Wash Your Hands and Call Poison Control
Let me tell ya a fun little story. Last Friday my 2&1/2 year old was in the potty doing his business almost into the potty. Suddenly from the hall I hear gagging. Of course I fly in there to find my baby with foam around his mouth. Fairly certain he wasn’t rabid, I deduced it was soap. He said he went to take a drink but forgot to rinse the soap out of his hands first. At first I’m thinking…OK it is soap…probably OK…lemme take a looksy at the bottle. IF INGESTED CALL POISON CONTROL IMMEDIATELY . And you bet your sweet caboose I did.
They were awesome. I guess this happens all the time. The antibacterial agent in the soap is in fact toxic, but most kids puke it up as soon as it goes down. Mine didn’t…but she said he probably didn’t get enough in him to have a reaction if he was simply washing his hands and not drinking from the soap bottle. But it got me thinking, as does any high risk situation that requires emergency medical attention for my precious spawnage…such as washing ones hands apparently. So now I am on the market for a soap that will kill germs..but not my kids. I will take any suggestions from the audience. Keep in mind…my kids are really filthy. (Love them dearly…but little boys can have a slight tendency to be out and out…well…gross.)
*The photo is from BreadandBadger’s Etsy shop. They make some really cool glass dispensers that I plan on getting my hands on as soon as my swarm of toddlers outgrow the Lemme juggle anything expensive looking phase.
Needle! You don’t need antibacterial soap! In fact, that stuff is bad n more ways than one. Regular soap and water will keep your kids (and you) plenty clean without lowering your immune systems (and without risk of poisoning by ingestion). Just teach your kids proper hand washing (which I’m sure you already have) and use regular soap. Remember: some germs are actually GOOD for you.
I always want to use those cue little solid soaps…especially those “hand” soaps on Etsy. I worry about fecal fingers, backs of hands that have been used as tissues, “discoveries” picked up on the city sidewalks, etc. Could regular soap really kill all those germs?
cute…not cue
I second what TheGreenCat said – antibacterials are *not* necessary. We’ve never used the stuff and my son has made it to 19 with no major illnesses. Stupidity doesn’t count
Wanna trade?
Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry about your little one!
My 5.5 yo daughter is waaayy more fecal fingered than my 2.5 yo son!!! The things I find after the fact horrify me at times. But…I gave up on hand sanitizers and anti-bac soaps about a year ago nonetheless. Surprisingly we haven’t died some miserable blood retching death. Yet. Actually, we’ve been healthier this year than any previous year of parenthood. Not sure if there’s a direct connection.
Like with all new products and technologies on the market, you have to consider the fact humans have survived this long without them.
We use Dr. Bronner’s liquid, which I buy in bulk, and water it down in an old Soft Soap self-foaming dispenser. The kids love the rich sudsiness. And if they don’t rinse long enough, I don’t worry b/c it’s all food-grade ingredients anyway. You can even brush your teeth with it, but that’s not something I’d recommend.
Oh, and I would feel weird about bar soaps in the potty bathroom. Seems kind of gross to me. Also, I do wash the dispenser quite frequently just for peace of mind.
Don’t you love a 5yr old’s interpretation of wiping? I often wish I could just boil the whole room when my 5 yr old is done.
I like the idea of Dr.Bronner’s liquid. It does seem a little more sanitary than bars…but less toxic than antibacterial. Where do you buy it in bulk?
Also…what about int the kitchen for things like chicken germs?
Proper washing will take care of it–whether your talking about raw meat or fecal matter. The FDA issued a report back in 2005 that found “that mass-marketed antiseptics have shown no evidence of preventing infections more effectively than hand washing with regular soap.” You can read a summary here: http://www.webmd.com/news/20051020/fda-panel-no-advantage-to-antibacterial-soap
To be honest, if a person isn’t washing properly, using an antibacterial soap isn’t going to help anyway. It’s all about proper hand-washing! Even the CDC advocates washing hands with soap and warm running water for at least 20 seconds: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/cruiselines/handwashing_guidelines.htm
I buy it in bulk at my grocery store, which is like a local version of Whole Foods. But buying it in bulk doesn’t change the concentration. So any bottle would do (I’ve seen it at Target before), to see if you even like it. I water it down for two reasons. One, the kids run through soap quickly – making soap beards and washing toys, etc. And two, the self-foaming dispenser actually works better with a thinner liquid. Dr. B’s is quite runny, so without the foamer we’d go through a bottle a week. Like I said, I reuse a Soft Soap bottle because…well, it’s reuse!…and those dispensers are EXPENSIVE to buy new.
