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??!

It was only this week (today or yesterday?) that they were discussing cleanliness on Radio 2, and about the fact that we are all now too obsessed with over cleaning everything and not allowing children and ourselves to be exposed to normal environments, without all this obbsessive need to be ultra clean. It is doing us no favours aprently.

yes, wash hands after using the toilet, before handling food - but not to do normal stuff!

euueek sandyballs what did you do!

Oh and we haven't done all this and DD has only ever been sick about 4 times in her 6 years of life. And she rarely gets bugs or viruses.As a baby and toddler she was very very rarely ill, and never had time off from nursery bar her reaction after the MMR.

Well I wish that hygiene in the hospital where I got Clostridium Difficile after my second c section had been better So I'm all for handwashing before handling a newborn. MRSA, for example, is caused by a bacterium that is quite commonly found on people's skins, often harmless: staphillococcus aureus.
I think this topic is going to divide along the lines of whether or not you've experienced potentially lethal hygiene lapses [check], or had a baby in SCBU with suspected neonatal infection [check]. I should add that for older children I am very much a peck of dirt person, and not a fan of antibac sprays, wipes etc. But newborns' immune systems are vulnerable and deserve a little more consideration

we are discussing a newborn baby they have have immature immune systems, making them highly vulnerable to infections. obviously such stringent hygiene measure are short term time limited but nonetheless encessary

Yes, the risks of infection are relatively low. And if you were asked to wear a mask and gown, go through some complex sterilisation procedure, blah blah, it would be unreasonable. But handwashing is NOT a big deal. It takes seconds, makes parents a bit more relaxed, and may, just may, prevent a newborn get an infection which may range from unpleasant to dangerous. And I am absolutely NOT in the parallel universe pukka describes - my carpets are well and truly testament to that - am very pro children having sensible exposure to normal pathogens, but newborns are vulnerable to things like flu, etc. Do a search on PubMed for handwashing and infants and then see if you think it's so unreasonable.

Or, in other words, what marina said!

Pablop - I snatched it back and refused to let DD have it. I wasn't sure about saying much to the lady as wasn't convinced she was 100%.

But we kept seeing her in the supermarket for weeks afterwards and both DDs used to freak out and scream whenever they saw her.

How shocking, i put a rogue apostrophe in my last post.

Anyway, I repeat, the MWs and HV never washed their hands or dabbled in anti-bacterial stuff when they visited to do all the weighing and measuring and hearing tests etc.

(...and I'm sure my door handles are filthy)

hand washing with liquid soap and hot water is a really effective intervention!and newborn immune system is immature so absolutely necessary

Cadelaide, HCPs don't always practice what they preach... nor do they always preach what they should.

There was antibac gel everywhere on my postnatal ward Habbibu...but no liquid soap most of the time in the ladies' loos. Hence the C Diff talk about the world falling out of your bottom

Absolutely - what Marina said. My ds2 did end up in hospital with neonatal infection at 3 weeks. I too am all for a bit of dirt wrt ds1 (I have to be, having experienced him eating sand and licking his fingers after putting them in puddles ).

personal choice for parents, as I said before, as others have said.

If parents want to do it, let them and just do it, it takes 5 bloody seconds. If you dont want to do it yourself with your children, fine dont do it.

I cant beleive people are really hung up over parents who want to get people to wash their hands! Its not like you are asking them to take a shower in antibac stuff, clean their teeth, scrub their fingernails first!

If you have more than one child - how doyou prevent the older children touching the baby without washing their hands every time.

Isn't it all just a bit clinical?

I am not hung up over it; jutst have never come across it or heard of it until I saw this thread. NEVER come across it in real life and I have been around a lot of tiny babies.

Hulababy - you can't, obviously, but you can reduce risks.

a certain amount of flora will be present on mum other siblings-yes.the handwashing esp HCP is that they handle many babies and cross infection risk

have not read the whole thread but as a nurse it is something that I would automatically do before handling a newborn.It is amazing how often peoples hands go for the newborns mouth when they are cuddling thme and you could have just picked your nose/bum etc.

Reasonable request imo,but I never asked people when my dc's were babies funnily enough.

have not read the whole thread but as a nurse it is something that I would automatically do before handling a newborn.It is amazing how often peoples hands go for the newborns mouth when they are cuddling thme and you could have just picked your nose/bum etc.

Reasonable request imo,but I never asked people when my dc's were babies funnily enough.

oral-faecal main transmission route -ponder that

It's about risk management Hula, not risk elimination. So you probably don't stop the other children, no, but maybe you do limit the risk from other people. I think it's like Marina said - if you've experience of what can happen in certain situations, you can't be as relaxed. My own paranoia, for example, is folic acid - most people will be just fine without in in pre/early pregnancy. We were the 1 in 1000 that weren't. FWIW, I wasn't uber fussed about cleanliness around dd, but I completely support the right of parents to be that way around their own newborns if they choose.

any good HV would - cross infection risks are high