Worried about toddler and germs

[notcoping777]

My toddler is at that age where he wants to crawl everywhere. At home we have hard floors and even though I vacuum and mop most days, they never seem to get fully clean - there’s always pet hair, crumbs and other dirt.

This afternoon we went to a stay and play session where again, he was crawling all over the place. There were loads of toys that he was touching, then putting his fingers in his mouth. Another child there was coughing quite badly and DS used a toy he had touched straight after him (I only noticed the other boy was coughing after DS had touched the toy and put it in his mouth).

The other day we were in a shop and he was yelling to come out his pram, so I let him crawl on the shop floor, which in hindsight was probably foolish as it would of course be covered in germs.

The way he’s being exposed to all these dirty environments is starting to make me quite paranoid that he could pick up some horrible bugs. Does anyone else worry about this and is there anything I can do? I do wipe his hands with wet wipes before eating but they’re not antibacterial I don’t think.

You can't do anything about it - they touch everything, put stuff in their mouths and cough all over people / are coughed on in return. It will all help build their immune system. Just regularly wash his hands especially before eating!

What should I wash his hands with? Are regular wet wipes enough?

Wash with soap and water at home eg carex
You shoujd have learned to wash yours as much as possible by now with covid .whenever you was hands wash his!
Use wipes when out
You can buy antibacterial wipes
You carry hand sanitizer yes? What do you do for you? Do the same for him
Don't over think it

You can buy antibacterial wipes
You carry hand sanitizer yes? What do you do for you? Do the same for him

I thought Carex, antibacterial wipes and sanitizer would be too strong for a 14 month old’s skin. Is that not the case?

I’m freaking out that he will get ill from this play session - its almost inevitable isn’t it? I wish we’d never gone

We’re off on holiday tomorrow which is why I’m even more worried. I should have kept him home!

Of course it's not inevitable! I took my kids to soft play all the time when they were little and they survived the experience.

You sound a bit overly worried about germs (said with kindness).

Assuming he is otherwise healthy then don’t overdo it. He will put stuff in his mouth and most of it won’t be a problem. He will (probably) lick other children, eat dirt from under his nails, suck some grass clippings etc and it will all be fine.

Although do try to prevent him imitating DS2 who (aged about 3) was caught smooching his reflection in a tube train glass wall. Yes, he got D&V from that!

This is completely normal, and actually a child's immune system needs to meet gems in order to be able too recognise and respond to them properly. Children who are too clean are less protected and can develop allergies as the immune system is primed to defend and can go awry if it has not enough to do.
Normal hygiene, such as around food and toilet hand washing is all you need.

Look for baby friendly sanitizers and wipes
Don't stress

I think you need to calm down OP- a toddler and germs go hand in hand- good hygiene habits like washing hands etc but inevitably they will be around other kids and get sick at nursery/ risk chicken pox the day before you head off on holiday …fun fun fun!

@notcoping777

What should I wash his hands with? Are regular wet wipes enough?

At home just soap and water is fine.

And try not to worry too much, toddlers are generally disgusting. My DD put a snail in her mouth last summer before I could get to her and fish it out

Don’t put alcohol based hand sanitizer on a toddler.

The germs are good. They are necessary to build immunity to the bad stuff. My toddler eats all sorts, licks floors etc. Getting mildly ill all the time is normal, you don’t want to be stopping it.
We practice normal basic hygiene, but we embrace the floor. I caught her sharing her crumpet with the cat earlier-not something I’d encourage but it’s not worth freaking out about.

All good for the immune system op

Soap is not too harsh for a 14 month old 🙈 that's madness. It's soap, what do you wash him with in the bath?

Your child is going to come into contact with tonnes of bugs in his childhood, doesn't mean he will get sick from them all. Even if he does, what do you think will happen?? He'll have an upset tummy, or a cold.

Also pre covid, did you gel your hands after touching a door handle in town, or after pressing a lift button or using a public phone? Obviously with covid we have all stepped it up a bit and there's nothing wrong with that but how often did you get ill with tummy bugs then? Probably not often, I know I didn't.

However saying that, I definitely wouldn't let my child crawl around the floor of a shop...

My 3 year old can usually be found laying on the floor playing with cars/ figures
Just last week I caught him eating skittles off the ground in the park .. they weren't our skittles 🤢 (he did kindly take it back out and hand it to me when I exclaimed no don't eat stuff off the ground)
He'll be ok, I use the dettol anti bac wipes or the Milton surface anti Bac wipes when I can but I've accepted that he is going to have contact with germs and overall it's good for his immune system.

This is normal for young children. You just have to just try to avoid really disgusting things, and trust.

Babies do need to be exposed to some germs.

I used damp flannels for cleaning hands when out, or wipes.

I really think you’re overthinking this.

Kids are disgusting little creatures but it’s how they build up an immune system. Just wash his hands regularly.

Unless your DC had underlying health conditions then getting colds and coughs will just be normal events. If he does get a cough you haven’t done anything wrong. From NHS website

“It's normal for a child to have 8 or more colds a year.

This is because there are hundreds of different cold viruses and young children have no immunity to any of them as they have never had them before.”

As stated above it’s really important that your child is exposed to bacteria and his immune system learns to deal with it. If you don’t expose him to bugs, he has much more chance of developing asthma and other allergies.

Just be sure to wash his hands regularly. Good hygiene is important. It helps them
to not acquire unnecessary tummy bugs through touch.

There is nothing wrong with handwashing. It should be encouraged and as a teacher I encourage my children to wash their hands on a regular basis.

You can also buy some clinell Antibacterial wipes from Amazon. They're fabulous.

Please do enjoy your holiday op.

My DD liked stuffing wood lice into her mouth and crunching on them

Just give them a bath every night wash or wipe hands throughout the day and that's all you can do really.

If he's not exposed to germs etc then how will he build up his immune system? Just wash his hands with soap and water before mealtimes and that should be enough

It's soap, what do you wash him with in the bath?

Baby bubble bath, which I assume is milder than Carex on delicate toddler skin!

However saying that, I definitely wouldn't let my child crawl around the floor of a shop...

What are other people’s views on this - was I too relaxed?

You can also buy some clinell Antibacterial wipes from Amazon. They're fabulous.

I’ll Google now, thanks

I let my babies crawl everywhere. I won't pretend they didn't get coughs and cod's as babies and toddlers but now they're teens they are hardly ever ill. Rarely miss a day of school.

Honestly, don't stress