Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Do you wash your hands after a wee in the night?

442 replies

Goneforawee · 15/01/2024 21:43

It’s the middle of the night and you’re up for a wee. (Assume you’ve just dabbed yourself dry with loo roll, no other bodily fluids present!) Do you do a full 30 second soap and water hand wash vs after? A quick water-only rinse, and pat dry? Not wash at all and go straight back to bed? Something else completely?

I’ve often wondered what others do but too afraid to ask in real life 🫢

OP posts:
Perfectlystill · 15/01/2024 22:36

Yes is what I meant to type

LBFseBrom · 15/01/2024 22:37

Yes, I do, just a quick sluice. It's an automatic thing with me and when I wake in the night for a wee I am on automatic pilot, don't want to wake up too much or I won't get back to sleep.

Ifeellikeateenageragain · 15/01/2024 22:37

Wash hands... Albeit not for 30 secs... And I'm not humming happy birthday either...

Cosycover · 15/01/2024 22:38

Paw2024 · 15/01/2024 22:35

Why are you scrubbing the toilet and changing underwear?

Show quote history

Seriously?

ThisHumanBean · 15/01/2024 22:38

No but I turn tap on and off briefly in case DH has woken and heard me in bathroom. If DD (6) heard me leave without washing the whole house would be awake and being informed.

43ontherocksporfavor · 15/01/2024 22:38

@Kit60 I always wash my hands in the daytime became I’m touching the the loo to flush.

Hermittrismegistus · 15/01/2024 22:38

Delatron · 15/01/2024 22:36

Good point about the intimate itch… far more germs there than a bit of toilet roll. Are you washing your hands after every scratch?

It shouldn't be a hardship to wash your hands after scratching down below.
If you find you're frequently itchy then you probably need some type of ointment to stop it.

daffodilandtulip · 15/01/2024 22:38

You're asking this on a website where everyone changes their bedsheets and bra every 30 minutes?

saraclara · 15/01/2024 22:38

Wimbledonmum1985 · 15/01/2024 21:47

Absolutely not. My sleep is precarious enough. I’m not going to risk waking myself up after a wee.

That. I sleep badly. The last thing I'm going to do is anything that will wake me up more. And putting my hands under water will do exactly that.

If I wake in the night needing a wee, my priority is do so it as quickly as I can and pray that I'll get back to sleep straight away.

3peassuit · 15/01/2024 22:38

It only takes about thirty seconds to wash your hands with soap and water, I don’t get why people wouldn’t.

PerfectYear321 · 15/01/2024 22:39

Always wash my hands. Would feel disgusting touching a toilet and not washing my hands after

Paw2024 · 15/01/2024 22:39

43ontherocksporfavor · 15/01/2024 22:36

@Paw2024 I detect sarcasm from that poster.😉

I'm very tired tonight Grin

NotTerfNorCis · 15/01/2024 22:39

Also rinse at least, it's ingrained habit.

Wednesdaysotherchild · 15/01/2024 22:40

Normal soap and hot water handwash!

Delatron · 15/01/2024 22:40

Hermittrismegistus · 15/01/2024 22:38

It shouldn't be a hardship to wash your hands after scratching down below.
If you find you're frequently itchy then you probably need some type of ointment to stop it.

Show quote history

I’m not talking about constant itching. So now if we have a brief itch in the night we have to get up and wash hands after that… I also go to the loo about 4 times a night. With Mumsnet hygiene standards I’m barely getting any sleep with all this scrubbing

ALongHardWinter · 15/01/2024 22:41

I live alone,so my toilet is not infested with other people's germs or bodily fluids. If I just have a wee in the night,I'm straight back to bed. It's not like I'm going to be doing anything over the next few hours that requires germ-free hands,is it? Plus,it means my moisturising cream would get washed off and I'd have to re-apply it. Sod that at 3 in the morning!

Borborygmus · 15/01/2024 22:41

Vivi0 · 15/01/2024 22:00

Nope, absolutely not.

I don’t turn the light on, wash my hands or flush. If I need to use the bathroom, I make it as quick as possible - I’m always half sleeping and don’t want to wake myself, or anyone else,
up.

For the vast majority of my life I didn't turn the light on, as like you I didn't want to wake myself up. Then one day (during daylight hours) I passed some red urine. A couple of hours later I found myself sat in front of a doctor who told me he thought I could well have bladder cancer. It occurred to me that I could easily have missed previous episodes by peeing in the dark.

Fortunately he was wrong and it wasn't anything too drastic, but the light now always goes on.

ShoePalaver · 15/01/2024 22:41

CalmerChameleons · 15/01/2024 21:55

This! It takes hardly any time at all.

I hope the non washers aren't having sex after. 😬

Show quote history

not much point washing them before sex surely???

Delatron · 15/01/2024 22:41

I don’t actually touch any part of the toilet…

ShoePalaver · 15/01/2024 22:42

Borborygmus · 15/01/2024 22:41

For the vast majority of my life I didn't turn the light on, as like you I didn't want to wake myself up. Then one day (during daylight hours) I passed some red urine. A couple of hours later I found myself sat in front of a doctor who told me he thought I could well have bladder cancer. It occurred to me that I could easily have missed previous episodes by peeing in the dark.

Fortunately he was wrong and it wasn't anything too drastic, but the light now always goes on.

Show quote history

but if you pee in the day as well you will see it in the day... it wouldn't be the case that the blood is only there at night

holdoutaline · 15/01/2024 22:43

I have a theory that trying to conceive took me longer because I always got straight up afterwards for a wee and hand wash, mouthwash to freshen up

One night I was 24 hours away from being attached to a drip with sepsis. I felt awful but knew it was ovulation day. I got H to do the deed and I fell asleep like a light gone out so didn't get up

Got pregnant that cycle.

fruitypancake · 15/01/2024 22:44

I'm calling bullshit - at least some of the posters saying 'of course I do" are lying to us and themselves 😂

saraclara · 15/01/2024 22:44

CrashyTime · 15/01/2024 22:23

"Then when I wee before I get up I wash my hands thoroughly."

And the sheets I hope?

Show quote history

What's going to be on the sheets? I use plenty of paper when I need a wee in the night, and no urine reaches my fingers.

There's some entirely irrational paranoia in this thread.

ShoePalaver · 15/01/2024 22:44

daffodilandtulip · 15/01/2024 22:38

You're asking this on a website where everyone changes their bedsheets and bra every 30 minutes?

weird isn't it. Are these the same posters who change their towels after every use etc?

Nannyfannybanny · 15/01/2024 22:44

Yes. You touch your face,eyes in the night and in your sleep. People saying they don't get pee on their hands because they use toilet paper...you do realise it's permeable. Plenty of germs would grow on them overnight. Hope no one is getting up to breastfeed!