What is your opinion of exposing children to germs.....

[besroma]

and building up their immunities?

 

There was some discussion on a recent thread about avoiding germs in hotel rooms. Some posters said not to worry about it (including covering the tv remote which is reported to be *very* germy, complete with fecal matter :ack2:). This made me wonder if I am being too careful regarding germs.

 

I would love to hear how you handle germs. We have a large family and it seems like we stay sick in the winter.

 

We have had a baby or toddler in the house for the past 11 years, so there is always a little one with something in his/her mouth (like the remote control).

 

We use regular (not antibacterial soap).

 

We do not use sanitizing gel often.

 

We take things out of the mouths of the little ones.

 

We wipe the grocery cart handles when we have a baby who actively chews on them.

 

We want to build their immunities, but we need to not be sick all.of.the.time.

 

Can you kindly share your thoughts?

Edited June 21, 2012 by besroma
Clarifying when we wipe the carts

[Dory]

You find this article interesting. It's on bacteria, the body, and the immune system. I just ran into it this morning.

http://www.naturalnews.com/036219_germ_theory_human_body_bacteria.html#ixzz1yFuVvVsu

[spaceman]

I let my toddlers chew on sticks, and we don't wipe down grocery cart handles.

 

We do wash our hands after using the bathroom, sneezing, or otherwise getting them dirty. We wash our hands before eating.

 

We stay pretty healthy.

 

 

With my first, I was a lot more cautious. He has multiple food allergies, so while I was pregnant with my second I ran across this article - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html and found it interesting.

[OrganicAnn]

I think (unless you have compromised immune systems in your family) that daily washing of hands with soap and water is good. Hand washing when handling meat, after using the toilet, etc is good. Avoiding people who are obviously ill (sneezing coughing etc) is good. I don't think you need to do much more one way or the other. Eat healthy food with lots of good vitamins and minerals is also good.

[fraidycat]

I don't use anti-bacterial soaps or gel hand sanitizers (unless visiting immune-compromised persons, or camping with limited washing ability) and am not afraid to take my kids to McD's playplaces, etc. I don't wipe grocery cart handles beyond the baby/gumming everything stage. I only ever use vinegar, baking soda, and essential oils for housecleaning purposes.

 

I do believe in building immunity through exposure (to some degree), plus using pro-biotics, and eating a healthy diet. Also, we do not run to the doctor for every little sniffle.

 

We are rarely ever sick. Like maybe 1 cold per year, each for about a week, if that, even when the kids were in public school.

[ktgrok]

We don't worry about germs on a daily basis. But we don't hang out with sick people, and we DO use sanitizer at theme parks some, and at the science center religiously, as they have a preschool there that seems to brew biological weapons. But my kids put everything in their mouths, eat dirt, whatever. We wash hands randomly, but not often. We are pretty much the opposite of germ phobic, with the exception of the the aforementioned Science Center and the avoidance of people that are obviously sick.

 

We stay very well. Maybe get sick a few times a year, at the most?

[LaxMom]

I think (unless you have compromised immune systems in your family) that daily washing of hands with soap and water is good. Hand washing when handling meat, after using the toilet, etc is good. Avoiding people who are obviously ill (sneezing coughing etc) is good. I don't think you need to do much more one way or the other. Eat healthy food with lots of good vitamins and minerals is also good.

 

I agree. However, I will not lie and pretend I don't feel quite clever in my vintage gloves pushing around grocery carts during plague season. ;)

 

My kids each get one cold and (maybe) a 1 day stomach bug each fall/winter. When there is something particularly virulent running around, or we are in regular contact with people who bring their sick children out to socialize (because they're so bored, you know), I make sure they take elderberry syrup and I am a bit more prone to add astragalus root to rice pots or soups.

 

Oh, and we avoid the pediatrician's office like the proverbial plague during the school year. That place is a petri dish. :ack2:

Edited June 21, 2012 by MyCrazyHouse

[Barb_]

Vitamin D has made a huge difference in how often we get sick. The little one (under 7) takes 2000iu a day and the kids and I each take 5000iu a day. I recently had my D levels checked and mine were smack in the middle of good. Not as high as I would expect considering we live in AZ where we have 355 sunny days a year.

 

Other than that, I don't go out of my way to avoid germ.

[nukeswife]

Honestly I just don't worry about germs. Unless kids are full of nasty green or yellow stuff kind of sick, I have no problem being around someone with a clear runny nose etc.

