why do some people not wash their hands after changing a diaper?

[disneykibbes5]

I also always tend to use a diaper wipe While I have DS on the changing table and then I use Purel. I don't bring the stroller (big annoying double) in with me when we change diapers and have to carry him around and can't put him down to wash my hands. So I make sure to use the wipes and Purel.

 

[taximomfor4]

I did a lot of research for nursing school, on handwashing.

Most of the studies I found published came down to this:

Hand Sanitizers (like Purell) are fine, but for every 3 or so uses, you should wash with soap and water.

Proper handwashing with soap and water depends GREATLY on the friction of really, really rubbing. Rinsing, somewhat-rubbing, and quick-washing do next to nothing. Sing Happy Birthday in your head, to know about how long to rub VIGOROUSLY.

While handwashing, don't forget between your fingers, the backs of your hands, and under fingernails. Fingernails are a cesspool of germs. You should see what grew in our petrie dish, from swabs from under our fingernails.

Many times, I bet the people you see coming out of a stall and heading right out the door are washing their hands with Purell. Depending on the bathroom and situation, I will squirt Purell on my one hand, open the stall door, rub the Purell into my hands as I head toward the bathroom door, then squirt more purell outside the bathroom. NOTE: If I do this on one bathroom trip, the next bathroom trip I do a soap/water washing, followed by Purell once I get outside (bathroom doors...EWWWW).

I do not EVER use my sleeve in place of a paper towel, for the doorhandle. Clothing is so porous, you bacteria/germs will live on that sleeve for a good while (and you can't just Purell it).

 

[#1 Pocahontas]

pass the baby off to my DH when I'm done changing him. THEN I go back into the bathroom to wash my hands...or in several instances, go to the bathroom myself and wash my hands again.

That is exactly what I do.

 

[flipflop]

OK..A differnt twist. How many of you wash your hands BEFORE you change your child's diaper?

I always did with DS that was premature and almost always do with DGB. Had our doctor tell us years ago that was an important step many parents forget.


yes , i do wash after the change but often with a now 16 month old ,that is a wipe or sanitizer too.

I do. My triplets were premies and we are hand washing crazy.

 

[dis75ney]

It's been a while since my diaper changing days, but I'd like to throw my two cents in the fountain. Wait until I get my flame suit on...

OK, here goes...

As I am currently going to nursing school, I am a huge proponent of hand washing! However, I - most of the time - cannot do it in a public restroom. I have allergies to most dyes and can only use certain types of soap without breaking out into hives. Thankfully, the hospitals where I have rotations plus the school labs have dye-free soap (in addition to Purell), but I have found that most soaps in public restrooms have dyes that make it impossible for me to use them.

I carry Purell with me at all times and will use that plus vigorous rinsing with HOT water at the sinks, but still occasionally get the dirty looks from other patrons who see that I am not using the soap. It really bothered me at first, but then I learned to get over it...it's not worth my time to worry about what other people think about my supposed lack of hygiene. Although I will open the door with a paper towel or my sleeve so people won't think I'm leaving my germs all over the place...

Just something to think about...flame on!

 

[JacobsMommy11002]

I never washed me hands. I prefered the smell of urine and the aroma of poo on my hands for hours after...aahhhh...those were the days...rofl..

Seriously, though, I am a super anal (no pun intended) hand washer...to the point where I use paper towels to turn off the sink and open the door. That said, when I had kids with me that I couldn't put down, it was purrell.

 

[SandrainNC]

I actually got pretty good at washing one hand at a time while holding the baby. I have also handed the baby back out to my DH and then washed my hands. Now I just let him walk around while I wash my hands. I think the hand sanitizers are good if there is no way to wash your hands (better than nothing), but I don't believe they should be used instead of hand washing if there is a sink available. Soap and water washes poop or other things from your hands and down the drain. Hand sanitizer just moves it around all over your hands.

Sandra

 

[QJ411]

I posted earlier about changing DD in her stroller when she was an infant, but I had to come back and post after reading about 'bolters'...

A few weeks ago, DH took DD (2) to a restaurant for lunch while I was running an errand. She needed her Pull Up changed so he ran her in the mens room and since it wasn't a busy day and nobody was in the restroom, he quickly changed her in the corner. (I'm a weirdo, I try not to let DH take her to get changed in the mens room, I'd rather him leave and go change her in the car). But after he was done, he washed her hands over the sink and said stay right here next to Daddy...then he washed his hands...then not one second later, she ran to touch the urinal asking "Daddy, what is this?"

