Shared underwear in a nursery

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Please calm me down as I cannot find a place to sit on. My DD started a nursery in Central London and it's fine in general but there is one rule which I was not aware of. If your child wets herself, they change to an underwear which was worn by (many) other children. They reassure me it's washed every time but I cannot calm down (you don't know how other parents wash it and with which other clothes D:). I did ask them if I still can bring mine for my DD every day and they said "No". Is it a common practice in nurseries? Please share your thoughts, experiences, pieces of advice. Thank you.

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It makes sense in a way for the nursery to do that as then the child can be changed quickly by one person and isn’t left alone while their bag is checked

I’m not really following the train of thought though - what infections are you thinking could be on the pants? What could get on them in other people’s washing machines? Do you disinfect your own pants?

At nursery your child will be touching the floor, things that have been in other kids’ mouths, things that have never been washed, the soles of their shoes etc. etc. and the kids are all fine

Not being snippy, genuinely asking- what infection do you think your DC might pick up from laundered underwear? Seems a massive overreaction.

Unless someone washed the underwear in the river rather than a washing machine then they will be clean. That's what washing machines do, wash things.

Yes, you don't know how other people are washing. There is no rule you must wash children’s and grown-up's separately (which I do) and I do know some families, they do wash ALL together.

What happens when adult and children’s clothes are washed all together?

Love it. Thank you. Beautiful sense of humour 🙂

Why can't you wash kids and adults stuff together?

What infection do you think they might catch from freshly washed pants?

How bad are you at washing your clothes that this is a concern?! If clothes are coming out of your machine dirty enough to spread infections its time to buy a new washing machine :-)

Washing together is totally normal. Why do you think it isn't, or that it matters?

Why do you need to wash kids and grownups clothes separately? Do you often experience horrendous underpants infections?

OP, it sounds like you have very extreme and irrational standards for laundry/hygiene. What is the risk of washing adult and child clothes together? What sort of infection do you think your daughter could pick up from wearing clean, but not new, pants? Your concerns are not grounded in anything real, and it would be an awful pity if you weren't able to get control of them before your child is old enough to notice and becomes anxious herself.

The underwear being loaned to your child has been washed, so it's clean, and in any event, what do you think is in other kids' dirty pants that isn't in your child's?

Yes, for the vast majority of families, there is no rule that you must wash children’s clothes separately. Why would there be?

Of course many families wash all their clothes together, not by adult/child. Not sure why you'd do that beyond tiny baby stage.

once they get to nursery clothes MY clothes are 'cleaner' than their clothes 😂😂

it's a bit ODD not to use spares from the child's own bag, but easier for them I suppose.

she'll be fine though, however they've been washed, she's not going to 'pick up anything' from wearing them.

it does always feel a little bit grim, but really it's a non issue.

The best way to avoid it is by getting her reliably toilet trained.

Four kids here and they've all come home in borrowed pants at some point. No big deal. Modern washing machines can more than cope. It's probably so they don't have to root through bags looking for it, they can just grab the spares box.

What's the big deal with washing adults and kids clothes together? Never separated at all and we are all still alive with no infections, irritations or anything.

I think you're seriously overthinkkng your laundry routine as well as the pants issue

I really think you need to reassess what you think hygienic is. Some of the stuff you’ve said is completely barmy. Putting something through the wash makes it clean. It doesn’t matter what items are in with it or whether they belong to adults or children.

Look I do understand your concerns but the vast majority of people wash all clothes together, adults and children. But I also tumble dry mine. There was an AMA from a laundry detergent expert and they do say to wash anything with bodily fluids on at 60 or tumble dry them. Personally I use Dettol Laundry in with any load of laundry anyway to kill all bacteria mainly because there are items I cannot tumble so I want the germs dead. 2nd post by the OP on this thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/AMA/3308661-I-developed-laundry-detergents-AMA

However, as savoy has said upthread children pretty much lick each other in nursery, play with the sole of their shoes that have walked through God knows what outside, share straws, pick their noses or explore their mouths and then touch everything your child touches too. This is why children get so poorly all the time. No one is sterilising the nursery room or the children every day.

What is the problem with this?

All the clothes end up medium sized.
Big + small = medium.

🤣

Mine use to come home in different underwear all the time. I never bat an eyelash tbh

It seems odd that they won't let you send extra clothes with her. BUT the coming home in another child's undies seems normal. I don't think you can do much about that.

At our infants school anyone who had an accident changed in to bog standard black unisex pants. I know because it happened to me 😳. It was quite normal and nothing at all for parents to worry about

We buy loads in our setting & school because often children run out of the ones in their bag and borrow ours - parents often forget to return them so we're forever buying new multipacks to ensure we have some 'just in case'.
We also have a washing machine as the tea towels, aprons, table cloths etc all need washed daily.