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If you make people use Purell before touching your baby...
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Anonymous
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OK, aside from the debate raging elsewhere as to whether one *should* ask people to wash hands/use Purell before holding/touching a baby, I just want to suggest to the many posters who insist on Purell that they should do some research on this and consider whether what they REALLY want to insist on is hand-washing (possibly in conjunction with Purell -- but not Purell by itself). I looked into this myself a while back and the research seems to suggest that hand-washing is much better.
A few examples: http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/000211.Almanza.sanitizers.html http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fsehandw.html (the last item on the list, in particular) |
Anonymous
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Yes, hand washing in hot water with soap for 2 minutes is best. Former NICU mom who still remembers the hand washing protocals.
Pragmatically though very few people ever wash their hand really well this way and its hard to stand over someone in the bathroom so Purell is compromise. There are so many surfaces that are incredibly germy and touched by tons of people..doorknobs, escalator handrails, shopping cart handles that using Purell before touching babies or your food etc can really cut down on colds. |
Anonymous
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I'm a nurse and if you, mom, ask me to do purell before touching your baby
I'LL LAUGH AT YOU! |
Anonymous
| Dr. Sears recommends alcohol based hand sanitizers if hand washing isn't possible. I'm sticking with Dr. Sears. |
Anonymous
Why? We did the Purell thing for the first few months. DD was born in November and so coming into cold season it seemed the smart thing to do (recognizing that insisting on actual hand washing was a but more of a PITA). Not FOREVER, but while infants are still tiny and a cold could become something pretty serious, why wuoldn't you want to take extra steps to be careful? |
Anonymous
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The CDC recommends using them, saying they are efficacious in preventing the spread of disease.
It also recommends that hospitals have multiple, easy-to-access locations of hand sanitizer dispensers. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no03/05-0955.htm http://www.cdc.gov/cleanhands/ http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5116.pdf |
Anonymous
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I'm in the camp that thinks all hand sanitizers are messing with our resistance to bacteria. I don't throw everything into this bucket, but we didn't have that stuff when we were growing up, and we're still here.
This is also very American - we are crazy germ obsessed over here. My Aussie inlaws (including my MIL who's a surgeon) would totally laugh at us if we handed her purell. In all seriousness, I saw an episode of "The Doctors" back around Thanksgiving when I was visiting my mom. They did a whole segment about hand washing vs. hand sanitizers, and basically said to throw out the Purell. Isn't one of those docs a Sears?? |
Anonymous
I agree triclosan is a problem with creating superbugs, but not alcohol. Hand washing is better than Purell, but which would you rather ask someone to do? Go wash your hands long enough to sing Happy Birthday twice, or please use some Purell? (although I'm sure you wouldn't ask either, which is fine). I'm just saying that asking someone to use Purell is easier. |
Anonymous
All the nurses at the hospital squeezed form cleaner on their hands before touching the babies at Shady Grove. I guess you are just dirty and particularly rude. |
Anonymous
And if you try to touch my micro-preemie baby, I'll punch you. |
Anonymous
So nurse, after changing/checking bloody "napkins", checking c section scars, dealing with IV bags, and changing crappy diapers you don't feel you need to wash up, wear latex or use the foam sanitizer. I bet you get lots of complaints from disgusted patients. |
Anonymous
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I don't like purell in my house at all or in my purse or diaper bag. It is 65% ethyl alcohol, and it is dangerous to ingest. My toddlers are too curious and too into everything and anything. I don't want to look up and see one of them eating that stuff. Here is more information if you're interested. You can also look right on the purell bottle where it says harmful if ingested. We use soap and water at my house.
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/sanitizer.asp http://www.purell.com/page.jhtml?id=/purell/products/prd_hand_sanitizer.inc http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/dont-drink-the-purell/ |
Anonymous
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how old a baby are we talking about? newly home from the hospital, sure, demand clean hands. but if it's just your run-of-the-mill infant, come ON!! you can't keep your kid in a bubble. it's actually better to expose precious to a germ here and there and let him/her build up immunity. that's why kids raised with pets have higher resistance later on than you sani-freaks.
good luck with that purell. |
Anonymous
Babies R US, the grocery store and Buy Buy Baby all sell alchohol free safe santizing gels and foams. It doesn't have to be Purell. I bet the stuff is actually sold everywhere at this point. |
Anonymous
| Do you know what chemicals are in the alcohol free kind and are they safe to ingest? |