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

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I don't have kids myself but my god daughter & her brother are always around & I'm OCD about cleanliness anytime but especially when they're around as Jack is into everything at the moment & Emily loves my garden & all it's wildlife so runs around watching the squirrels & all the birds & loves to put food out for them so anti-bacterial gel is a must after that

I keep a huge stack of antibac wipes on hand!

Baby wipes works well for most things .

I don't obsess too much as I think they need to build up their immune system

Our house is always clean and tidy and I didn't worry too much after DD & DS came along. When they were crawling I did mop floors more as we have pets.

I try for a general level of sensible cleanliness but with the belief that babies need to be exposed to some germs in order to have a healthy immune system.

One of my favourite discoverys about baby bath time was how much easier it was to bath him in the sink! All that leaning over the bath was so hard! The sink was quick and easy on the back!

With a close relative working in allergy research I was indoctrinated very early on about not getting obsessed with cleanliness. Cleanliness is important when someone has a bug or when handling raw meat but otherwise stop worrying about germs.

learn very quickly that nothing stays clean for long

I can honestly say I didn't give it a great deal of thought. Breastfeeding meant no worries about cleaning bottles. We did do a nightly bath and kept plenty of wipes to hand, but that's about it really.

We always have a bottle of antibac on the go and keep on top of our housework. We are a bit more conscious of keeping the house cleaner now we have children.

I use anti bacterial wipes for the highchair, but I also use them for the dining table - we have cats who traipse across it.

Other than that, the only thing I've ever been strict about has been keeping the floor clean! DH panics when he eats floor food - I count it as part of his balanced diet

I now use anti bacterial wipes to wipe kitchen surfaces, tables, toys and anywhere children's fingers can get and an antibacterial hand gel, but apart from that I am pretty much relaxed about it.

we are running around after toddler number 3 now and she is pretty disgusting my the end of the day but it's nothing harmful, usually just food, mud, sand etc and i love to see her just enjoying herself.It's all cleaned up at bathtime every day so my advice is .......worry less, enjoy more!

Always wash hands thoroughly with soapy water after changing nappies and always sterilise bottles when they are very young. I always carried a pack of Dettol wipes when we were going anywhere but happy for my LO to crawl about in our home and put his fingers in his mouth etc to build up a bit of immunity.

When Dc were babies the washing machine seemed to be on constantly.

I did and still do get through a lot of cloths, napkins and tea towels. We encourage wiping hands on the old tea towel/napkin rather than their clothes, but my eldest can still make a grand mess.

I have always been quite high on cleaning and antibacterial wipes/gels, especially now as we also have 2 puppies too.

My daughter isn't a baby (not even a toddler) anymore (waaaaaah :() but I have to admit as she got older I started to wash her a little less often to ensure that her skin wasn't getting too dry. In regards to the cleanliness of the house...
I haven't quite lost my grip on that...I am a sucker for antibacterial spray, wipes, steam mops, fabric freshener...

Me and my daughter aren't afraid to play in the mud and get dirty though. You have to live a little :)

You can never have enough baby wipes

In young babies as long as they are cleaned 2/3 times a week in the bath and always cleaned when dirty, I think it's safer for little ones skin and prevents dry in fact it out too much! Also, of course the little Ines bum gets cleaned several times a day and should be fresh and dry!

Wipes are a must! Great for cleaning the house and the kids haha!

I try not to worry too much. I think you can become too clean and thats not good either. I always got told off for sucking my thumb but it never hurt me, to this day actually. I think kids are too molly coddled.

Baby wipes!

It's impossible. The end.

Not sure that my cleaning standards are particularly high but, touch wood, DS seems to have a pretty robust immune system.

Non negotiable - washing hands properly after the toilet. During periods of illness, anti bac gels and wipes are used rigorously. Always used anti-bac wipes on changing mats, high chair tray, kitchen surfaces etc. Hot wash for any 'soiled' bedding, towels, clothes.

But the 3-second rule applies to dropped food, I will accept that babies like to eat a bit of dirt and put things in their mouths and I refuse to sterilise every single toy, floor or surface.

A lot changes with a baby when they start on solid food and that was when I found it hardest to keep DS clean.

I hated the weaning poo and never felt he was really clean just from wiping, so I started putting him on the potty at each change and pretty soon he decided that was the place to poo, so I rarely had a really dirty bottom to clean. It also bought me some time to get clean as he would happily sit on it in the morning and play with his spinning top while I had a shower.

He would get so dirty after eating dinner in the evening that I felt like he needed a bath every night. To save time and also avoid him making the bathwater into soup with all the food he was covered in, I tried showering him and he loved it. Initially, I sat him in a collapsible plastic crate with lattice sides so he wouldn't slip over but soon he was ok just to sit in the bath.