 

We wash our hands after using the bathroom or touching animals at the zoo/aquarium.

 

I actually laughed when I saw things to wipe down shopping carts with appear on the scene. The only time need something to wipe my cart is if it has been out in the rain and I need to put a kid in the seat (which I don't have to worry about anymore) or has something obviously sticky/that would stain on it.

 

I think hand sanitizers have made things much worse overall.

 

We maybe get 1 cold a year here, and not all of us will necessarily get it if one of us does.

[hsmom2011]

I think (unless you have compromised immune systems in your family) that daily washing of hands with soap and water is good. Hand washing when handling meat, after using the toilet, etc is good. Avoiding people who are obviously ill (sneezing coughing etc) is good. I don't think you need to do much more one way or the other. Eat healthy food with lots of good vitamins and minerals is also good.

 

:iagree:

[Bluegoat]

 

 

I actually laughed when I saw things to wipe down shopping carts with appear on the scene. The only time need something to wipe my cart is if it has been out in the rain and I need to put a kid in the seat (which I don't have to worry about anymore) or has something obviously sticky/that would stain on it.

 

What would be really useful would be to have absorbent towels to wipe them down in the rain - the wipes to kill germs don't absorb much at all. My dd4 freaks out about wet carts.

[tex-mex]

Well, son and I both have a rare liver disease and compromised immunity. So, we both have to have an annual flu shot, sick day protocol when ill (everything in the house is sanitized and the ill person is isolated in a room), go to the ER if a crisis occurs, etc.

 

Now, having shared that, we do not go bonkers with keeping germs away in our home with antibacterial wipes, gel, bleach, etc. There is no point in any of that since we are all homebodies. I was bold this year and did a 2x a week volunteer stint for a young mom with twin toddlers. We went to a toddler gym class once a week and storytime at the library once a week. I never got sick from the visits -- but if the twins were ill, I stayed away from them and stayed home. Between just not touching my nose, eyes or mouth while out at gym or the library AND making sure to wash my hands for 30 sec in warm water and ordinary hand soap -before I ate or once I got home- I stayed healthy. :D

 

Our rule in our home is if someone else is ill, we isolate the person from getting son and I sick. If we get sick, we go on the sick day protocol with a restricted diet (per our disease), more glucose drinks, rest, and keep on the 3x a day medicine schedule. My biggest pet peeve is with those folk who are sick and go out in public places without taking into consideration of others who have lowered immunity like son and I.

 

YMMV but going overboard on sanitizing everything just makes it easier for antibiotic resistant germs to be on the rise.

[SKL]

We were blessed with more or less normal health, so I do not worry about germs. At home, we wash hands after eating, to protect the furniture and stuff from sticky hands, rather than before eating. When in public, we wash hands after using the restroom, partly to make others feel better. I think touching the door handle on the way out undoes it, but whatever. We do not avoid sick people, but we do try to keep our own sick germs away from people who might be fragile.

 

Although I believe exposure to germs is healthy for most of us, I also feel strongly about exercise, fresh air and sunshine, and a reasonable diet. Even if you're exposed to germs, you usually won't get very sick if your body is in good condition.

[justamouse]

I try my darned hardest to not get sick in the winter because it takes us out for 6+ weeks.

 

We wash hands for the usual stuff.

 

I have a pump of hand sanitizer in the van and when we get in from a petri dish environment, we use it.

 

If something awful is going around, they stay home and I do the running myself (not that anyone wants to do anything in the winter, anyway).

 

I do wash down the remote and phones with Green Works antibacterial wipes, but I don't use clorox and stuff.

 

That's it. We eat clean, we take our vits, I make a lot of nourishing things. It works for us.

 

I wish I had the problem of what to do with the hotel remote, but alas, that is not my life.

[DianeW88]

We do nothing particular about avoiding germs. We wash our hands after using the restroom and before meals, but that's it.

 

Having worked in a ped's office for many years, I can honestly say the most germ phobic mothers had the kids who got sick the most. And I'm not referring to immuno-compromised kids...that's something completely different, and they do need to take extra precautions. I'm talking about otherwise healthy kiddos.

