Washing hands after nappy change - MIL thread, sorry

[StarlingMurmuration]

My PIL are staying with us at the moment to look after DS, after I have had an operation. I appreciate is is very generous and lovely of them, and I am grateful.

However, MIL isn't washing her hands after pooey nappy changes. AIBU to be bothered by this? How can I get her to do this without basically implying she's being disgusting? We do have hand sanitizer at the nappy change station, but I found she as using that BEFORE she changed his nappy instead of after! DS is 8 months old, just for info, and my operation means I can't lift or carry him, or bend over/ kneel down, so I can't do it myself at the moment.

Starling. Bet Ann's an assiduous hand washer

Confused no, I was saying the reactions on here were hysterical! Which they are. Totally OTT.

I'm a childminder. We use disposable gloves, anti-bacterial gel and wash our hands after every nappy change or wiping bottoms. Ofsted would nail us to the wall if we didn't.

Kids are taught to wash their hands thoroughly after using the toilet and handling pets. No need for a black light: we put a blob of paint on their hands and get them to "wash" with it. It shows up those missed areas very satisfactorily

Would your MIL consider disposable gloves, do you think?

Oh I don't know, I suspect all the Marlows were pretty clean when it comes to the basics.

They weren't too impressed by Marie Dobson and her grubby neck, iirc.

Poor virtuous Ann. I do seem to recall Nicola having rather perfunctory ablutions.

There was a PP who said they'd be happy to eat something when their hands had cow poo on them (farm worker) but was disgusted by people not washing hands after nappy changing.

confused your hands must be as chapped as anything, I'm constantly touching my cats! Would be utterly ridiculous for me to wash my hands every time :S

I have cats, grew up on farm (as mentioned above), drank unpastured milk all through childhood (which having milked cows I wouldn't do now), have had my head crapped on by a cow on 2 separate occassions and hosed myself down in the milking parlour without a meltdown. I have power hosed dried shit off cow shed walls, nice when it splashes back in your face but hey-ho, it needs done.

I washed my hands after changing shitty nappies and really didn't think that so many would feel it acceptable to do otherwise. That's why I've made the leap to being wary about home baking - if you don't wash your hands when it's obvious you should do so, I have no idea what other hygiene principles you'd find it acceptable not to follow.

Come to think of it, Laurie had a lot of baths. Didn't she have a Shepherd boy acting breakthrough in the tub?

Hmm, perhaps cleanliness is next to godliness after all

I don't wash my hands every time I've touched/rubbed my parents' dog.

However if I've just given him a cuddle and a rub of his tummy or he's licked my hands with his tongue (which let's face it, he uses to lick his balls) and I am about to change/feed my 3 month old twins then I do wash my hands.

I don't think I'm in any way hysterical about it but I'd just like to keep my babies from getting my dog's urine or faeces on them.

My house isn't pristine and I'm quite sure my 21 month old is spreading all sorts of interesting things about but I'll still wash my hands after changing a nappy!

Florence Nightingale would be turning in her grave reading this thread

They were pretty pleased to have access to their own bathroom when they were sleeping in Sara Crewe....

I was that farm worker! Yep, if I'd scrubbed them and they were stained but as clean as i could make them then I'd take the risk to have my own lunch in the context of a day on the farm but I wasn't thinking "oh this is fine". If you can wash your hands why not just wash them?

Yes Eddie it was you! Sorry I forgot your name.
If I can wash them I may well do. Mostly DD cries if I walk away from her, and I'd rather give my hands a squirt of antibac than hear her scream for me :-(
I realise now this is probably not effective at all! But also I'm not like another PP who walks around with their hands help up like a surgeon requiring a scrub!
I don't get the time frame. Do people wash their hands immediately after finishing with the dirty nappy? Or put the clean nappy on and do their clothes up? In which case any fecal matter has already been transferred quite a lot.

A slight derailment, but this has made me wonder, why do people send in cakes decorated by very small children to cake sales?

Are they confusing two different things - donating something to raise money and fun cooking activities with small kids for a rainy afternoon - that really ought to be different?

IMO donated cakes should be made by adults or supervised older children with very clean hands and have no young kids anywhere near them. Cakes made by small kids as a fun activity should for eating by victims family members and themselves only.

Hotfuffra, that takes me back to another thread and the potential mankiness of belt buckles...

I'm a microbiologist and I usually get a bit at the handwashing threads on MN. I never realised how many people are so paranoid about 'germs' before. Normally I would think people should stop frothing as the risks are quite small.

But in this case the OP really does need to make her MIL wash carefully after changing the baby as well as being careful with the baby herself. She has had an operation and so is at risk of wound infection, and babies often carry clostridium perfringens which causes gangrene.

Those who don't hand wash because they're fine remind me of Mary Mallon, or 'Typhoid Mary' who was an asymptomatic carrier of Salmonella typhi which causes typhoid fever. In the early 1900s she worked as a cook and infamously infected over 50 people, some of whom died (Salmonella species are passed on by faecal/oral transmission). Her wiki article states that "Malton admitted poor hygiene, saying that she did not understand the purpose of hand washing because she did not pose a risk".

I hope none of the non hand washers work in the food industry.

Wow! I'm pretty lax (by some people's standards) when it comes to cleanliness etc but if, for whatever reason, I find myself needing to change a nappy without having access to a sink straight afterwards I feel disgusting!

The ideas about 'not having poo on hands so must be clean' are early Victorian concepts, pre the germ theory. I'm staggered that this is a thing that so many people seem to think and do!

Also, clostridia (C. perfringens and C. difficile) form spores, which will be resistant to alcohol hand sanitisers, so do use soap and water instead

OP YANBU, point out the risks to you personally regarding your post-op care and then you don't need to make it about her personal hygiene standards

I always wash my hands after changing a pooey nappy

I think washing your hands every time you touch your pet is bordering on obsessive.

I can't count the times I touch a pet. I pretty much always have one on me who I touch every time I sit down. I share my bed with my dog and often wake up to her nestling into me and I give her a quick coach. My hands would be red raw if I washed them every time I touched them. The amount of times my cats rub themselves against my hands when I walk past them.

I am sure I will be called minging for letting my dog sleep with me though.

Mewling, I'm very scared now :( Gangrene?!?

U2 I agree. No minging comments from me, it's lovely having an animal to cuddle up to!