I was mortified when he told me. (of course DH heard an earful from me about WHY he shouldn't change her in the mens room... ) He said he scrubbed her hands and used Purell afterwards but I was just mortified.

 

[disnut1149]

I never "wash" my hands in public restrooms - I always use a hand sanitizer I carry with me AFTER I go out the door. So lots of people probably see me come out of the stall and leave, and think - she didn't wash her hands! But I don't see the point, then touching the nasty door!

I always wash my hands when I'm in a public bathroom, and use a paper towel to open the door. I would never touch a door handle without a paper towel!! Washing hands with soap and water for 20 seconds and often is the best way to avoid infections. (I was just in the hospital and they had signs about washing hands posted everywhere).

 

[JacobsMommy11002]

I posted earlier about changing DD in her stroller when she was an infant, but I had to come back and post after reading about 'bolters'...

A few weeks ago, DH took DD (2) to a restaurant for lunch while I was running an errand. She needed her Pull Up changed so he ran her in the mens room and since it wasn't a busy day and nobody was in the restroom, he quickly changed her in the corner. (I'm a weirdo, I try not to let DH take her to get changed in the mens room, I'd rather him leave and go change her in the car). But after he was done, he washed her hands over the sink and said stay right here next to Daddy...then he washed his hands...then not one second later, she ran to touch the urinal asking "Daddy, what is this?"

I was mortified when he told me. (of course DH heard an earful from me about WHY he shouldn't change her in the mens room... ) He said he scrubbed her hands and used Purell afterwards but I was just mortified.

I am in no way trying to judge you or your parenting, so please don't be offended, but I have to ask, out of curiosity. What happens when she is three or four, potty trained, and out alone with your husband? Honestly, I am not trying to start anything, I am just genuinely curious where she will "go" if there is no family bathroom, and the only option is the mens room?

 

[bumbershoot]

If I change my youngest son, and it is not practical to put him down I will not wash my hands, he is fully breastfed and why I think this makes a difference I don't know but I do know that when I started my elder son on solids I tried to wash my hands but sometimes had to resort to wipes.

I am a big believer in not disinfecting everything that moves and allowing my son to get dirty. I am not constantly washing his hands (actually he has really bad eczema on his hands so they only ever get washed with a wet rag) and while this may be completely incorrect I attribute his lack of tummy bugs, colds and flus to (what some would call) disgusting habits.

I wash my hands after going to the toilet but very rarely wipe down the changing table when in a public restroom.

Kirsten

I am so good about washing, I can hold my kids & wash at the same time. You wash one hand then switch the baby to the other side, and wash your other hand. I am a germ freak, and I wash my babies hands over the sink too, after I am done.

I'm with you two!

I used my fleece/waterproof backing changing pad when DS would still lie down to be changed, then it just got rolled back up and put in a separate part of the dipe bag. I used cloth dipes so it was just natural to use a re-usable changing pad. I also used cloth wipes, which didn't have soap on them (don't want to wipe soap on a kid then not wipe it off! hello rashes!), so they wouldn't have helped out with the changing surface anyway.

He stood very quickly, and after that hated lying down for changes, so I got good at just changing him while he stood on the changing tables.

When DS was still in dipes, he was usually in a sling of some kind, so I just popped him back into the sling then washed my hands. Other times I too did the one-at-a-time method. Then when he got more involved in things (he was basically done with dipes at 2, and we did a final wash and put away of his cloth dipes at 2.5) and wanted to wash as well, I'll prop him on my bent leg at the knee, prop the knee up at the sink level, and precariously wash both our hands. Now thank goodness we can both just stand and wash.


I don't touch hand sanitizers; the chemicals in them worry me more than just about any germ a person can name, and I'd rather touch someone's germs on a door handle than the residue from chemical-coated hands.

pyrxtc is my hero for posting all that.

dis75ney have you considered carrying a bottle of safe soap with you, instead of that purell?

 

[QJ411]

I am in no way trying to judge you or your parenting, so please don't be offended, but I have to ask, out of curiosity. What happens when she is three or four, potty trained, and out alone with your husband? Honestly, I am not trying to start anything, I am just genuinely curious where she will "go" if there is no family bathroom, and the only option is the mens room?