 

But I could predict with stunning accuracy that the moms who were chasing their kids around the waiting room with a bottle of hand sanitizer were the kids we'd see multiple times that winter, and the kids who were chewing on the waiting room toys were the ones who were there for the well checks. Inevitably. :lol:

 

PS. Virtually everything you touch has fecal matter on it. Many more people don't wash their hands in the restrooms than do.

Edited June 21, 2012 by DianeW88

[*Michelle*]

We are pretty relaxed about the kids digging in the dirt and playing outside. We don't go overboard on cleaners. We mainly use soap and water for hands, but keep sanitizer out too.

 

I always use the cart wipes. I'm not so concerned about catching a cold. It's more the thought of people handling raw meat and poultry while they shop and getting that type of contamination on the handles.

 

I also hate the pediatric clinic. Last time we went for a well-check, we all came down with the stomach bug from Hades.

[Juniper]

I used to not do much of anything. Like others have said, hand washing with soap and warm water. I would refuse to grab the handle of bathroom doors, because moist hands and handle are not a good combo. :glare:

 

My kids were rarely sick. Out of four kids maybe two got sick a year, dh maybe every couple of years, and myself about once a year.

 

Lots of playing in the dirt and naturally occurring exposure.

 

Now, we have some serious staph infections going. I do not know if my lack of germaphobia helped or hurt us. :confused: I am feeling a bit disoriented with all of it.

[Stacia]

Well, this thread is making me think of something my ds told me when he was younger (maybe around 4yo or so).... He informed me that I should never kiss a cat with my mouth open or I will have a mouthful of cat hair (he said as he was pulling wads of cat hair out of his mouth). :lol: (I have always heard that having multiple pets around infants & toddlers helps build their immune systems; we've always had multiple cats, so I think that helps.)

 

W/ my dd (oldest child), I was fairly careful about germs when she was young (washing toys & things in hot water, etc...). By the time ds came along, if something fell on the floor, I wiped it on my pants & handed it back to him. :lol:

 

Overall, we're not germ-phobic here & just do typical stuff (washing hands after the bathroom, after handling raw meat, etc...). Dh is European &, imo, Europeans tend to be less germ-phobic than Americans overall, so perhaps that has also swayed our parenting decisions re: germs. We've also traveled a fair bit (nationally & internationally) & don't go to any special pains to clean or avoid things when using hotels, airplanes, subways, etc.... (Knock on wood)... mainly, we're been healthy. My dc did get sick a couple of times when younger, always after visiting the ped. office for a well visit. :tongue_smilie:

 

I think diet, exercise, & overall lifestyle play a part too.

 

My biggest concern the rare times we're sick is that I keep us away from my mom (who has asthma) & a friend of ours (who is immuno-compromised) during those times.

 

ETA: My observations of friends & people we know echoes Diane W.'s observations -- the moms who are the most germ-phobic are the ones whose kids are sick most often; moms who are more relaxed about germs have kids who are healthier overall & less likely to pick up random colds, flus, & illnesses.

Edited June 21, 2012 by Stacia

[gardenmom5]

2dd used to dive face first, with mouth WIDE open, into our sandbox. I hated the dragging her in the house to rinse out her mouth. she is almost never sick and has no allergies.

[fraidycat]

I have noticed the same thing that the moms that I know who run to the doctor for every. little. thing. and/or are anti-bac militants are the ones that have kids who are always sick.

 

To be fair, it could be a case like *chicken or egg?*. Are the anti-germ/anti-bac militants the cause or the result?

[mommymilkies]

I let my toddlers chew on sticks, and we don't wipe down grocery cart handles.

 

We do wash our hands after using the bathroom, sneezing, or otherwise getting them dirty. We wash our hands before eating.

 

We stay pretty healthy.

 

 

With my first, I was a lot more cautious. He has multiple food allergies, so while I was pregnant with my second I ran across this article - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html and found it interesting.

 

:iagree: I wash my hands a lot out of habit and sensory issues. I encourage my kids to wash theirs. They play in dirt, eat plants straight from the garden, never use hand sanitizer, etc. I don't wash anything down in hotels, though I'm sure they're gross. We observe the 5 second rule most of the time. We give our pets kisses (though not with the tongue-ew) and laugh hysterically at people who wash their hands after petting cats. We try to stay away from very sick people because I am a whiny baby about respiratory illnesses. My kids don't get sick often and get well quickly. We tend to get sick less than many families we know. I do get abx for UTIs and long lasting ear infections. I clean wounds with clean water and soap and sometimes hydrogen peroxide. We make wounds bleed to clean them and try to let the wounds "breathe". My kids go barefoot most of the time.

