Adults collecting children/shoe wearing

[Kennington]

hi, i visited a nursery yesterday and noticed that they didn't ask us to take off our shoes when entering the baby room. none of the babies were in at the time though. it got me wondering if parents are allowed to collect their children wearing their outdoor shoes. i will ask next week but is this the case at your nursery?

i personally find it very unhygienic and was surprised as surely this would increase the chances of gastrointestinal infections. i don't agree with the schtick it improves immunity because very little children could suffer terribly if they contracted something from dog poo.....

[mindutopia]

At my daughter's nursery, yes, normal to wear shoes inside for pick up, though the children do have wellies for outside (when it's muddy, they wear normal shoes when it's not, wellies taken off at door but not normal shoes). But the nursery is on a farm (dairy farm and also livery). We live in the country. Everyone is exposed to horse and cow and dog poo. It's unavoidable. You couldn't go outside otherwise, so no, not a big deal around here. My daughter was there for 4 years and had one tummy bug the whole time (which is quite likely she caught from me as no one else at nursery had it).

[insancerre]

Anyone else had a message from bestm urging you to read the link to educate yourself?
Slightly OTT I think

[PerspicaciaTick]

bestm - is there a reason why you decided to resurrect a 4.5 year old ZOMBIE thread?

[bestm]

When I read some of the messages from you people I am really surprised to see your understanding of hygiene . I don't understand how you can say things like "My shoes remain firmly on my feet at all times". You would like your baby to eat some mud mixed with some dog, rat, cat, or even human poo or piece of metal or stone. You carry all sort of germs from outside with your shoes. Those babies are prone to get easily sick. Even you can get sick by eating the dust you carried from outside with your shoes. There are very nasty bacteria and viruses you can carry under your shoe. Would you eat, let's say, a piece of mud? I don't think you would. It's not that your baby or child steps on dog poo or whatever, it is us or people who work in the nurseries. We go to public toilets, step on the places where there are so many bacteria and viruses are present(do you think when they clean the toilets they get rid of all the viruses and bacteria, you would see this in your dream) and then step on the carpet with your dirty shoes where your baby is crawling, picking up things and putting them in their mouth. Also, what I don't understand is why it is so hard to take your shoes off and walk with your socks on or wear a pair of indoor sleepers. Some of you have no idea what "hygiene " means and this is scary. To educate some of you on this subject here is a link for you to read www.wimp.com/heres-the-scientific-reason-not-to-wear-your-shoes-inside-the-house-anymore/

[Patchouli]

ooo this is a bit of a twist on the usual shoes on / off threads.

I've just realised now why some of the mums have their shoes off at a children's centre music group I go to (I'd thought: 'make yourselves at home why don't you')

[manchestermummy]

I visited a nursery when I was looking for a new one for DD2 at which I was told shoes were covered. This struck me as ridiculous because despite that, the floors of the pre-school in particular were filthy. Really, really grubby. No shoe covers in the world could have helped in this instance!

[Seb101]

Removing shoes seems very OTT to me! Where ever you go; friends houses, toddlers, classes etc, people will have walked on the floor with shoes! Babies aren't nearly as delicate as that. They put all sorts in their mouths. If dog mess was walked into nursery, it would be noticed and cleaned up. Odd bits of daily dirt ( and all nursery's floors are cleaned daily) doesn't do any harm. The phrase 'wrapping in cotton wool' comes to mind. I'd chill out and not worry. Xx

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

General cleanliness of a nursery says far more about it than shoe covers.

Looking dusty and rather grubby would be far more important to me than their shoe on/off policy.

Have you got any others to look around?

[Kennington]

Again thanks for all the interesting comments. Why i asked was because all the mother and baby group that I have attended asked for shoes to be removed. I am not actually too fussy in general about this - i dont get people to remove shoes in my house, but for the baby room I really didn't like it. The floor looked dusty and rather grubby. It is just a case of numbers of people passing through. Lots of people are more likely to result in something grotty being dragged through.

[insancerre]

I wonder how many of these babies that have to be protected by little shoe covers have dogs at home.
Or are they banned as well?

