Am I justified to ask my cleaner to do these things ?

[DeleteIt]

Cleaner has a long journey on public transport plus we are the last call of the day twice a week.
I have asked her to take shoes off in the house, please wash hands on arrival and to not hoover the doormat first as then she is hoovering round the rest of the house with the hoover head having been all over outside bacteria ? I’ve been rolling up the mat after she arrives as she kept doing it despite me asking !

I offered to provide some indoor shoes if she wanted but she declined. Am I being over the top?

Your hoover doesn’t remove the bacteria. All those outside bacteria are already all over your home regardless of how much you hoover it.

Ridiculous

You do have quite strong views but unless there are other things you're not mentioning I don't think you're asking too much. I work in people's homes and if I was your cleaner I'd do what you asked though might occasionally forget.

Your cleaner likely does hoover your inside door mat. Otherwise things from that mat will be stepped through your home all the time.

Instead of getting a cleaner get a domicilliary care service who will clean and has done infection control in their Health and Social Care NVQ.

I both understand why you are so anxious about this and agree the responses here are totally reasonable for a normally healthy baby. But if your baby is still immunodeficient, it's probably a better plan to get in a care service for this rather than fighting the world.

I’m sorry @DeleteIt i can understand your anxieties given your baby’s history. However I think this is tipping to an unhealthy preoccupation with cleanliness. I think speak to a professional. I am a teacher, have three children and we are a shoes on house, we don’t wash our hands coming in from outside, we have a dog and a cleaner twice a week (she keeps her shoes on, although drives here).

No one has been ill (except the usual germs) and we’re all healthy and don’t stress about this stuff. We don’t even necessarily wash hands before eating! I do when cooking (knowing my husband he probably doesn’t!). And also I wash my hands before I leave the gym. That’s it. Oh and of course after using the loo.

Wishing you well and peace, as it sounds a stressful way to live.

No.

It sounds barking seeing it written down, but I agree with you, apart maybe the hoovering schedule but even then...

Asking for removal of shoes is fine, assumed normal to save flooring. I sometimes wonder if I am OTT for asking kids to wash hands as soon as they come in from public transport. I also ask them to wash hands before unloading the dishwasher. But I am aware I’m slightly germ phobic and this isn’t necessary normal. But the hoover thing is barmy to me. I distinguish between germs from viruses and general dirt from feet/outside. Kids need exposure to a diverse range of harmless microorganisms to build immunity. Otherwise they’ll have a harder time later when mixing with others.

I agree with washing hands on arrival, we have kept that covid habit, also taking shoes off inside the house.
Hadn't thought about the mat by the door, some germs are good to build up resistance-we all know that.
I don’t know about premature babies and their health but I understand as a mother you want to keep them safe.
I wish we could afford a cleaner, been hoovering our house for 27 years, no-one else is bothered to do it.
I need to hoover today and for some reason its making me want to start screaming and never stop.

Unless I’ve been somewhere particularly dirty it wouldn’t occur to me to immediately wash hands when I get in. Obviously I would before any food preparation, but not otherwise.

If you are a "no shoes indoors" household it’s reasonable to ask her to take hers off or cover them, but you should have made that rule clear at your first meeting.

The bits about the doormat and the order in which to hoover sound absolutely crazy and obsessive to me.

Having your baby born at 24 weeks is bound to have been a really difficult time, for a long time especially around germs and will continue to do a number on you for a long time. Your reasoning for wanting to eliminate all the germs is very understandable, but a little into unreasonable when you go as far as disinfecting the hoover.
Changing out of her shoes yes
Trusting her to have clean hands, I do think you need to give her some trust here or you risk ruining any reasonable relationship. Do you jump on her to wash her hands when she comes in, text her before she arrives, how do you inform her to wash her hands? Or are you just silently noticing she hasn't?

Admittedly I have no idea on statistics but I'd say the likelihood of your little one getting poorly from hoovering the door mat is beyond the reasonable mark for needing to disinfect the hoover and hiding the doormat from the cleaner.

If she travelled via car and not public transport do you genuinely think you'd feel any different? If the answer is yes then perhaps considering a different cleaner might be a solution. If you'd feel the same then it's not the cleaner that is going to solve it.

I’ve never thought of the things you’ve mentioned but actually it makes sense LOL. I don’t think you’ve been over the top. At the end of the day and employee is employed to do things how the employer wishes them to be done. The employee doesn’t have to take the job and the employer doesn’t have to employ that person.

I would start again with a Cleaner who has Transport and give clear instructions at the first visit and check if they are happy to follow those ground rules.

You could get a small handheld extra vacuum for the front doormat.

Don’t think you’re being unreasonable. My cleaners don’t wear their outdoor shoes in the house. We also don’t and I agree you’re just bringing dirt in. Agree on the mat too. On the hands not really an issue as mine wear gloves.

The hoover has been all over bacteria? Do you understand what hoovers do? I think you need to try to deal with your anxiety here. Plus buy her some rubber gloves.

Tell someone else to do it or buy a robot vacuum. Life’s too short to be mad about how many years you’ve hoovered your house.

Unless you clean the hoover head every time you hoover the front room, it doesn’t make any difference.

Way over the top and a bit ridiculous tbh. Only thing for it, clean your own house. You obviously can’t trust anyone else. 🙄

OP apparently does

Nope, you’re not OTT but I don’t think you’ll get your point across.

I’ve had multiple cleaners and have come across various issues such as using the general kitchen sponge to wash the dog bowls, pouring half a bottle of toilet gel into the toilet and leaving it sitting there, making up the beds despite me having asked not to I just don’t want people jumping into my marital bed and going through the pillowcases/sheets and duvets particularly when we’ll mess it up again soon and it therefore wastes time unnecessarily, scrubbing the shower holder in the shower that never gets touched by anyone or wet and should just be left alone, vacuuming around chairs/rugs/coffee tables etc instead of moving them, forgetting to dust shelves, forgetting to dust office desk, never dusting windowsills, mopping the floor and throwing doormat dog bowl mat straight on before it dries by the mat backing starts to disintegrate and bits stick to the wet floor and come off, folding the ends of toilet paper rolls into a weird triangle, not checking that bins need taking out and just taking them out meaning whole liners leaving the house virtually empty, significantly rearranging bathroom shelves, mopping bathroom floors without vacuuming them….oh I could go on. I asked and asked and pointed out and sent written text so it’s remembered and no, still happened.

my last cleaner unfortunately had to go on long term sick. She was the best out of the bad bunch. I refuse to replace her. We’ve actually managed without a cleaner for a few months now, I just blast it quickly myself. I’m enjoying it because I make sure I do it hygienically, actually clean properly when I do and it allows for unprecedented privacy😄

Shoes off, fine, but surely she'll be dipping her hands in water to clean things anyway?

She’s a self employed cleaner in your home. You can ask her to do whatever you want to, she’s free to decline and move on if she doesn’t like it. So no, YANBU, although the hoovering order personally would not bother me, that’s not the point.

You don't need to use Dettol after hot water and antibacterial soap. I have adult DC and never in my life have I done anything like this.
It's absolutely fine to want a clean, neat house and to protect your baby, but maybe think about getting some support for the health anxiety?

@DeleteIt do you take your baby anywhere else and let them crawl?

Honestly it sounds as if you just need to do your own cleaning.