[besroma]

By the time ds came along, if something fell on the floor, I wiped it on my pants & handed it back to him. :lol:

 

I think diet, exercise, & overall lifestyle play a part too.

 

ETA: My observations of friends & people we know echoes Diane W.'s observations -- the moms who are the most germ-phobic are the ones whose kids are sick most often; moms who are more relaxed about germs have kids who are healthier overall & less likely to pick up random colds, flus, & illnesses.

 

 

This is what confuses me.

 

We have a healthy diet...no fast food, everything cooked from scratch, grinding our own flour, etc.

 

We exercise..,kids play outside a lot.....no tv except occasional dvds....screen time less than 30 min./day for the kids.

 

The first sentence in the above quote is how we have been for the past 10 years. This year is the first year I have even purchased sanitizing gel.

 

My ped. said that it was not unusual in the winter to have a different virus every month in the home, and that with a large family, as long as we had little ones in the home, it was possible someone would be sick the entire winter.

 

BUT, with so many people making comments about how we were always sick (just regular colds, coughs, etc., but I guess it seems that way since there are 8 of us), it made me feel like I was doing something wrong and needed to change.

 

What am I reading here tells me maybe I should go back to not worrying about the grocery cart handle even if my baby leans over and slobbers all over it.....:tongue_smilie:

[Soror]

We do nothing particular about avoiding germs. We wash our hands after using the restroom and before meals, but that's it.

 

:iagree: I'll add if I notice them looking particularly dirty.

 

Mine are nearly always barefoot as well. Dd2 was licking the cat yesterday, you think fur in the mouth would be a deterrent. We get little colds and such, occasional stomach flu, seems like december before last we had a bad stomach flu, but nothing necessitating a dr visit. They've only been really sick a couple of years ago. Dd1 had an ear infection, ds with bronchitis and dd2 ended up in the hospital with pneumonia(although I don't think our ped would have admitted but the phys assistant did).

Edited June 21, 2012 by soror

[ktgrok]

This is what confuses me.

 

We have a healthy diet...no fast food, everything cooked from scratch, grinding our own flour, etc.

 

We exercise..,kids play outside a lot.....no tv except occasional dvds....screen time less than 30 min./day for the kids.

 

The first sentence in the above quote is how we have been for the past 10 years. This year is the first year I have even purchased sanitizing gel.

 

My ped. said that it was not unusual in the winter to have a different virus every month in the home, and that with a large family, as long as we had little ones in the home, it was possible someone would be sick the entire winter.

 

BUT, with so many people making comments about how we were always sick (just regular colds, coughs, etc., but I guess it seems that way since there are 8 of us), it made me feel like I was doing something wrong and needed to change.

 

What am I reading here tells me maybe I should go back to not worrying about the grocery cart handle even if my baby leans over and slobbers all over it.....:tongue_smilie:

 

Are you exposed to a daycare child? I swear that is where the worst germs come from, by far. Or maybe you just need to institute a better sick routine, when someone comes down with something, so everyone else doesn't catch it?

[Bassoonaroo]

We wash hands after handling the pet rats, before touching food, after toileting, or arriving at home after being out and about in somewhere "gross." Or if they are dirty or sticky. Sounds like a lot, but it's not really. We don't use antibacterial soap. I try to find some nice smelling liquid soaps.

 

When we travel (which is rare) I wipe down the surfaces in the hotel room (door handles, remote control) because if we ARE in a hotel room it means we are on vacation and don't want something ruining it! We just got done with a California road trip and hours after we got home, the youngest got the stomach crud -- ewwww but at least we were not all sick on the trip. That would've been gross and difficult to manage.

 

I am careful about food safety rules. We cook food thoroughly (no pink burgers) and make sure things go into the refrigerator quickly and not sit out.

[Melissa in Australia]

I let my toddlers chew on sticks, and we don't wipe down grocery cart handles.

 

We do wash our hands after using the bathroom, sneezing, or otherwise getting them dirty. We wash our hands before eating.

 

We stay pretty healthy.

 

.

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[stripe]

I only use that antibacterial stuff occasionally. Definitely not a regular thing. I have, however, gotten very sick from dirty water, so I think basic hygiene is critically important, especially washing after going to the bathroom and before eating. I try to emphasize that. My kids aslo wash their hands when they come home (their idea). I try to be balanced.