I clean the bathrooms and kitchen with Borax and a few squirts of Dr. B’s. For immediate chicken issues on the counter, I generally use vinegar, soap (sometimes Method dishsoap, and hot water. On my hands, I just use dishsoap and water.
One of those big Green websites (maybe EWG?) once posted info about cleaning up after meat without going all chemically. I’ll see if I can find it again.
Also, I’ve learned a lot about poop since becoming a mom to a little girl who is more like Curious George on Meth than a cute baby doll. When she was a wee lass, she like to take her diaper off in her crib and, um, explore the contents. We called it her Salvador Potty phase. Turns out, according to our Ped, one’s own poop won’t make you sick. Interesting, huh!?
There are also a number of antiseptics/antibiotics that you can use in your own cleaners. Check out Annie Berthold-Bond’s “Better Basics for the Home” for lots of tips and recipes. I bought mine at the Strand but I know Amazon carries it too. http://www.amazon.com/Better-Basics-Home-Simple-Solutions/dp/0609803255/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236310580&sr=8-2
The Green Cat is right! Antibacterial soaps contain chemicals that are wreaking havoc on our environment. AND they don’t really work. Triclosan, the main ingredient, turns boy frogs into girl frogs. Think what it can do to our kids.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/11/theres_a_frog_d_1.php
Plus, the use of antibacterials and over-use of antibiotics is what is helping to breed super resistant strains of bacteria in the first place.
I was a kid in the 60′s and 70′s. We had a bar of soap in the bathroom. We all shared it. And we all lived. It’s soap.
But if you can’t wrap your mind around bar soap in the bathroom, Dr. Bronner’s is a good alternative.
I knew you would drop by Bethikins. I completely agree that antibacterial soaps are over used. I started using them in the bathroom after kids because they seem to get their hands on…well…poop…more often than I care to discuss. I started using it in the kitchen when I started cooking chicken…which has only been since having kids too. I am going to try the Bronner’s in the bathroom and use up the antibacterial in the kitchen…which my little guy can’t reach. When the boys are a bit more hygienic, I will switch to a bar maybe.
Thanks for the links everyone. I’m learning a lot.
Greencat…that is a great book. I borrowed it from the library once for some other cleaning dilemmas. I will have to check it out again.
I refer to mine all the time! Every time I want to clean something I pull it down to see what’s the best cleaner to use. And before I buy anything (household cleaner or personal care item) I check the book to see if I can make it first. I LOVE this book!
Just remember, this obsession with “killing” germs has been foisted on us by the chemical industry, which has convinced us that their toxic products are somehow less scary than germs. Soap doesn’t kill germs; its chemical properties help it wash them away better than plain water, and it works just as well as if not better than antibacterial products. Raw chicken is gross; I was sharing your terror of it yesterday. Poop is gross. But we’re being conditioned by these companies to think that we’re keeping ourselves safe by using poison.
All bar soap all the time,
CT (but still buying the cheap toxic stuff because I just can’t justify a $4 bar of soap)
In fact, you don’t need at all to have an antibacterial agent in your soap. It may even be the contrary. A soap is not supposed to kill bacteria, but to help sweeping them off your hands. This way yes, some may stay on your hands, but it won’t be enough to make you ill, just enough to stimulate your immune system. Your boys like to play in the dirt ? Great ! They’ll have a superstrong immune system, if they don’t forget to wash themsleves with some old plain efficient soap…
I tell you, with all their antibacterial products, instead of protecting children they are preparing a whole generation of allergic, asthmatic, immune defficient people…
[...] found a perfect use for it. I water it down 4 to 1 for hand soap in the bathroom. (Remember my poison control run in?) I had purchased one of Trader Joe’s chemical free hand soaps right after [...]