Tell Fairy Non Bio your experience of keeping clean with a baby - £300 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

As part of our partnership with Fairy Non Bio, we’ve produced the Mumsnet Babies Podcast. There are ten episodes in the series, and so far we’ve released five. Episode five is about keeping clean, and you can listen to it here. Fairy Non Bio would like you to listen to the podcast whenever you can and then discuss your thoughts and experiences of keeping clean with a new baby.

Cleanliness is something that can be easy to worry about with a tiny new baby: from keeping them safe from external germs, to dealing with their own. Have you found that you’ve become too attached to antibacterial hand gel, or worried about all the things they could catch? And, with some dirt being important for developing an immune system, what did you decide was clean enough for your baby?

Of course, baby’s also produce a lot of germs - perhaps you have tips for dealing with baby poo where it shouldn’t be? Or any advice for a cleaner feeding time? And, in terms of your baby’s personal hygiene, do you find that they need to be bathed every evening? Or do you bathe them less often to ease skin conditions like eczema?

Perhaps things have changed as your LO has gotten older? Do you worry more about keeping your house clean once they’re crawling? What level of home cleanliness do you consider acceptable? Do you have advice on making your home look cleaner than it maybe is for visitors?

Whatever your experience with keeping clean and a new baby, share this below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

I pretty much use wet wipes for EVERYTHING! And a good bubble bath every other day :)

With my first there was a lot of anti bacterial hand gel involved. I had it stationed around the house. My second has munched on soil and sand and I was way more relaxed. I do like things to be clean but I grew up on a farm and have no allergies etc. It is so easy to get obsessed though with the pressure from ads etc. Antibacterial laundry powder for example seems to play into these potentially unhealthy obsessions.

Baby wipes are an essential long into their childhood years...

I find that regular hand washing is key, I think you can get obsessed with cleanliness, but I found that my standards dropped very quickly!

One of my children has bad eczema, so we stopped bathing every day and actually it is fine and has helped her skin no end.

I found with my DD1 I was so paranoid about people using antibacterial gel before touching her, when DS1 came along 14 months later I found I really relaxed as family life and fun took over although I did use anti bac sprays and floor cleaner and asked visitors to remove shoes simply because I had a toddler and baby who both enjoyed rolling and playing on the carpet

We keep on top of cleaning but we do not go mad over every little thing. I think there seems to be a lot more 'allergies' to things these days from when I was a child when you were exposed to dirt and germs and not so many sickly children! :)

I think I lived with a tea towel on my shoulder for about a month as my daughter liked to sick on my shoulder. I must admit baby wipes were a life saver as those things will clean up anything. We still use them now years later as they are so useful.

With my first baby I had separate everything- washing up bowl/gloves/brush! With the second I was mor relaxed and was just normally clean- both are hardly ever ill! I don't think you need to sterilise every last surface!

I always disinfected the kitchen surfaces over and over again! I am not so bad now that my son is a little older. Trying to keep him clean was a nightmare.....as soon as he had something clean on it seemed to stay clean for a few minutes. When we were out and about I was a great fan of baby wipes and at the end of the day he would always be popped into the bath!

I'm quite OCD with the cleaning. I used to like a spotless house, but with two young kids it's quite hard. I'm forever tidying. I use Dettol lots around the kitchen. I also clean the bedding regular including the mattress protectors. I also feel like the washing machine is always on, but that's because my son can never keep his clothes clean.

My son is a bit older now but when he was a baby antibacterial wipes were my friend, they were so useful, as were muslin cloths for any accidents, sicky moments etc. I think with a cat in the house I didn't worry too much about him crawling around, I think the more dirt (within reason) kids are exposed to the better their immune system will be.

I have 3 children and with the first one i was a bit of a germ phobe , and he is the only one who has any allergies !!! My other two i haven't been half as bad with and if im honest my youngest one is often found rolling around in the dog bed hahah

It is important to avoid anything which neutralises the natural acidity of a young baby's skin as this protects against infection

When my son was a baby I used antibacterial hand gel pretty every time I picked him up 🙈 and bathed at least once a day. He's now four and as he's got older I'm lucky if I can get him in the bath twice a week 😢

I only bathed my daughter twice a week unless she had a terribly messy poo. Baby wipes were the go-to thing when it wasnt a bath day!

I wasn't overly fussed about everything being so clean hen my little ones were babies. I just made sure I washed my hands regularly. They got bathed every couple of days. They never got sick.

Now they're older everything gets a quick go over with baby wipes when I have visitors coming. I have plenty of storage so any mess gets flung into the toybox or a drawer.

We used a lot of baby wipes, and a safe disinfect spray on some surfaces.
We also spent a lot of time making sure that there was nothing unsuitable near at hand (ie. dogs toys) that could be put in mouths!

Oh babywipes, where would we be without you!

Other than that, the toddler generally has a bath every other night- unless he gets really grubby playing at nursery or ends up wearing his dinner.

Kiddies are bathed every other day and always have been unless they've got significantly muddy or something!! I worried more with my first and it was anti bac for everything.. now for 2nd child much more relaxed and funnily enough he's been ill less often?! I clean the house as in sweep up most days, mop a couple of times a week unless it is urgently needed otherwise. Dusting.. probably my weak point!!

We are pretty relaxed to be honest, and we were with our first too. My biggest thing is washing hands after going to the toilet for the eldest now she is potty trained. With babies I'd make sure we washed our hands after a nappy change but wasn't overly worried about them getting grubby. I was more conscious of germs when they were newborn especially around people with colds but you can't really stop them getting illnesses.

I've avoided at all costs, the chemical sprays and wipes that kill germs! A bit of disinfectant where needed (e.g. if DDs had been ill) but kids need germs good and bad, to help build their immune system!

As long as I can see the floor, I'm happy!

My standards have gone down hill since I've had two kids, I don't have the time to clean, so I get by with the basic necessities!

I am always cleaning the house everyday

I like a relaxed approach and have baby wipes on hand all of the time. A bit of dirt is good for their immune system! Like them with nice clean smelling clothes all of the time, though.

Nothing but a nappy at dinner time as stains on clothes are a nightmare and babies are messy so let them mess! Take wipes everywhere and always have a small anti bacterial gel in the baby bag

Its got to be baby wipes and anti bac spray!