Hygiene Advice For New Parents

Everybody’s familiar with the stories of parents who never let their new baby touch anything that hasn’t been washed, wiped, disinfected and sterilized. Then comes baby number two and they tend to be more relaxed in their approach to cleanliness. By the time the third baby comes along, the kid is eating off the floor.

While child number three usually survives just fine, it doesn’t mean that the precautions the parents took with their first child were unnecessary. In fact, being a little obsessive with cleanliness is probably a better option than being a little laissez-faire. That’s because germs really are out there, and they really can make your children sick.

To help you take a more balanced approach to hygiene for your newborn, here are some general guidelines drawn from authorities at the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Consumers League, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services:

Practice Proper Hand Hygiene
You teach your kids to wash their hands, but it’s a skill you should be practicing, too. Wash you hands frequently and thoroughly, using soap and hot water for at least 15 seconds of vigorous scrubbing. When you’re finished, rinse well and dry completely – a moist environment encourages germ growth. Using disposable paper towels is preferable to cloth, because cloth can harbor bacteria. You should make sure to always wash both before and after preparing food or bottles, after changing diapers, going to the bathroom, sneezing or coughing.

Watch When You Wash
One word of caution when it comes to washing your children: Because the tendency for new parents is to bathe their children frequently, pay close attention to the condition of your child’s skin. There is such a thing as too-frequent washing, and some kids with sensitive skin who are bathed more often than necessary can develop atopic dermatitis – it’s a condition more commonly known as eczema, and it’s characterized by itchy, highly irritable red patches on the skin. If you notice a condition of this nature developing – or any other skin condition, for that matter – consult your pediatrician.

Use Hand Sanitizer
While soap and water is generally viewed as the single best means to ensure that your hands are clean and germ-free, the use of a supplementary hand sanitizer can offer an additional level of confidence. Typical commercially available products such as Purell, manufactured by GOJO, are alcohol-based and provide what is essentially 100% protection from potentially dangerous microbes. Use them after you’ve washed your hands properly and you can be assured that you’ve done everything possible to ensure that you are minimizing the opportunity for cross-contamination.

Keep Surfaces Sanitized
You don’t have to use a specialty cleaner to ensure that your home’s countertops, handles and other contact points are clean and germ-free, although any commercial product that is bleach-based should do a fine job. To prepare your own solution, combine one teaspoon of chlorine bleach with one quart of water and dispense from a spray bottle. You can make larger batches in the same proportion for heavier jobs, like cleaning large surfaces.

Pay attention to all the different parts of your home’s furnishings that you and your child come into contact with – anything that touches human hands, gets placed in or near the mouth or contacts more intimate areas should be disinfected. Some areas you might not have thought about cleaning include your telephone receiver, your cell phone, light switches, doorknobs, faucet handles, stair railings, baby toys, crib rails, pacifiers and teething products.

Be Cautious Around Certain Food Products
You probably know what your baby should and shouldn’t be eating, but remember that if you come into contact with questionable food products, you can pass contaminants – including potentially dangerous germs – to your children through routine contact. You should pay particular attention to unpasteurized dairy products, raw eggs, juice and poultry. Fresh fruits and vegetables should always be washed thoroughly. Meat products should be cooked to doneness and refrigerated quickly after use to prevent bacterial growth. And don’t forget to wash up before and after preparation!