Keep a dirty house!
 

Another reason to read instead of dust, watch a movie instead of vacuum, go to the local bar instead of scrubbing the tub...

Hotel is dirt and happily boosting your immune system.

Ive been using that as an excuse...erm, I mean, that has been my thinking for years.

immune system is like anything else. use it or lose it

With apologies to GD...

Dude, I'm immortal!

This is my current germaphobe pet peeve.

This just cofirms my theory. I have a super tidy germaphobe friend who's home is just so. They are sick all the time.

Madz and I are, well, not tidy and we don't get sick often.

Oh good God! :rolleyes:

Doctors have been saying for a while now that the over use of antibiotic soaps and hand gels are leading to the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

The helmet to give her head a nice rounded shape weirds me out too...but at least she won't have shopping cart germs. :rolleyes:



eta: And yeah, I know that some babies need them but I read somewhere (don't feel like looking it up) that most of the helmets were used by parents who wanted their children to have a perfectly round head.

Ok, now I'm not a germaphobe in the least, for myself or my kids, but shopping cart covers are damn useful. How many people have you seen leave the bathroom without washing their hands? People touch everything and then touch the shopping cart handles. Babys' immune systems aren't fully developed yet and they put their hands in their mouths constantly. I don't want someone else's sh!t germs in my baby's mouth. (Or I didn't when they were babies.) Plus, for little babies, the soft cover makes a cozy space that is easier to sit in. They're really great.

I highly doubt it. Usually they're for babies who are kept in car seat buckets too much and the back of their head gets flat.

Even on the nuttiest, most mainstream parenting sites I've never ever seen this brought up.

Babies need to be exposed to those things in order to build a healthy imune system.

Yes, but our immune systems evolved to live in much smaller groups than we do. The onslaught of germs from so many strangers is outside our continuum.

The child will need to live among many strangers later on, and will have to touch shopping carts in their adulthood. When is their immune system ok to deal with the world around them? A year, 2 years, when?

A mom mentioned to me that she keeps wipes on her. They went a nice restaurant and she wiped the table, and it came up brown. So now she's in the habit of bringing disposable placemats with her. When is this kid going to touch a table at a public place like everyone else? Will his immune system be able to cope if it had never happened before?

To be fair, there will be an age when that kid will not be rubbing her hands on that table and then stuffing them into mouth.

About 30? ;)

I still do that. You can really tell the quality of a restaurant by the taste of its tables.

Do you wash your hands after you go to the bathroom? Of course you do. Why? To prevent the spread of germs so that you (and those around you) get sick less. Hygiene practices are what has made modern society so much healthier than, say, medieval England.

For reals, I'm not a germaphobe. I'm all for many people holding a baby, letting them play on floors, in the mud, whatever. But I guarantee you that no one in this thread would go into a public bathroom, set their crawling baby down on the floor and then let him stick his hands in his mouth. But I'm willing to bet that the germ factor on a shopping cart handle rivals the bathroom floor.

Now, I didn't always use a cart cover, and no one died from the lack of one, but some preventative hygienic baby measures will mean your little one gets sick less often. And honestly, as far as building a strong immune system goes, whether you breastfeed or not and the quality of foods a child eats after babyhood will have a much bigger impact.

The cart covers also make the baby much more comfortable. Trust me, if you are in a grocery store alone with a little baby, you want the baby to be comfortable.

For the record - I do wash hands every time I use the restroom. :)

I'll have to disagree about a shopping cart handle being the same as a restroom floor. I can't deny that it might mean less sick time, that makes sense, but that's the same argument for doing much more germaphobe things. I also think that children touch everything and put hands in their mouths in order to help their immune system cope.

I'm not saying these cart covers are the worst thing on earth. I didn't tell the mom I spoke with how I felt, because it's not a huge deal. It's just not my deal.

(GD is free to use one if he so wishes.) ;)

I like my germ exposure. It helps me stay healthy. I make a point NOT to buy anything with antibacterial additives.

I don't buy anything with antibacterial additives because it's mostly pointless to do so. Regular soap kills something like 99.7 percent of germs. Antibacterial soap kills 99.9 percent of germs. Big whoop.

Safeway stores in our area (same owner as Vons in SoCal) have begun placing wet-wipe dispensers outside the store entrances next to the cart lines. Considering the usual sticky cart handles, I appreciate the chance to wipe them off before putting my hands on them.

Shopping carts have been around for... What?... 60-70 years. It's amazing the Human race has not died-off from dirty handles since then. :rolleyes:

Whilst I have no scientific data to back this up, nor is this a scientific opinion, but I have to echo the sentiments of CP in that I feel as though building a healthy immune system from day one is the best way to go. I know that as a child, I did a LOT of things that most parents would cringe at (and that I cringe at thinking back on). Dirt was a common part of my diet; washing my hands was something I did once a month whether they needed it or not; etc.

And I have a pretty healthy immune system. I rarely get sick and when I do, I typically recover quickly. Now I concede that a lot of this may be due to genes (longevity runs in my family on the paternal side). But I still believe that kids shouldn't be protected from every possible germ they may face.

I agree as well, but salmonella and staph infections are things I'll gladly protect my kids from.

Yep. Also, a higher level of vigilance during flu season is always a good idea.

Well, just to throw a monkey wrench in your theory, I was a premmie, in a sterile envornment for nearly 4 months while the medicos figured out if I'd live or not. When I was finally released to go home, surgical masks were the norm around me for quite some time.