[Parrothead]

I have noticed the same thing that the moms that I know who run to the doctor for every. little. thing. and/or are anti-bac militants are the ones that have kids who are always sick.

 

To be fair, it could be a case like *chicken or egg?*. Are the anti-germ/anti-bac militants the cause or the result?

I have a friend like this. She carries around a huge bottle of hand gel They are always putting that stuff on their hands. And the whole family has just come down with the stomach bug. Funny thing is we'd been together almost daily for the week before them (the whole family) getting sick. We've yet to show a symptom.

 

We are pretty germy people. I firmly believe that germs are needed to give our immune systems something to do.

[The Girls' Mom]

Purely anecdotal, but I have a friend who kept a rather dirty house as her kids were/are growing up. Her kids have always been less sick than mine. We've joked it was because they had to build up stronger immune systems. In reality, there is probably some truth to that!

 

That said, I've never been fanatical about germs. We bathe regularly, and wash hands with regular soap and water. I use vinegar to clean my kitchen, and only use bleach occasionally for laundry stains. The girls played in the dirt, and we've always had pets. My kids are pretty healthy. We did battle strep a lot, but it was when they were in public school. Our few health issues seem to be genetic rather than germ caused.

[TN Mama]

Honestly I just don't worry about germs. Unless kids are full of nasty green or yellow stuff kind of sick, I have no problem being around someone with a clear runny nose etc.

 

We wash our hands after using the bathroom or touching animals at the zoo/aquarium.

 

I actually laughed when I saw things to wipe down shopping carts with appear on the scene. The only time need something to wipe my cart is if it has been out in the rain and I need to put a kid in the seat (which I don't have to worry about anymore) or has something obviously sticky/that would stain on it.

 

I think hand sanitizers have made things much worse overall.

 

We maybe get 1 cold a year here, and not all of us will necessarily get it if one of us does.

 

:iagree: This describes our family exactly.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I think (unless you have compromised immune systems in your family) that daily washing of hands with soap and water is good. Hand washing when handling meat, after using the toilet, etc is good. Avoiding people who are obviously ill (sneezing coughing etc) is good. I don't think you need to do much more one way or the other. Eat healthy food with lots of good vitamins and minerals is also good.

 

:iagree: This is pretty much all we do. I focus on providing healthy foods to build up our immune systems. I never worry about germs, unless I've spilled chicken juice all over the counter, or I can visibly see fecal matter somewhere. We hardly ever get sick. I can count on one hand the number of times my kids have been ill in their lives. We rarely even get colds. I've stayed in numerous hotels and if they are generally clean (I worked as a motel housekeeper one summer- they don't give you enough time to really clean a room well), then I don't worry about it. I've changed hotels when the rooms have been visibly disgusting, though.

[stripe]

It always kind of drives me bonkers when I see people in restaurants wearing gloves (the same pair all day). I'd rather they wash their hands regularly.

 

Yeah, here's one I saw recently : The guy is handling food with gloves on, then answers the phone, then goes back to arranging baked goods. People need better training. But then, I've sen tv chefs handle raw meat, wipe their hand on a cloth kitchen towel, and move on to the next thing. And I saw Martha Stewart take a tiny spoonful out of a sauce in the blender, drink about half of it, and then tap the remaining three dropfuls from her spoon that had been in her mouth, back in the blender. Yuck.

[besroma]

Are you exposed to a daycare child? I swear that is where the worst germs come from, by far. Or maybe you just need to institute a better sick routine, when someone comes down with something, so everyone else doesn't catch it?

 

No, no daycare kids, though we do pick up sicknesses when we go to the doctor. I try to leave the well ones home, but cannot always do that.

 

It is probably just what the pediatrician said...with such a large family, and little ones for so many years, it is expected. I rarely get sick, even with years of little sleep waking up with the babies and kids.

 

We do quarantine some (though rarely), and everyone has their own glass, but it is tiring and discouraging when you have kept things separate all day, then you look over and see the 3yo reach up and grab the sick child's glass and chug-a-lug. A 3yo will grab any glass in sight and drink out of it when they are thirsty. Another instance is the oh-so-sweet, but infectious, wet, sloppy kisses they are always plastering one one another. :tongue_smilie:

 

I'm going to go back to my original ways and not worry about it. I will just remind myself that they are building their immunities at the same time.

