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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Washing hands after nappy change - MIL thread, sorry

528 replies

StarlingMurmuration · 15/07/2015 17:58

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.

OP posts:
NorahBone · 17/07/2015 07:35

Ideally you probably should wash hands before dressing the baby but I only do that for a pooey nappy (but I've recently discovered, thanks to MN, that I'm unusual in changing nappies in the bathroom). But I think handwashing is important whenever you do it because germs live far more easily, and are transferred more efficiently from warm damp hands than the baby's clothes or nappy.

MewlingQuim · 17/07/2015 07:36

Sorry OP I didn't mean to freak you out Blush the risk of gangrene is very small, I thought it would make a good argument to get your MIL to wash her hands more.

The problem with infection control is, as many PPs on this thread demonstrate, that people are emotionally disgusted by breaking cultural taboos (regarding handwashing), not assessing the actual risks of transmitting pathogenic organisms. So there is lots of horror at the thought of getting poo crumbs on the hands, but little recognition of the risk to the OP because she has a wound. She is at little risk from D&V if no one else in the house is ill and probably shares millions of bacteria with her DC and her MIL every day, even if they do wash hands.

I shouldn't moan, people's poor hygiene keeps me in a job Grin

00100001 · 17/07/2015 07:51

All of the people calling the non-washer disgusting filthy and selfish etc.

At what point do you wash your hands??

00100001 · 17/07/2015 08:01

And now wet wipes aren't enoght to cleanyout hands, so do we now have to wash our baby's bum and legs with soap and water every time? Otherwise there will be poo on baby too??

Sootgremlin · 17/07/2015 08:09

Jesus, I've heard it all now. Why the hell wouldn't you wash your hands after changing a nappy?

I really wasn't expecting the replies at the beginning of this.

Take off nappy. Clean baby. Wash hands. Get baby dressed in clean stuff. Unless out and it's awkward, maybe put nappy on first. Sometimes, in a public changing area, I'd wash them twice.

I'm not a clean freak, but shit is shit. If you don't wash them on that occasion, what would prompt you to bother?

MrsDeVere · 17/07/2015 08:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sootgremlin · 17/07/2015 08:12

Are you joking? Doesn't matter if baby has a make-do clean backside until bath time because it is encased in clothes, and babies don't then go on to make snacks, drinks, hug people, shake hands, touch faces and work surfaces with their bare arses.

SophiePendragon · 17/07/2015 08:12

Those parts of a baby are usually covered with clothes and/or a nappy and until it's bath time, this is sufficient to prevent any contact with food or transmission to food via other surfaces.

Babies don't eat using their bottoms or prepare food using their bottoms.

Also generally a lot more wipes are used on a baby's arse than on the hands afterwards I imagine. Cleaning between fingers with wipes is a bit tricky. And it's very blimming easy to stick your hands under the tap for half a minute with a bit of soap, while washing an entire baby takes a while longer and isn't so necessary.

I am very thorough with wiping my child but would be less able to be thorough using wipes on my hands. And I eat with my hands so I want them to be clean enough to touch food with.

I often wash my toddler's bottom with the shower while he is standing in the bath, instead of using wipes, if he has done a particularly large poo, anyway. Sometimes wipes aren't enough.

HTH

00100001 · 17/07/2015 08:12

I don't wash my hands when taking the rubbish out either....

I'm gonna die.

00100001 · 17/07/2015 08:16

I'm not over complicating it. I'm just wondering at what point people normally wash their hands when changing a baby. Because of all the people I've seen change a baby (and I've seen a LOT) they do it after baby is dressed. So I'm just wondering his many people do it straight after the nappy change...

SophiePendragon · 17/07/2015 08:18

At what point do you wash your hands?

Ok. You have the baby lying down (or in my toddler's case, standing up with his head at my knees and me bending down over him - but anyway) and they are preferably on a safe surface, so not a high up table or unit, but on a mat on the floor or bed.

You take off their nappy, you wipe off the poo, you place your wipes either on the nappy so they can be bundled up with it, or in a bin, or somewhere else suitable.

You go and clean your hands leaving the baby lying there.

