To ask DH to wash his hands?

I have never once washed my hands before preparing food unless I've just been to the toilet or something.

I always wash my hands when I get in. Funny but the other day I saw a man picking his nose then touching the handle bars on the bus made me feel sick. Your husband isn't a child and should know better. YUK!!

I feel like I live in some kind of alternate universe when I read these threads.

I never wash my hands before eating or when I get home from work. I do wash them after the toilet or when I've been picking up animal poo. I never get sick.

Both my parents worked in a hospital when I was growing up and they didn't wash hands when they came in either.

Same. It's only on Mumsnet I see people who are so obsessed with hand washing.

She says he washes them before he leaves work, so that should be fine!

Dh and I both wash our hands if we’ve been out during the day.

Medical staff may know about hygiene but it doesn’t mean they are superior at handwashing.
I’ve observed a nurse leaving a toilet cubicle and not stop to wash her hands, I worked with a biochemist who did the same and the infection control nurse lived in the filthiest house imaginable.

I always wash my hands straight after coming in. I don’t think YABU. And your husband’s attitude of knowing better on this stinks - is he always this vile towards you 🙄

I cannot believe half the people have said YABU. Not washing hands before touching food is absolutely vile.

We always wash our hands when we return to the house. It's not that I have some deep-seated fear of germs or whatever. That was just the way I was raised and it does cut down the risk of getting sick. A good trick for helping dry sore hands is to slather them in vaseline - don't skimp - put on some disposable rubber gloves and marinade overnight. The next day the vaseline will have disappeared and you have wonderfully moiturised hands.

We always wash our hands when we come in. I change the kitchen hand towel every day, some days twice. We live on a livestock farm, nothing is pristine but hand washing is basic hygiene.

Same. I rarely get colds or stomach bugs.
All the excess hand washing and focus on sterility seems to be correlated with an increase in allergies and susceptibility to infections. I am not advocating for never washing hands, but I am not convinced that it is needed nearly as often as some seem to.

Same.
Also NHS clinician.
I've been washing my hands all day... there is no need to wash your hands when you walk through the door just 'because'.
Unless you've been juggling dog shit on your way home.

Hand washing is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of infections.

Link

It also goes on to say when hands should be washed.

OP and her child have had numerous infections. Her husband works in a hospital with sick people, but doesn't practice the most basic infection control technique, hand washing, before he's handling food. He's cross contaminating their home with pathogens from the hospital. And he's bitching that she wants him to wash his hands before food handling.

As long as you wash your hands after going to the loo or preparing food I don't see the point in washing hands all the time. It's not as though you're going to start sucking your thumb, is it? (If you do, then wash first).

It’s really not ‘excessive hygiene’ to wash your hands when arriving home.

@SENSummer I can appreciate your fears about this but I think overall YABU.

He’s travelled home from work - very few viruses can survive on skin for more than an hour or two. Even if he did wash his hands, he will presumably go on to maybe change his clothes, remove his shoes etc which would then potentially re-contaminate him.

I guess it’s one of those things that people place a lot of emphasis on but which doesn’t really make you safer. Much much much more important for him to wash his hands before handling food though.

Is it? News to me.

I don't wash my hands when I come in from work and I'm rarely ill either.

And I don't exactly have a nice, clean office job. I work outdoors with animals, which would probably give you a fit of the vapours.

Exactly this, and I'm sure most healthcare professionals would agree. Excessive anxiety about "hygiene" is just as damaging as not being hygienic at all.

It wouldn't occur to me to wash my hands when I get home and I haven't had a respiratory infection or sickness bug in about 5 years. Maybe I am a freak of nature or maybe normal germs are part of life and not lurking under every handrail to make you shit your pants

I am absolutely gobsmacked at the people that don’t wash their hands when coming in! It’s basic hygiene. It’s a non negotiable in our house and no one has ever thought it weird or over the top.

I couldn’t imagine coming in from work/the shops/public transport and not washing my hands. Imagine all the grub/germs/bugs you touch when in these places, bringing them into the house? No thanks.

Maybe it’s coincidence or maybe it’s not but all of us are very rarely ill.

It would honestly never occur to me to wash my hands when coming home.

This is why I don’t like eating at my friends house. They don’t wash hands before preparing food, even mine. And their towel is filthy.

I always wash my hands when I arrive home. Too many nasty bugs on public transport handrails, door handles etc. that Ive touched en route home.

They do tests in hospitals taking samples from such places and the infections they find are disgusting, and some are serious ones too that could seriously weaken those with poor immune systems.

Hospital staff should be aware of basic hygiene. Does he somehow not think it applies at home? Sigh. All book learning and no fucking common sense.

Washing his hands is an easy way to make you happy...why is he making it out to be such a huge demand? I agree that he should do it.
But are you bossy to him in general? Is he resentful, and pushing back?

I know washing hands when coming home can split opinion but I’m surprised how many people think OP is unreasonable to want him to wash his hands before touching food other people will eat.

I literally never wash my hands when I come in to the house, it wouldn’t cross my mind to. Nor does anyone I know. Unless I’m covered in earth from the garden or something. Haven’t been ill for years.