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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Asked to wash hands before handling newborn baby?

213 replies

AliciaJohns · 19/03/2008 15:10

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??!

OP posts:
Hulababy · 19/03/2008 22:11

Oh if someone aked me I would d it - although do admit I would be perplexed; possibly less so having seen this thread. But I truely have never heard of anyone doing this.

scottishmummy · 19/03/2008 22:14

my MW and HV both did - it constitutes NICE guidelines, and if they hadn't i would have insisted!

evie99 · 19/03/2008 22:14

It would be a good thing if this became standard practice. Personally, I do not tend to touch newborns, but I can imagine taking it a bit personally if someone asked me to wash my hands.

chipmonkey · 19/03/2008 22:16

It would never have occurred to me to ask anyone to wash their hands before handling ds1 and ds2 as newborns. Ds3 was different as he was 8 weeks prem so I didn't really encourage visitors at all and I think most visitors were afraid to ask to hold him, he was so tiny! I do think overprotecting newborns is likely to hinder the development of their immune system anyway and wasn't there a study which showed that the more germs a child was exposed to, the less likely they were to suffer from asthma and other atopic conditions?

scottishmummy · 19/03/2008 22:16

think about it your hand touches door handles, transport handles, shop counters - all manky all pose threat to NB

Habbibu · 19/03/2008 22:17

Not newborns, chipmonkey. Seriously - do a PubMed search. Everything you read there promotes handwashing in neonates.

barbamama · 19/03/2008 22:18

I never asked people but was annoyed if they didn't do it. I always do it before touching friends newborns.

sarahloumadam · 19/03/2008 22:20

We were advised in antenatal classes to ask people to wash their hands but tbh I never plucked up the courage. In-laws already think I'm a weirdo for breast-feeding, that would have been a step too far!

Habbibu · 19/03/2008 22:20

handwashing in handling neonates, I meant!

BoysOnToast · 19/03/2008 22:22

oh im one of those 'its good to build up an immune system' sorts.

total slattern.

chipmonkey · 19/03/2008 22:23

HAbbibu, I'll take your word for it! Am far too tired and pregnant to read anything medical at the moment!

ThinWhiteDuchess · 19/03/2008 22:23

The parents are not BU at all to ask this. I did with my DD when she was newborn. I did have a couple of funny looks, but hey, I was (still am) the very proud mother of a beautiful child -- why would I want to take any risk with her?

The worst thing that happened when DD was just a couple of weeks old was when my brother's manky old girlfriend held her. When I managed to wrestle DD back, she had momentarily lost her lovely baby smell and stank of stale fags. Ever since then I have managed to persuade manky gf of my dear brother not to hold DD.

My dear Mum smokes, and I still ask her to please wash her hands before handling DD (which she doesn't mind in the least, and also doesn't smoke for ages before we turn up so she can have a cuddle of her grandchild!).

Habbibu · 19/03/2008 22:24

Aargh!! So am I BoT, but it's not the case in newborns, and you don't know which ones are vulnerable or not, so it's fair enough to take precautions when they're really tiny, esp. if it would make parents happy.

kikid · 19/03/2008 22:25

Not read all thread. I would always wash my hands before holding a newborn, I would always ask others to do the same, seems common sense to me, medical family/background, so maybe why?

ThinWhiteDuchess · 19/03/2008 22:25

Oh dear, there were a few too many dears in my post -- sorry!

BoysOnToast · 19/03/2008 22:31

[shrugs] i guess i just never thought asbout it. there werent legions of people looking at my newborns.

but i dont suppose id object to anyone else asking me w rgds their own new offspring. i guess they know if the child is likely to have inherited allergies or whatever.

MrsMattie · 19/03/2008 22:32

Only ever asked smokers to wash their hands when handling DS. Nobody has ever asked me to wash my hands to hold their baby. I wouldn't mind in the slightest, especially with first time parents who are paranoid about everything!

CrushWithEyeliner · 19/03/2008 22:37

I asked everyone - of course you must wash your hands when handling newborn - I always used to say (pre DD) when visiting a baby - "I will just wash my hands". I never even thought about why - it just seems an essential thing to do...

sarahloumadam · 19/03/2008 22:47

Have never smelt smoke on DS but hate it when he is handed back to me reeking of someone's perfume!

Twinklemegan · 19/03/2008 22:55

I was obsessed by this when I had DS. In hospital I was really shocked by the number of people who walked straight past all the signs asking them to use the chemical handwash. Pure selfishness and stupidity.

I must say though, once I was out of hospital I was less bothered and I don't recall asking anyone to wash their hands then. But I would never object if I was asked - it's completely understandable.

Habbibu · 19/03/2008 22:58

Sorry, BoT - may have come across a bit snappy there. It's just that I'm really not a cleanliness obsessive - mostly a cheerful slattern - but have friends whose babies died from infection as neonates, so am a bit oversensitive.

Twiglett · 20/03/2008 09:52

May I ask when the washing hands requests stop ... I mean at what age?

BoysOnToast · 20/03/2008 12:07

habbibu. thats awful. no, you didnt seem snappy, but i take your point completely, given what you just said. i stand educated

anyhoo, the only newborns ive been around much have been my own. so in answer to OP, never been asked, never asked. never occured to me to ask. but no, now ive read this, it wouldnt surprise or disturb me to be aksed.

Lazycow · 20/03/2008 12:14

TBh I thought this was normal, though I was always too embarrased to ask.

One of my friends did this with her first child and I remember finding it odd (before I had ds). Then I had ds and I noticed that all the MW and nurses/doctors in the hospital did this (ds and I were in for 5 fdays after the birth) and the doula I had always did this too.

I never asked anyone to do this with ds but for the first couple of weeks all the professionals he saw did.

I now pretty much always wash my hands before handling a very new baby of say 6-8 weeks old or less and older if the baby was a premie.

Regualrly washing hands is the one way that has been shown to cut down on colds and flu viruses being spread so I see no reason to see it as overly precious to ask this for a very new or premature baby at all.

MrsTittleMouse · 20/03/2008 12:20

I wouldn't mind at all to be asked. We actually didn't let anyone (except the grandparents) hold DD at all for the first two weeks. It was on the advice of the MW, as DD had had a very difficult arrival in the world and didn't need to be passed around like a parcel.