influenza to name two and I don't particularly want either.

There's a big jump from responsible and reasonable hand hygiene and OCD or other behaviours and conditions that limit your life as you are so preoccupied by picking up pathogens.

If I was eating out I'd wash my hands before I ate and have trust in the people cooking and handling my food that they follow good food hygiene practices.

Using a public bathroom I just wash my hands after.

I wash my hands when I get home from being out and about if I've been touching things or handling cash. I'm not a fan of hand sanitizer as it dries my skin out but that's always an option after being on public transport or using an ATM.

I'm not an anxious person but good hygiene is just a basic method of preventing diseases, surely that's a lesson everyone learnt during COVID there are still plenty of opportunities to pick up communicable diseases and building up and maintaining immune system throughout the rest of the day, even if you wash your handsor avoid touching high touch areas like doors, ATM buttons, not eating bar snacks etc

Whilst baby's are meant to explore and put random things in their mouths modern living forces us into situations that are not natural for us, a neanderthal baby was never on a tube surrounded by hundreds of strangers that don't share their immune make up. It's well known that people that are in cramped conditions and high populations lead to more illnesses, TB is less of a concern in the UK but is common enough in other areas of the world.

Genuinely interested in what OP and those who agree with OP, think is going to happen. Like what do you think you're preventing by only touching surfaces others have touched with your elbows? Are there any particular viruses or diseases you think are transferred in this manner?

And how do you do other daily tasks, like eating out where someone else has prepared your food, or using a public bathroom? Handling cash?

Do you find being out in public stressful? It just feels like a very anxiety inducing line of thought and I don't understand the logic.

My mum was a total germophobe so we all grew into grotty little rat beasts that eat off the floor

IME, there's a very high correlation between parents who obsess over germs and are forever chucking hand sanitiser about and those parents who are baffled when their children come home from nursery or school with every illness going.

Toddler might have touched something nasty, but nothing happens? No harm, no foul.

Funny the worst sickness bug we've had as a family was summer 2021 when hand sanitiser was everywhere, normally I avoid it unless in hospitals, but we were using it at that point, and its the only one that's floored us all.

Babies are meant to explore and be exposed to germs.

YABU.

You read some real crazy shit on here.

I remember when my baby was licking the wheels of his pram 😆🤮

It’s a difficult one because - assuming you mean a toddler that was walking - they need to be taught to use hand rails for safety so sometimes things like the licking happen before you can do anything about it apart from use it as an opportunity to tell your child not to lick their hands

Poor poor kids. We have generations growing up with insane levels of so-called ‘hygiene’ from obsessive anxious parents. It never used to be like this.

Why on earth do you all change your clothes as soon as you arrive home??? What illness exactly are you trying to prevent?

And then the next step is health anxiety. MN is full of this. It’s more unhealthy than the germs…

I have raised two kids to adulthood in London without carrying hand sanitiser, and without them ever getting norovirus 💪

I’d be more wound up if the baby was licking the handrails. If they want to put gross stuff in their mouths, more power to them, but don’t add spit to all the germs already on the rails 😂