Asked to wash hands before handling newborn baby?

[AliciaJohns]

I am genuinely asking here. I went to see a friend the other day who has a week old baby. Her dh said (very politely) "would you mind washing your hands before you pick him up?"

I wasn't offended, just confused as I have never been asked to do this before nor would it have crossed my mind to ask people to wash their hands before handling my son!

My hands were clean by the way, in case you think they were caked in mud or something!!

Is this a bit weird? Or am I??!

i would always wash my hands before handling someones newborn and would never touch them without asking permission.

yes but a newborn. and new parents, they are just doing their best.

who would object to someone visitting your baby and giving the new born a kiss?

Wow, unclean and unfit! No I really doubt that was what he or any others on this thread thought.

The implication is taht you are a human living in an entirely normal way so will have picked up some completely normal and usual bugs. Usually no problem, occasionally with very small, new humans - a bit of a bother. The last thing you want for a tiny baby is for them to get a stomach bug - its unlikely so it's not a big deal if people don't wash hands, but it is advisable and not unreasonable to want to caution slightly against it.

I think it's your baby and so you get to set the requirements - simple.

A tad excessive I think. Are they the sort of people who when they go round the Safari Park they go the car safe route through the monkey enclosure? You can be too precious with your kids.

I am sitting firmly on the fence on this one.

DD was very ill in her first few weeks of life. We got used to washing hands as a matter of routine in hospital.

DS1&2 were, on the other hand, routinely passed from pillar to post from day one with no ill-effects.

I think after my experience with DD that any future dejaglets would be confined to home until they were about 6 weeks old.

no, they are being rude, obnoxious, and showing of their lack of social skills.
i would never actually bother visiting such peoples newborns, and when i did visit their chidlren, i would simply look from afar. i would never touch a newborns skin without washing my hands, but to be told to do so is simply rude.

They is a difference between letting your kids play with others and eat mud and not using tons of bleach

and

asking people to wash their hands before stroking and holding a baby born only days ago.

One is a health of the herd, group/community exposure to germs and bugs.

The other is a fairly normal and usual precaution some parents take with someone whos immune system is young and whose yet to gain sufficient weight to protect against sudden weight loss that could accompany vomiting etc

As I said it is unlikely that anyone with a bug or had been exposed to a bug would pass it on, but really don't think your being uber-protective and ultra-clean to request a simple handwash, with water mind not bleach

o pukka, get over yourself, think back to when you had a new born baby and how the whole world stopped and everything revolved around keeping that baby safe, and you don't care who you upset or how, you just want to keep them safe. Well i think its that kind of thinking that inspired this request.

a midwife in our town got formal warnings from rcmidwives after a baby died from 'cocksackie b'

it was a terrible case but imo -of course you should always wash hands before holding a new born

i think it is very sensible, the people who are fairly clean hopefully are not scared of the soap and the people who do not wash after the loo will be covered. all good.

i work in a pretty germy place. washing hands is important.

coxsackieb

Great Pukka so you actually wouldn't touch a newborn's skin without washing your hands.

So all you disagree with is that they had the gall to ask

But how would they ensure that all their friends were as conscientious as you? Assume? Hope for the best? Or check by asking?

slur, any normal human being with a modicum of social skills will not touch a newborn with dirty hands.
its about social skills. and telling people to wash their hands before they touch a pfb is to deny them the respect that they deserve.

This reminded me of when dd1 was born. Two friends independently tried to visit, at the same time admitting they were suffering from d&v symptoms.

Friend 1 didn't bother telling me until she had 2 week old dd on her lap "oh I can't eat much lunch due to d&v yesterday"

Friend 2 thankfully told us on the phone and was temporarily uninvited. Some people have no common sense.

Not sure if I would request that apparently healthy visitors wash their hands, but as others have pointed out there are lots of germs on door handles, public transport etc. Also, it seems that we are talking about quite young babies here.

i think the newborn;s health is more importnat than some perceived slight of asking people to wahs their hands

maybe it is about other people who are resistant. a blanket order would get round a lot of difficulty if there is (say) a family member who is refusing to wash hands but has poo under their fingernails.

I stroked a 2-week-old's cheek the other day (my god she was soooo beautiful).

Didn't cross my mind to ask, didn't occur to me to wash my hands.

I am a west country peasant though.

I agree with dejags - my dd was very ill at 10 days old and I learnt the hard way that germs can easily pass from guests to new babies. DS on the other hand was robust despite his sister's best efforts to bring home all the nasty germs she could from nursery. Now, I'd always ask if people would wash their hands, and if they were offended, then so be it.

For the first few weeks, as new parents, we asked everyone to make sure their hands were washed, we actually bought some of that antibacterial hand liquid for them! We made sure our hands were very clean too.\

It was not that we thought that any of our friends or family were unclean, it was that our baby was very young, will a limited immune system, and prone to infections/illness much more than when they are a little older.

I accept you cant protect them from everything and they need to build up tolerance, but the first few weeks they need to be looked after so so carefully, and many people want to hold newborn babies so thats a lot of germs!

I would not be offended, it was, I am sure not a personal slight against you. I expect everyone was asked.

Okay, I see where you are coming from.

But that isn't my experience. Or that of the OPs. She was surprised it hadn't occured to her to wash her hands.

My friends (those with kids did it automatically) my teenage sisters (smokers at that ) didn't think to. You can let it go or you can ask as politely as possible.

most human interaction is learnt. no one lives in a vacuum. just the same way that most humans know not to eat the way cats and dogs do. to deny that they know how to do so, is to deny them human respect. if you have so little respect for your friends who have come to pay homage to your pfb, well, it doesnt say much about the parents does it?
i wouldnt bother visiting such rude people

I think it's totally reasonable to ask a person to wash their hands before holding a newborn...think about the irresistable urge to touch their tiny hands and stoke their soft little faces...I asked people...come on you may have come straight from outdoors doing god knows...I always wash mine I feel better touching them...no big deal if it makes mum & dad happy

Pukka, tbh, if my baby was in scbu, I think I'd be stressed, nervous and tense. Maybe my social skills mightn't be at their best. I'd hope my friends might understand the reasons why. And having spent some time working on emergency plan for flu pandemics, I'm quite pro handwashing. You may think your hands are clean, but clean for day to day is not the same as clean for a vulnerable prem baby with a zero immune system. I'm all for exposure to germs, but not at prem/newborn stage.