cleaning clothes with dog poo on

[Servalan]

Hope you can help. I suffer from OCD so I never know if I'm overreacting to things/doing things right.

The route to and from school is a bit of a dog-poo slalem to say the least.

My DD went running ahead with her friend earlier and ran through a bit of dog poo. There doesn't seem to be any on her shoes now that we're home. However, I've convinced myself that I can smell dog poo on the hem of her dress (though can't actually see any).

I'm really paranoid about toxacara (sp?) and I'm now wondering the best way to wash her dress so that it'll be safe for her to wear. I'm also worried about the top I was wearing when I took off her dress as it rubbed against it. Ditto her tights.

I panic also about the washing machine and tumble drier getting "contaminated" with it.

What is the best way to deal with it? (I do have napisan here - I don't know if that would kill the nasties...)

Apologies if I sound like a bit of a loon - tis the nature of my illness :(

Thanks for your help

You could take it to a public laundrette to wash it!

Or bin the dress.

I would wash in my own washing machine having soaked it first in detergent.

You can get that vanish anti bac stuff to add your machine if that would help your peace of mind, but I'm sure a regular wash would be enough.

Not so long ago we had an issue with the dc leaving their coats lying around the un housetrained puppy pooping on them (she is now traned, the dc are not and still leave the coats on the floor, you would think children would be easier to train than puppies sincve we speak the same lanuage as them mostly but it seems not ). I just stuck them in the normal wash and no one has died yet

Soak it in Napisan before washing, just like you would when she was tiny and had human faeces on her clothes.
Extra scoop in the washing machine for luck.

So consensus is that Napisan would sort it? Should that kill the horrid toxacara thing then? (I've never been sure how to get rid of it)

Am panicking about her coat now and wondering if that would have made contact with the offending bit of her skirt when she took it off. Don't think I'm going to have time to soak, wash and dry her coat by tomorrow (at least with the dress I can put her in a different one and wash tomorrow). Can't smell any poo on the coat though, so don't know if I'm just being too paranoid now.

Washed DD's legs just in case - just used antibac soap and warm water from the shower. That's all I used on her hands too - I can't use antibac gel on her because it stings her skin, so I'm hoping there's nothing more I should have done. Put antibac gel on my hands (and on my nose from where I sniffed her skirt) Hoping that would have killed anything.

am feeling panicky :(

I think you have done far more than necessary.

It will be fine.

Servalan, do you receive any help with your OCD?

I agree with Dr N.

The Toxocara bacterium is a living organism, so therefore any wash at 40C will kill it, using the Vanish Anti-bac would make doubly sure.

Ordinary soap will also kill the Tox off your daughter's skin.

Have you considered getting counselling for your OCD? By stating that you have it in your firstaragraph, you show that you know it's not usual to be like this. What sort of impact is it having on your daughter?!

If I'm too late with this comment, then please excuse me, but I think you need to normalise your attitude to this darkly harmless bacterium. Remember, if your daughter is exposed to Toxocara as a child, her immune system will fight it off and then she'll be immune to it for the rest of her life - most importantly when she is pregnant.

Again, as I know nothing of the details of your life, if your daughter has a compromised immune system for any reason, then disregard my comments, but I wish you luck in coping with your illness.

Sorry about my typos - on iPad - darkly should be largely.

And "first paragraph"

Thanks everyone.

Meowy, that's very helpful, thanks.

I am getting some help with my OCD - I am on medication for it. I also am getting some CBT therapy from my local mental health team.

I do worry very much about how my illness affects my daughter :( I've been battling OCD since I was 18 and I am now 39.

My OCD is especially bad at the moment. I had it under control, but I became pregnant over the summer and stopped taking my medication. I then had a miscarriage a couple of months ago, and though I felt like I was coping at the time, my head is now totally fucked and I'm really not coping.

DD hasn't got a compromised immune system. However, I do worry about her taking the germs into school and maybe affecting a child who has.

I don't have any of the vanish antibac stuff. I'm thinking of washing her coat and my fleece top that I use as a coat (both of which had contact with her dress) on a 60 degree wash and just putting a couple of scoops of Napisan in the wash since I don't have time to soak them if I'm going to get them washed and dried by tomorrow. Should that be enough to get rid of all nasties?

Then soaking her dress in napisan overnight for several hours before washing.

Doesn't help that when I ran an advanced search before posting that I read an article about a girl losing her sight due to toxocara complete with gruesome photo of the swollen up eye :(

.

bump

I know what you're saying. It's like a many-headed monster. Once I chop one head off, another appears.

I'm just trying to do damage-limitation here so I can make sure that DD and I both have coats to wear for when she goes to school tomorrow. Also, so that whatever I do, I don't then start having a panic about the washing machine and drier being contaminated.

I just wanted to check that washing the coat and fleece at 60 degrees with a couple of spoons of napisan in the wash would be enough, since I don't have any of the vanish stuff and I don't have time to do a soak before tomorrow if the coats are to be dry by tomorrow morning.

I have a total lack of faith in myself and my judgement. Also with my illness it is really difficult for me to differenciate between something being something I should worry about and something just being OCD

Do the wash with the napisan, that will kill anything horrid - I promise it will.

I don't have OCD, but I would probably do the same thing myself as dog poo is vile stuff.

But once you've done that, then you should relax in the knowledge that you've killed the bugs and no harm will come to you or your DD or anyone else.

Thanks very much folks