 

Thanks so much for the replies!

[Laura in STL]

Both of my kids have some allergies(one with just seasonal and one with both seasonal/food). One also has asthma. We do keep the house pretty dust free, but we are not germ phobes in general. We have traveled and spent time in hotels since they were little. The only thing we ever really did was remove the bedspread. They also went to the childcare at the YMCA as littles for about an hour a day. My dh is a primary care physician, so he pretty much spends the whole winter bringing germs home. Our kids are rarely sick, and if they do get something it's usually very short lived. We are amazed at little they are sick, especially our asthma kid.

[Soror]

No, no daycare kids, though we do pick up sicknesses when we go to the doctor. I try to leave the well ones home, but cannot always do that.

 

It is probably just what the pediatrician said...with such a large family, and little ones for so many years, it is expected. I rarely get sick, even with years of little sleep waking up with the babies and kids.

 

We do quarantine some (though rarely), and everyone has their own glass, but it is tiring and discouraging when you have kept things separate all day, then you look over and see the 3yo reach up and grab the sick child's glass and chug-a-lug. A 3yo will grab any glass in sight and drink out of it when they are thirsty. Another instance is the oh-so-sweet, but infectious, wet, sloppy kisses they are always plastering one one another. :tongue_smilie:

 

I'm going to go back to my original ways and not worry about it. I will just remind myself that they are building their immunities at the same time.

 

Thanks so much for the replies!

 

fwiw I don't worry about little colds that is good practice for the immune system. I worry more if every little bug makes them really sick or knocks them down for an extended period. My son had a few "illnesses" this year, he slept for half the day and that was it, no fever, cough, runny nose, etc. Dd1 tends to whine, she tends to get a bit of a cough(although she is slowly getting better about whining). DD2 tends to get a fever and sometimes gunked up eyes for a day and then is fine.

[catz]

I am pro germs. That is all. :D (no antibacterial soap here, hate hand sanitizer, don't worry much about sick kids out and about). We are healthy and have very few allergies (seasonal hay fever type stuff that we do not medicate for).

[Mommy22alyns]

I'm pretty laid-back about germs. We do use antibacterial soap because I buy at B&BW and that's what they have. They play in playspaces without me breaking out the hand sanitizer. I don't give hotel rooms a second thought. They have been extremely healthy their whole lives. Maybe once or twice a year we catch a little something. We do wash hands regularly and change toothbrushes after an illness.

[KidsHappen]

It's not the germs you need to worry about. It's the other kids. I am not the world's greatest housekeeper. I have four cats and two dogs and I could give a rat's @ss about germs. I keep things neat and clean but definitely not sanitized. We don't use anti-bacterial anything and that germ x crap freaks me out. I swear if I knew I had ebola on my hand and the only option to clean it was germ x, I would have to think long and hard. All of my children were home until the 15 year old turned 11 I think. She got sick so rarely that I think the only thing in her medical records are sports physicals and a couple of cases of strep throat. Her sisters are all about the same. The youngest seems a little bit more prone to infections (not sure why). Since the youngest two started school (3-4 years now) they miss 10 days of school each years due to some cold or virus. I am convinced that it is because they have never been exposed to so many other people and their germs that they haven't built any immunities.

 

I do have to admit that since community based MRSA has become more common, I am a little bit more cautious than I used to be. Any open sore of any kind is cleaned, hydrogen peroxided and bandaged. One of my dds already had a localized infection. Luckily we caught it early and erradicated it quickly. But I really have to be on the ball looking out for these things because my children simply are used to doing so.

[Jenny in Florida]

I'm not too fussy about germs.

 

We use regular (not antibacterial) soaps. I keep hand sanitizer in the car for when I'm out and about with the dog and might not be able to wash my hands, but I never used the stuff when my kids were little. I never used those wipes on shopping carts or other surfaces.

 

When they were younger, I figured it was proof my kids had a good time if they came home dirty.

 

I'm not the world's best housekeeper.

 

We're almost never sick.

[jeninok]

We are the opposite of germa phobes here too, and for the most part we are all healthy. My son and I have seasonal allergies, and we both might get 1 or 2 colds a year. I clean with either vinegar, oxi-clean solution or a very watered down spray bottle full of that cleaner that smells like Apple Mango Tango Gain detergent, Lysol I think.