[ReetPetit]

Karoleann - sorry, where am i talking utter crap 'as usual' ??

I simply asked if the op goes to mother and toddler groups i have never been to one where adults have been asked to remove their shoes.

I am well aware of the damage toxoplasmosis can do, thank you!

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

Agree with Reet - do none of you go to soft play places or mothers and toddler groups in church halls where there is no compulsion to remove your shoes? I doubt that those floors have been thoroughly cleaned with disinfectant prior to your arrival - and if they had, those chemicals won't do your lo's much good either.

Life cannot be completely risk free. It's all about assessing the risks and making decisions based upon that assessment. The tricky part is that people's assessments of those risks differ.

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

Not at all Gilberte. If I had actual poo on my shoes or pram wheels then they would be left outside of my house or nursery until they had been adequately cleaned. I obviously would not knowingly tread it into home, nursery, friends houses..........

[Karoleann]

Yuk, no you don't want adults wearing shoes in a baby room. All the nurseries my three children have been in have asked me to put covers on my shoes (and provided them) before I've gone in their room. Children take their shoes off too.

Reet - you are talking utter crap as usual. Do you realise the damage toxoplasmosis and toxocara to do to eyes - if the infection affects the macula it will cause irreversible blindness.

[Gilberte]

"For those of you who are worried about dog poo - wiping your shoes or pram wheels with a baby wipe or in a puddle will not kill bacteria"

I realise that but would you rather I notice I'd gone through something and drag it through the nursery?There is bacteria everywhere and we need to be exposed to germs for our immune systems. Having said that if you know you've stepped in something it's couteous to clean it off rather than make work for someone else surely?

At home, I will use an anti bac spray on my wheels or children's shoes if I've cleaned them.

[quoteunquote]

In all of the nurseries here (state and private), children have inside shoes(slippers) and outside shoes and wellies, No one would wear shoes past the entrance way, because children sit , crawl and play on the floor.

It would only take someone to walk poo through once and trying to clean properly with lots of children would be impossible.

I thought all nurseries did this, really surprised there are ones still left that don't, I assumed it must be required,

Down here you hand grown out of wellies and slippers on to nursery or the primary school so they always have spares.

[ReetPetit]

op - would you not go to any mother and toddler groups where adults wear shoes either then?

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

I've never come across this!

At my ds's nursery parents generally didn't get further than the lino'd area where the dc sat at tables for meals, craft etc in the baby room. The carpeted area where the babies were actually on the floor was partitioned off.

For those of you who are worried about dog poo - wiping your shoes or pram wheels with a baby wipe or in a puddle will not kill bacteria.

[Emsmaman]

Adults shoes get taken off at reception (or the plastic shoe covers!).

[usualsuspect]

I've never heard of this in my life. How precious.

[TinyTear]

No outdoor shoes at my nursery either

[littlemisstax]

DDs nursery is completely shoe free - for adults and children. They carry thier shoes from the hallway where we drop them off to the shoe racks by the back door for going in the garden.

It works well.

[Mondaybaby]

Baby room has shoes off policy but poorly adhered to by most. When dd was about 10months old they did have an outbreak of gastroenteritis that my dd caught although I have no idea of the source. I would have preferred a strict outdoor shoe off policy throughout the nursery. There are some risks that are just not worth it.

[ReetPetit]

and most people who have stepped in dog poo would normally notice before stepping into a baby room, wouldn't they?

[Gilberte]

"Is dog poo your major concern with this, as I can't think of a time since I was a child that I have been unfortunate enough to step in dog poo. It surely isn't that common an occurrence?"

Depends where you live. The pavements where I live are full of dog poo. Even with my excellent poodar I have still stepped in it a couple of times, or the buggy wheels have gone through it and I've had to get the wet wipes out/find a large puddle before going into nursey.

We take shoes off at home but I don't insist others do it. A relative once manage to bring dog shit in with him.

I hate the fact that I have to walk with my eyes constantly focussed on the pavement beneath me and try to steer two children round it on the way to school/nursery.

I am particularly careful so I hate to think what's on the carpet my DD has to sit down on in school.