AIBU to be suspicious of friends' hand washing skills?

[Mallowmarshmallow]

There seems to be a big going around between school mums and families. So far, touch wood, we have avoided it. My children seem fairly resilient to stomach bugs so far.

In friends' families it seems one child catches it, then another, then a parent, another parent then extended family....

AIBU to think that if anyone has a bug in your family you ensure everyone does extra good hand washing, cleaning, employ dettol spray in every corner of your house?

On the rare occasion either of our children has a bug it doesn't spread any further within the family....

And airborne bugs?

YABU

I am flipping excellent at handwashing (ex theatre nurse) and I can't always contain bugs in the house. I don't think I've passed on a bug I've had ever but simple precautions. Wiping the bathroom down after I've been in, not preparing food for anyone else (instant junk food days for kids but better than illness), washing my hands all of the time. DH's bugs can similarly be contained for the most part.

But if my DDs are ill I'll tuck them in bed with me. It's easier to feel a young child grow restless and be ready to help them vomit into a bowl than it is to strip beds and do laundry at 3am, 3.30, 4.20, 5, 5.35... I sometimes catch those bugs as I'm in contact with ill child pretty much all of the time - the opposite of the keep-to-myself that I'll do when I'm ill.

And that's with 2 bathrooms (One dedicated to ill person for the duration), skilled handwashing, deploying Dettol though not indiscriminately and no food prep by ill person - they're not even allowed in the kitchen if possible.

Also why write this? Pride comes before a fall; tempting fate and all of that. If I were as brave as you are I'd make sure all sheets and towels were clean and accessible before I went to bed tonight.

A lot of bugs are airborne. How do your techniques work in that scenario ?

OP you`re being a bit unreasonable!

You could dettol fog the house and still get it! norovirus is spread through coughing/ breathing in proximity as well! many bugs are. The infectious/ incubation time is often before the bug actually shows.

How would you stop people breathing near you lol?

Too much hygiene is actually bad for immunity. Say this a hcp. We need to build immunity.

I don’t think you fully understand stomach bugs. You can wash your hands until they bleed but still catch one. Hand washing prevents it slightly but never fully. You can catch one from a sneeze, cough, touching a door handle after you have washed your hands etc. Plus it’s worth noting people can be infectious before they have symptoms so you could kiss or hug your child at night then they could start vomiting in the night.

This happened in my home last weekend. We very rarely catch stomach bugs but one DD caught one at school. I had no idea she had it (obviously) so did the usual kiss and cuddle before bed. She woke up at 12pm vomiting, I cleared this up from her bed/the floor. Definitely practised good hand hygiene all round and made her wash her hands properly too. I still caught it and was violently ill.

Are you short on things to think about?

In over 20 years of child rearing I've never once given any consideration to whether other peoples hand washing, sometimes I think I live in a different world to posters on here.

What drivel! We're extremely careful in our house, my husband has a low immune system and if he catches a bug, he'll be quite poorly. Sometimes one of us gets ill, sometimes we all do. Some people are more susceptible than others, my eldest daughter is 12. She's had dozens of stomach upsets, but has never had antibiotics.

Stop using antibacterial. Rinse properly

Never owned dettol spray

Thanks all, it's fairly conclusive that IABU.

Just for the record, we only ever use dettol if there is a bug...and never avoid cuddling a sick child (probably the two most offensive aspersions cast upon me....).

Thanks all for clarifying.

DS (4) rarely gets stomach bugs, but he's always got a cold, and I nearly always pick it up too. DH never gets them. And I'm extremely careful about handwahsing whereas he's very lacksadaisical. DS just comes to me for comfort, cuddles and sloppy kisses when he's poorly. It's me whose face he coughs into, who wipes his snotty nose, who gets the sneezes on my glasses...

I'm starting to wonder how my family survived. There was no anti bac or extra scrupulous hand washing at home.

Add to that that I spent my entire career working with severely learning disabled children for whom personal hygiene and control of bodily excretions was an impossibility, and I (and my family) had super duper immune systems.

YABU.

We're very hot on hygiene in our house, and yet, everytime one of us gets a bug, we all get it.

Stop being so judgemental. Everyone's immunity is different.

Dettol is not effective against norovirus anyway. You need bleach or something like Sterizar.

Yabu.
Bugs exist. People get ill. You can have every antibacterial process known to man in your home and bugs still find a way.
Dd1 and dd2 have had sickness bugs, I’ve been there cleaning up all the crap involved in that and not got sick myself some times, other times I have.
Our house is clean but not sterile. We have kids, and a dog. It’s gonna be a bit messy and dirty occasionally, but not unsafe! Obvious things like hand washing have been incorporated with toilet training so it’s just as routine as going for a wee. Dd1 also likes to use hand rub occasionally (she has a bit of anxiety) so we have a little pump bottle of ‘special soap’ that she will use after toilet and hand washing sometimes.

Having young kids, I think it’s just the territory. Bugs are gonna come. I have been covered in every thing to come out of a child, just part and parcel.

(The one thing that REALLY gets me though is headlice. Every single week we get a letter saying there’s headlice in the class, please treat accordingly. Dd1 has hair past her bum and it’s so time consuming to check it every week. They’re definitely not coming from her though, it’s just annoying that they always seem to be about. But kids eh.)