 

I do wash our laundry on the warmest setting, and sweep/vacuum nearly everyday, but if I mop it is usually with my Wet Jet refilled with vinegar water. (I don't do that nearly often enough.)

 

We wash hands before cooking or eating, after being somewhere really germy like the library or doctors office, and always after pooper scooping or changing the litter box.

 

I do try to wash all cuts with soap and water, or that bandaid hurt free wash, and use peroxide for scrapes with debris in them. But our shower and hand soaps are usually all just normal bars, or liquid.

 

I am also one who will likely consider swimming in a clean chlorinated pool bath enough for DS. :D

 

BUT...we are battling staph again, so I have switched to antibacterial soap, we are using hand sanitizer (which I hate) and I bleached the bathroom and kitchen, and wiped down everything possible with either rubbing alcohol or Lysol antibacterial cleaner. I hate the antibacterial stuff, it dries my skin out so badly that I wonder if by damaging the acid mantle so horribly I am actually just opening myself up for more problems! :confused:

 

If we are sick, we stay home, I worry much more about infecting other people with our germs than the other way around.

 

 

I think I used more hand sanitizer at the ER the other night than I have in the last 5 years combined...all the germs in hospitals freak me out!!

[Guest submarines]

Well, we don't even wash our hands as much. I'm simply not disciplined enough to make sure everyone washes their hands for 30 seconds, in hot water, while lathering, and then making sure they don't touch anything on the way out of the bathrooms. And a very perfunctory "turn the water on, slide hands under the water, turn the water off" that I've observed in public bathrooms is pretty much the same as not washing. We are hardly ever sick.

[fraidycat]

I am careful about food safety rules. We cook food thoroughly (no pink burgers) and make sure things go into the refrigerator quickly and not sit out.

 

And see, I think those "food safety refrigeration" rules are a bunch of hogwash, too. I hate cooked food after it has been refrigerated, so I do not do it. Leftovers sit out on the counter here, or they do not get eaten. The fridge is for raw food and condiments only IMO.

 

There is a rule at Christmas time...DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT put the cabbage rolls in the fridge. My Dad and I will hunt down any refrigeration offenders and make them wish they'd never seen a cabbage roll before. We pretty much have all the aunts trained now. :D

[Laura Corin]

We practice basic hygiene: washing hands after using toilet is more or less all I can think of. I used to carry hand gel when we lived in China and there wasn't always soap and water in toilets we visited. I don't carry it any more.

 

We rarely use bleach in the house - we use Ecover cleaning products. I can't remember if I cleaned things that babies might chew - trolley handles, etc. - but I might have wet wiped them. I wash most clothes on cold. I run a hot load of white towels once a week to clean the towels and the machine together.

 

I defrost meat at room temperature and leave dishes to cool at room temperature over night before refrigerating. We eat beef, burgers, salmon and lamb rare.

 

We have come out of four years in China, lots of international travel and light hygiene with rare illnesses. Hobbes has picked up more colds since he started school, but still not many. He threw up a few days ago and I found myself trying to remember the last time that happened - and I couldn't.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

Edited June 22, 2012 by Laura Corin

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

fwiw I don't worry about little colds that is good practice for the immune system. I worry more if every little bug makes them really sick or knocks them down for an extended period. My son had a few "illnesses" this year, he slept for half the day and that was it, no fever, cough, runny nose, etc. Dd1 tends to whine, she tends to get a bit of a cough(although she is slowly getting better about whining). DD2 tends to get a fever and sometimes gunked up eyes for a day and then is fine.

 

Yep. I have 14 and 15 year old sons. I could have written this. DS#1 has been on ONE round of antibiotics and that was for a mild ear-infection that was caught at a well-visit when he was 6. He sleeps off any illness with a long nap. DS#2 has only been on antibiotics twice (mild ear infection and once for a cat bite) and that was many years ago.

 

DS1 ate a dust-covered pretzel off the floor of a shopping mall when he was 18 months old. I think that was the best thing to ever happen to his immune system. I also took him to the mall when he was 2 days old and took him to the voting booth when he was 3 days old. I never heard of keeping your baby home for his or her first weeks. Never used anti-bacterial anything.

 

I sent oldest to PS this year and he got perfect attendance. Although there were sick kids all around him, he didn't miss a day. Somedays he did come home and sleep for hours, but I'm not sure if he got something or was just being a teen.