I am exhausted with anxiety over this, please can anyone help?

[pressSende]

There’s been a couple of accidents in the house where dc has actually trodden poo into the carpet in places, maybe a pound coin size in a few places. Obviously I use a wet wipe to remove and get rid of the staining and then hoover but I keep thinking the bacteria is still there isn’t it?! I worry about younger baby crawling over it, having mouth on the floor etc etc.

Please can anyone just tell me how anxious they would be about this and what they would do? I am having treatment for my anxiety so please don’t tell me I am awful for not dealing with it because I am. I assume this sort of this happens in other households with young children, what do you do and how worried would you be about baby on the floor?

@chemistnightmare sorry to sound silly but what would you use then? Fairy liquid? Or an actual bar of soap mixed with water?

@Quveas i feel like there’s nothing worse than human poo?! In my mind it’s like the worst possible thing to have happened

@ZillionDayStreak @Gymmum82 Isnt the dettol spray bad for baby too? Urgh I hate that I analyse it all so much, it begins to feel like living in a prison.

This will not make your baby sick, this is not an issue. By all means use a rug doctor on your carpet (should be cleaning carpets every 6 months to a year anyway!) but nothing you put down and nothing currently on your carpet poses any kind of health risk to any of your children. I know it’s an incredibly anxious time but germs and bacteria are good for their immune system, much better than bleach and anti bacterial cleaners are

sorry to sound silly but what would you use then? Fairy liquid? Or an actual bar of soap mixed with water?

Have you never cleaned anything up before?

Hot water and a good scrub. Hot fairly liquid water, scrub again. Then hot water to get the soap out. Once it's clean I would use a detrol or similar if I felt it needed it.

@ButImNotOldEnough thank you. I don’t know why but I feel like poo is just devastatingly bad! I literally can’t think of anything worse so it sends me into panic mode.

@chemistnightmare no need to be unkind, yes I have cleaned things up before but I worry about what to use now with the baby.

no need to be unkind, yes I have cleaned things up before but I worry about what to use now with the baby.

I wasn't being unkind.

You genuinely sound like you have never cleaned any thing up. Using a wet wipe to clean shit and then feeling anxious about it is an indication that you don't have much experience of cleaning things. Asking if you would use fairy to make hot soapy water or a bar of soap? Again, indicating you have no experience of cleaning.

I gave you step by step instructions, that's not unkind, it's helpful

I figure a tiny bit of leftover, dried Dettol
spray won’t do them any harm if they got some on their hands and then happened to lick their fingers. It would be a tiny amount. It’s not like they’re drinking it!

I'd use soapy water (washing up liquid) and give it a decent scrub to make sure anything was removed.

My baby crawled on grass which must be much 'dirtier', and on floors like in a museum or at baby group where adults all had outdoor shoes on.

While I was wiping DC's bottom, my baby crawled up and took a bite of poo. They were fine, if smelly.

@Steala this has made me feel a lot lot better!

@pressSende Have you always been this anxious or has it been since having your baby? For what it’s worth I developed something called post natal OCD which was an absolute barrel of laughs. Terrified of everything from a small breeze to what germs were going to kill my baby, convinced if I put him down he’d stop breathing and it’d be all my fault. There’s a lot of support for it though, and the real turning point for me was when DS3 went and ate a live snail at 18 months old. I’d have agreed with you that poo was the worst but it’s not, poo is very easy to clean from a mouth (as also modelled by DS3 at 2 ), bits of snail and shell on the other hand… 🤢 but he survived, it did him no harm and I wasn’t as scared he’d come to an early demise after that!

I wouldnt worry OP .I can tell you are anxious but theres no need. You have cleaned it up .Unless you live in a sealed unit ,germs are all around us .Babies at Nursery crawl around ,suck their fingers and so on .As Mum, and one time Nursery Nurse myself. I can say 12 babies will always have one or two poking around in something messy!

There are pet accident cleaners that you can buy which are useful to have around for potty training, sickness bugs etc. You can use that to clean the area which may help.

No I wouldn't be worried about a little minuscule molecule of poo that got left behind after washing. Our immune systems, even babies, are quite adequate to deal with exposures like this. It's quite common for young children to be fascinated by poo and if they have the opportunity to grab it, touch it, smear it etc, even just flailing arms during nappy changes, so a tiny little accidental exposure now and again is likely to be of no consequence at all.

@pressSende no dettol is fine for babies

Ignore people who say you should have cleaned this way, or you should have cleaned that way or don't you even know how to clean - honestly MN is not the place to ask about cleaning.

What you did is absolutely fine and when you say you already suffer with anxiety people who clearly don't know what is kind and helpful and what isn't really shouldn't bother replying.

You're fine OP, remember bacteria are everywhere, over everything and there is no avoiding them,
*In each cubic meter of air, there are between 1.6 million and 40 million viruses. *In each cubic meter of air, there are between 860,000 and 11 million bacteria.
Honestly it's companies wanting to sell us cleaning products that make people obsess over which way is best to do it and that we 'need' anti bac etc.

Clean it up but do it however suits you, and then forget about it.

A wet wipe isn't sufficient to clean something that dirty out of carpet.

If you have any biological washing powder, I would sprinkle some of that on, wet it and then scrub in, wipe away the foam with plain cold water and leave to dry. Or use shaving foam, or soap, or washing up liquid.

For the future, because there will be lots of spills with babies and toddlers in the house, buy some Vanish foam carpet cleaner or better still some Dr Beckmann carpet stain remover which comes with a built in scrubbing brush on the lid.

"What you did is absolutely fine and when you say you already suffer with anxiety people who clearly don't know what is kind and helpful and what isn't really shouldn't bother replying."

Actually - I know a great deal about anxiety, more than the average person I suspect. OP is anxious because she doesn't feel she's cleaned the carpet properly. Mumsnetters are giving her ideas on how to easily clean the carpet better. When she knows the carpet is cleaned properly, anxiety is alleviated. At some point you need to accept your anxiety and deal with it in a practical manner, not always be told "don't worry, you don't have to do this/confront this/handle this because you are anxious".

Buy some milton spray and milton wipes op

The wipes are suitable for wiping dummies and teats which can go straight back in babies mouth, so very safe

I have anxiety too so I know it can be a bit like torture sometimes

You are worrying too much, although me saying that probably won't help how you feel.

I'd clean with soap and water. It kills poo bugs on hands. I usually work on if it works for something I do everyday and am fine with it'll work on stuff that is unusual and feels dirtier!

If it’s child’s poo then you don’t need to worry at all. Households share bacteria anyway. But vinegar spray a good one to have in the cupboard.

To hopefully put your mind more at rest - it’s your child’s own poo. So there’s no new bacteria you are exposing them too, it’s just the bacteria they already have in their digestive system anyway.

@chemistnightmare - you’re being in no way helpful to somebody who has already told you she is suffering with anxiety over this.

The anxiety comes from lack of proper cleaning. Suggesting scrubbing it with soap and water is entirely helpful. If it gets properly cleaned it will help the anxiety. No wonder OP is anxious just using a wipe and a hoover. Correct cleaning can absolutely help alleviate worries.