Oh I'm not offended by your question, we're all adults here having an interesting discussion , no worries . My problem isn't w/ DH at all! When she is potty trained and she's out with DH, he can take her to the mens room if I'm not around, they'd go into a closed stall where she'd pee in private w/ DH's help. I just don't like the idea of DH changing her out in the open of the mens room. And don't flame me, I'm not a man hater, where I think all men are creeps, I know a woman could very well be a creep as well. I know it may sound strange, it is I admit, but its just a preference, it's not where I "refuse" to let him take her to the mens room...I just try to avoid it if possible.

 

[jessica52877]

I too try to avoid public restroom sinks and will use a baby wipe.

 

[glass slipper girl]

"The study found that the use of sanitizers actually resulted in a significant increase in bacteria on the hands -- more than double the original amount. Purell's product increased the load of bacteria by a whopping 156.7 percent."

Actually hand washing with soap does too. I was the "infection control officer" (read: new girl who didn't know to run for the hills when one of the nurses says "Hey, I've got a job for you!" ) at a clinic I worked at not long out of grad school. It was a pediatric clinic in a teaching hospital. During our "training" course we had to take a petri dish and touch the auger then wash our hands with soap and water and dry with a clean paper towel and touch the auger in a new dish. The instructions were very explicit about touching nothing but the water and clean paper towel, this was also after we had been taught the proper hand washing technique making sure to get between fingers, the back of your thumb on both hands, washing for at least 20-30 seconds etc. The instructor squirted soap into our hands so we didn't even touch the soap pump. We then repeated again. The first dish had a good amount of stuff growing on it but surprisingly the 2nd dish had a ton more and the 3rd dish had very few. I remember this vividly. I remember writing a # for the amount of little dots of "stuff" growing on the first but my 2nd was marked TNTC (too numerous to count). We had a big discussion about how a lot of the stuff in the 2nd one was "good bacteria" sort of thing but that you actually do increase the amount of bacteria exponentially when washing. I'm a use purell in addition to washing sort of girl myself. I'll do the baby wipe and purell route when need be but I'm not a constant purell person.

As far as washing up after diaper changes goes, when we are at WDW I go in, change DS and go back out bringing him to DH. DH uses a wipe on his hands just in case while I go back in to wash my hands. When he was a baby I could hold him and wash...but it wasn't an effective wash b/c you can't properly clean your hands with friction using one hand at a time...but now that he is 15 months old he wants to be involved but that means he's leaning over and trying to pat the inside of the sink. ICK! No thank you. I'd rather take him out and come back to wash but I'm sure that the hand washing police don't realize this, they just see me leaving without washing up.

 

[lesleyd75]

I was told by my pediatrician that urine is sterile and will not transmit anything infectious, only feces carries germs, so I might not wash after a wet diaper when I think that there are more germs on the sink than on myself and my kids. I guess I just feel that the germs that my kids are carrying I've already been exposed to so there is no need to panic about not washing up after I touch their bums. I try not to touch anything in public washrooms 'cause they're the dirty things not us!

 

[mandysbus]

I once got a lecture from a woman in a public restroom on the overuse of antibac. soaps. I told her not to worry, that my house was dirty enough to overpower one little squirt of soap. She didnt know what to say...though I do agree that sanitizer and antibacterial stuff is way overused. Dirt helps kids build up their immune systems. I'm not saying people should not wash hands after using the bathroom or handling diapers but not letting your child be exposed to ANY germs is bad too... those are the kids that get sick quickly when they go to school and are around other children.

And I wont even get started on the women that squat above public toilets (and pee on the seats) in the effort for their butts to not touch the "dirty seat". This bugs the heck out of me

 

[brymolmom]

In the past - I did the 'one hand at a time' washing thing - or went and handed baby to dh and then washed.

BTW- on my way home from WDW about a week ago - there was a person waiting for luggage in our area changing a diaper right there on the floor in the middle right next to the conveyer belt. YUCK! I mean, in an emergency I could understand it - but there are two restrooms on that floor and my airport is TINY and it would have taken about 90 seconds to walk over to one of them.

 

[PEANUT1]

I think this post is hilarious

My friend used to not wash her hands after using public restrooms because she said she thought the sinks were dirty.

She thought that if she didn't "touch" anything but herself that it was ok. I then asked her if she was touching the handles on the doors that she was now putting her dirty hands on areas that other people would then be touching....

She now washes her hands...but this is why I never touch handles in bathrooms after I have washed my hands.