And, thoughout my childhood, while I do not recall eating dirt as part of my regular diet, I was in it and had all the usual diseases. Rarely ill now and if I am, like Kevy, I'm over it quickly.

Everyone draws the line differently. To my mind, it all about what would I consider a "normal" amount of germ interaction, whether it's an adult or a child.

I probably would be pretty vigilant about things like restaurant tables, either wiping them down or bringing a place mat for my kid, because the kid will be putting their food on there, and sticking their hands in their mouth more than normal because they're eating and an < 2 year old kid sticks their hand in their mouth to eat. With a shopping cart, I might go so far as to wipe the handle down, but otherwise, I don't really care if they're just generally touching it, though I'd try to make sure they weren't using it as a teething toy option.

Shopping carts and restaurant tables don't concern me. Babies, however, are disgusting creatures who spit up on themselves and **** in their pants. The next time someone asks me to hold their baby, I'm going to demand some sort of prophylactic parka before touching it. Babies expose you to e coli and worms. I can live with germs, but I don't know how any of you live with babies.

The first thing that pops into my head while reading this is that one day you will probably care for an ailing loved one and be exposed to their crap and vomit.

Here's how people live with babies, and the elderly, and handicapped family members - because they love them enough to deal with a little bit of ickiness.

I know this is supposed to be half-joking, but it still makes me wonder if you'd come near my future child, or my horribly infected future household, or give future me a hug even though I'll be crawling in cooties.

OMG!! CP is with child! Spread the word! :eek:


;) :evil:

If I ever have kids I'm going to wait until it is five to start protecting it. I don't want to form an unnaturally early emotional bond just to have it die on me anyway. To help make them stronger I'll make them tongue clean one toilet seat every week; not to improve their immune system (see next paragraph) but rather so that they learn that sometimes life is unfair and whining doesn't make it any better.

My view on germs is that I can't see them so they, like the inside of my eyelids, don't exist. Illness is actually a moral failing and the big pharma conspiracy has convinced us otherwise so that we'll buy their products. As evidence I present exhibit A: Louis Pasteur owned stock in Pfizer.

Wow! Congrats CP and GD!!!!! Good luck fighting it out about the placemats.

;):p

Of course I'd come near your future child. Future children are amazingly sterile (and by that I mean they produce no sperm). We'd have a problem, though, if it was standing next to a current or past child (although they they also, up to a certain point for some and indefinitely for others also produce no sperm).

heh. you obviously dont/wont have dogs either then. the only variant from that description is (most) dogs dont wear pants.

although some are seen in the occasional colorful shirt. :D

I've been wondering when Alex would show up in this thread.

On the other hand, most canine diseases do not jump the species barrier. I could catch pretty much anything a baby has (though, seriously, I'm not in the least a germophobe; I assume I'll die of something so if licking a public restroom floor looked like fun I'd give it a go; fortunately for my immune system it doesn't look like much fun).

My only problem with germ prevention efforts is how irrationally inconsistent many people are about them. And how little understanding they have of the true risks so that they can make informed decisions (a lot of people seem to assume that germs can instantly transport themselves to anything within line of sight).

I want some of whatever Alex is on! :eek:

I wasn't even half joking, Jen. I was completely joking. Jesus. I hug my gramps, who has a crap bag. I change babies. I help scabby homeless people get down from the bus if they need assistance.

I also loved my little brother, but that didn't stop me from encouraging him to eat jelly beans out of the gutter. And, for the record, he was rarely sick as a child.

I have cats. They use a litter box. Barely. They like to use it, and then they like to kick dirty litter all over the bathroom floor, the hallway, my living room. They then like to jump on my kitchen counters, which I DO thoroughly clean before using. So, poopy paws all over my house. But at least they pretend at being "toilet" trained.

I've been picking up a LOT of dog poop on a daily basis for about 4 years now and cleaning cat boxes a lot longer than that. I certainly don't fine it enjoyable, but it doesn't disgust me. Dogs lick my face pretty regularly (and my cats do too) and it doesn't bother be. Baby saliva, however, is GROSS. But, I don't think that is really about germs. Baby saliva is worse than germs.

I have gagged changing the litter box on more than one occasion. This usually prompts me to curse the very existence of my cats and I daydream giving them up for adoption. Five minutes later, litter paws and all, they are back in my good graces. Love, it's a kicker.

I was a bit nauseated watching an otherwise adorable child at Disneyland a couple of nights ago. She was in love with the Christmas decor, all dressed up like a little Santa, and she was eating something that was causing her to salivate and drool large globs of...drool...down her chin. Turned my stomach a bit. She looked like the alien in Alien.

Of course, poor NM has seen me take a bite of something only to have the bite of something fall right out of my mouth mid-chomp. (In fact, more people than just NM have seen this.) Because, much like the adorable child at Disneyland, I too know how to turn a stomach now and again.

Madz used to drool like that. It was totally totally gross. I'd have to change her shirt about every hour because it would be soaked. Babies are totally disgusting. And old people aren't much better. I'm jumping off a cliff before I hit the gross level.

And almost teenagers are just as bad. It's apparently horrible to bathe, brush your teeth or brush your hair.

Nope, not preggers. :p

I'm sorry for misunderstanding your post.

I bathed, brushed my teethe and brushed my hair. But did any boy kiss me? Yes. But only a couple. And I had my designs on more than a couple, dammit.

This thread is full of the funny today! Virtual mojo to all for making me laugh.

Now I have to go change my drool-y shirt.