Is it just me or is this OTT paranoia

[Igloolou]

I’m on a Facebook group for tips on travelling with babies. It seems to be largely populated by people from America so I do tend to find some questions a bit odd - they just seem a bit more sensitive than us (I know that’s a huge generalisation).
anyway, this morning I’ve come across a post asking how people bathe their children when they go on holiday to countries where tap water is not drinkable because they don’t want them getting poorly.
I can’t work out if it’s just OTT coddling - unless your kid is drinking cups of the stuff a 10 minute bath is fine, surely?

Theres also been great hysteria this week about bed bugs. People freaking out and cancelling trips to Europe from America because they are terrified of bed bugs. One poster was cancelling the France portion of her trip and just sticking to London - I didn’t have the heart to point out that we are apparently also bed bug central here too.

I just don’t really get it. Maybe I’m too blasé about my families general health.

YABU - those are reasonable concerns and you’re a shit mum for not considering these dangers
YANBU - people need to get a grip

It depends on the country and level of risk.

I'd have no issue DC going in a stream and rinsing off if we were in an otherwise low risk country and it was clear and running, but I wouldn't drink it.
I would be concerned about bathing water in a country with a higher risk of cholera and other diseases though, or other bugs that are likely to cause more serious issues.

American fb groups are bonkers

Regarding water, I would say that potentially YABU. I have an incredibly sensitive stomach and got food poisoning in Spain (so not somewhere I'd even think of as particularly high risk!) because I let one ice cube melt into my drink. I imagine I would have been really poorly if I'd been drinking bath water and messing about like toddlers do.

They certainly are , most of the people on them have little idea of the world outside of the USA

I was in one of those Facebook groups and they are INSANE. The amount of stuff they take to make a short haul flight and if you don't fly with your child in a car seat, it's basically child abuse. Bonkers.

Spanish tap water is perfectly fine and clean to drink. Very strict standards like the UK. The mineral content can be different which can affect taste and if you're sensitive your digestive system. But it didn't give you food poisoning which would be due to viral or bacterial contamination of the water.

YABU.

Worrying about whether non-drinking water could make a baby ill and not wanting bed bugs are not exactly far out.

It doesn't make anyone 'a shit mum' to have different views.

That’s very odd because Spain’s tap water is just as safe to drink as the water anywhere else in Western Europe, including the UK. Was this recent, and did you get an official diagnosis from tests? Contaminated drinking water in Spain would be a public health issue, same as it would here.

Bedbugs have been rife in many parts of the US since about the mid 00's so YANBU on that one.

Water - as others have said, it depends.

I'm in several American Facebook groups and do find there's a different mentality over many issues (apologies to any Americans here. I actually love Americans). Here are some examples:

1. I'm a member of a "support" group for a particular type of cancer I had. If this cancer is caught early there's over a 90% cure rate. However, the American support groups are all doom and gloom telling everyone "if you've had this cancer it's going to come back and kill you! You'll never be cured. You'll definitely die from it" etc. Which simply isn't true. The UK groups are much more encouraging telling people there's a good chance they'll survive it if they're stage 1.
2. I've noticed Americans seems to freak out if they an animal in a restaurant (for hygiene/health and safety reasons). I've seen several cases of this. Most recently an American friend went to pick up a take away pizza and noticed a customer had a small dog there. This led to my friend having a huge freak out! Writing to the restaurant, to her local paper, the the organisation that assesses hygiene at restaurants. I don't know how she'd cope in the UK where dogs are welcome in many cafes and pubs and there are even hundreds of cat cafes!
3. most Americans don't let their cats cats outside. Now I do understand they have different wildlife out there (coyotes etc) so in many areas it's sensible to keep your cats in. However, some areas in the US are safe to let cats out but they won't do it because of cars. So I get this sense that perhaps some Americans are more risk averse and cautious than us Brits but then - they have guns!! So I just don't get it.

What proof do you have of this? Spanish drinking water is perfectly safe to drink.

Ah I'd cut them some slack. So many Americans never leave the country that travelling to Europe is a bigger deal for them than going the other way is for us.

Travelling with small DC can be nerve-wracking, especially long haul. But they're still doing it! If I had a DC who liked to put bath toys in their mouth etc I may well be worried about them getting ill on holidays (much worse than getting ill at home), especially if the bath water came from a water tank.

Tap water is perfectly safe to drink in Spain, I doubt it was the ice cube that made you ill, more likely food poisoning. I've drunk the water all over Spain and it's not a problem.

most Americans don't let their cats cats outside

In some/a lot? If states it's actually illegal to let your car outside. Our old.neighbours had a cat they got originally in Boston & it had never been outside

Agree.

Many posters often ignore the fact it is a very large country and even living on the coast a flight to the UK is minimum 7 hrs. Add in that most never have to leave the country for a warmer climate, barely get even half the number of days off that Brits and Europeans do, and to be able to afford to make such a trip is a luxury many can’t afford, it’s a bit ridiculous and rude to call them crazy or bonkers. I don’t see that much judgement from those who live here and never travel outside their own county.

The types of people who populate the kind of forum you’re talking about are generally ill-travelled, have had minimal exposure to different cultures and prepare for a week in Paris as if they’re walking through the Kalahari. (I mean, not for non-understandable reasons in some cases.)

I think I only understood the apparently weird questions and over-preparations to an extent when I’d lived in the US for a while, outside of NY and Boston where I’d lived before. Part of it was that some Americans simply don’t walk. I once worked at a hotel in smalltown Massachusetts where staff would get into their cars and drive from Housekeeping (where I worked) to Payroll at the other end of the building to pick up a cheque. For those kinds of people, a large part of the challenge of a week in Europe will be just being on their feet most of the day, and carrying a wallet etc with them, hence all the preparatory faff about what kind of walking shoes, money belts etc.

Yes, exactly.

Though I will admit I am still amused by the sheer depth of detail in Steve Reich’s travel ‘tips’. He spends forever on the quirks of ‘European hotel bathrooms’.

Don't know about travel groups but I've been hounded out of cat ones for having the audacity to let my own cat out. No I am not buying a giant hamster wheel for my cat, nor a catio or a shelf run around the living room. Clearly we all think the other is mad and that's fine, I'm just more polite about it (or at least I was.)

It makes me laugh that they’re worrying about the safety of bathing in tap water and yet many of them will have guns in their house. But of course that’s not an issue. 🤪

@SallyWD I get the doom & gloom, I’ve been on the forums where people are desperately looking for advice on what the cheapest treatment is because their insurance won’t cover everything.

As much as we all like to have a laugh at their paranoid & BS-ing expense, I find them to be quite upbeat about most things.

It took me years to get over seeing them jogging with a baby in the pram. The thing is, I knew exactly what they were going to do, yet still I found it to be quite unbelievable.