Hand washing

Does hand washing really stop the spread of infection?

Yes. Washing your hands is the best way to stop colds, flu, and other infections and illnesses from spreading. Whether you're at home or at work, getting into the habit of thoroughly washing your hands will help to keep you and those around you well.

If you're careful about washing your hands, your child will learn from you. This will help to keep her well if you're not around to supervise hand washing, for example, if she's at a childcare.

Always make a point of washing your hands after you go to the toilet and teach your child to do the same. Then your child will get into the habit of wanting clean hands after she's used her potty or the toilet.

When should we wash our hands?

Here's a guide to the times when hand washing is necessary. The same rules apply for you and your child, but there'll be some circumstances that apply more to you than your child.

• before and after preparing food
• after handling uncooked meat, poultry or fish
• before treating cuts or wounds
• after changing nappies
• before eating
• after coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose, or using a tissue or handkerchief
• after going to the toilet
• after smoking
• after handling animals
• after clearing up animal waste, handling rubbish or doing the gardening
  (VDH 2015)

If you're visiting a farm or petting zoo, it's particularly important to ensure your child's hands are washed often (HPA 2011).

Although it's unlikely your child will pick up an infection during a farm visit, sometimes tummy bugs do strike. Animal droppings are an easy way to pick up germs that cause diarrhoea and vomiting. And as every parent knows, small children are apt to put their fingers in their mouths.

How should we wash our hands?

Hand washing can become a little ritual that you and your child enjoy doing together. Set her an example and then help her to do it "just like mummy". Here's how to wash your hands thoroughly:

• If possible, remove rings and watches. If not, make sure you move the rings to wash and dry properly under them.
• Wet your hands with warm, running water. Cold water will do if warm isn't available.
• Put a good amount of soap on to your palm. It should be enough to cover the entire surface of your hands.
• Rub both hands together, palm to palm, to make a lather. If you're using a bar of soap, turn it round in your hands until you work up a good lather.
• Interlace your fingers by placing one palm over the other, so you clean between your fingers.
• Continue rubbing your hands, on both sides, for at least 20 seconds. You could teach your child to sing Happy Birthday or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star twice through, so she gets a sense of how long to scrub for.
• Rinse your hands well under running water to remove the soap.
• Dry your hands using a towel if you're at home. If you're in a public toilet that has paper towels, use one to turn off the tap and then dry your hands. Make sure your hands are completely dry, as wet hands transmit germs much more easily than dry hands. If you use a hand-dryer, or an ultra-rapid dryer, it may take between 30 seconds and 35 seconds to get them completely dry (NHS 2010).

It’s better to use liquid soap than a bar of soap (especially at work), but bar soap is better than none at all. And antibacterial soaps are unnecessary – all soaps are equally effective at removing germs, as long as you wash your hands properly (VDH 2015).

Do antiseptic hand gels work?

When you're out and about, you can use an alcohol-based hand gel to clean your hands and your child's hands. You can also use disposable, antiseptic hand-wipes. Hand gels should contain at least 70 per cent alcohol to be effective (ICNA and ISFHH 2003).

But try not to rely only on gels to keep your hands and your child's hands clean. Although antiseptic hand gels greatly reduce the number of germs on your skin, they don’t protect against all viruses or bacteria.

Gels with 70 per cent alcohol aren’t effective against norovirus, which causes diarrhoea and vomiting (gastroenteritis) (NHS 2015). The norovirus has a shell that helps to insulate it from the effects of the gel. That's one reason why the virus spreads so easily.

Gels also offer no protection against clostridium difficile, a spore-based bacterium that causes diarrhoea (NHS 2016). But clostridium difficile infections mostly affect people in hospital or people taking broad-spectrum or long-term antibiotics (NHS 2016).

If you're out and about, though, and your child wants a snack, hand-washing facilities may not be nearby. That's when antiseptic hand gels are the next best thing.

To use hand gels effectively, you should:

• apply the gel to the palm of one hand
• rub your hands together
• spread and rub the gel over your hands and between your fingers until your hands are dry

Once you've cleaned your hands, you can help your child to rub in the gel on her hands. You can buy small bottles of hand gel to carry with you, or buy large bottles and refill the small bottles.

Find out whether you can be too clean around your baby.