Then you return and put on a new nappy and do up the clothes and so on.

When it's just a wee I will often have put the new nappy on immediately and maybe the clothes too, and then wash my hands as a precaution but when it's a poo you really need to wash them first or your baby's clothes will have poo germs on them.

I hope that makes sense.

00100001 · 17/07/2015 08:19

Sophie someone upthread said that wipes are only moisturisers so don't actually clean the baby properly. So I was just saying that if you wash your hands and then dress baby, surely you're recontaminating your hands, so you have yo wash then again?

00100001 · 17/07/2015 08:20

So you have to wash ur hands three time per change?

00100001 · 17/07/2015 08:21

And what about the change mat? Should I now disinfect that before and after? :/

Sootgremlin · 17/07/2015 08:35

Oh you're being weird, introduce yourself to some soap, it's really not a big deal.

Doesn't it feel nice to give your hands a proper clean after you've been mucking about with fragrance, residuey wipes and bin bags?

And yes, sometimes I do wash twice depending on the severity of the incident, it has not taken over my life, it takes seconds.

Sootgremlin · 17/07/2015 08:41

Yep, mat gets a quick spray at home, if out the one I use goes through the machine when I get home.

MrsDeVere · 17/07/2015 08:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheDowagerCuntess · 17/07/2015 08:53

Yet another thread proves to be a total eye-opener in the grimmest way.

When you wipe your own arse, you don't get poo on your hands, yet you wash them anyway. What's so special/different about baby poo, that you don't need to clean your hands afterwards? Confused

Mintyy · 17/07/2015 09:25

Are you joking? Doesn't matter if baby has a make-do clean backside until bath time because it is encased in clothes, and babies don't then go on to make snacks, drinks, hug people, shake hands, touch faces and work surfaces with their bare arses.

I'd like that ^^ post if we had the button for it.

PanGalaticGargleBlaster · 17/07/2015 09:26

00100001

You probably won?t die from not washing your hands when you take the bins out but you can easily make someone else who does not have an as robust immune system to you very ill, you know, the elderly, kids, those people suffering from existing conditions. Bacteria from chicken/fish/pork packaging can easily be transferred from your hands onto door handles, hand rails, buttons at the ATM etc

The I?m alright Jack attitude on this thread is astonishing.

A few years ago there was an outbreak of giardiasis in my office, it took a few days of several people off work with the chronic shits and stomach cramps and trips to the GP before people started to work out what the hell was going on. One of the guys had recently been on holiday to Goa and had suffered a few days of ?Delhi Belly? and although he was over the worst of it by the time he returned to the UK he was still carrying the infection and his subsequent piss poor toilet hygiene meant that he had contaminated all surfaces he had touched with his shitty hands. He probably thought that because there was no shit visible on his hands then he must be ok. Thankfully I did not get infected but needless to say a number of contractors who had to take(unpaid) time off work to recover were less than impressed with this twat.

Jo4040 · 17/07/2015 10:14

Pan.... That's ridiculous. Some people are just so selfish. He will be a selfish person inalot of other aspects of his life I'm betting.

Original poster
StarlingMurmuration · 17/07/2015 10:20

001000001, I don't ink there's any way to change a nappy without some risk of cross-contamination, unless possibly you do it in the bath. But surely you're bright enough to see hand washing is about minimising the risk as much as you are able to?

OP posts:
Nurserywindow · 17/07/2015 10:24

Didn't they discover that a lot of hospital infections were caused by doctors not washing their hands as they moved from patient to patient, or after going to the toilet?

Original poster
StarlingMurmuration · 17/07/2015 10:26

And it's minging not to wash your hand after taking the recycling or rubbish out. I always take raw meat containers directly to the recycling bin outside then wash my hands immediately afterwards because otherwise I can't be sure my DP won't pick them up when he does the bins and not wash his hands properly afterwards.

OP posts:
Flingingmelon · 17/07/2015 10:28

Okay, I'm confused now. If wet wipes aren't actually any use for cleaning,why have I been using them on everything for about two years? Why hasn't my DS' bum fallen off because I've only been moisturising it,rather than cleaning it? Wink