When all the kids go back to school, you know that colds are soon to follow. When you put a whole bunch of small people with questionable hygiene in a room, they pass around their germs. It’s no surprise, really.
While I don’t enjoy it when my children are feeling ill, I am pretty laid-back about germs. I don’t think it’s possible to avoid the occasional cold, so I don’t get too worked up about it. I have chosen to vaccinate, and we wash our hands after using the bathroom and before handling food, but that’s about it. If my kid’s sandwich falls on the floor, I hand it back to them, I don’t get them a new one. And if a friend is just getting over a cold I don’t cancel the playdate – although I do give others the option of canceling if the situation is reversed.
Given my generally lax attitude, I am not the sort of mom who carries hand sanitizer around. In fact, I do not own a bottle. But I see more and more dispensers out in public. And I know many people who consider it to be an essential back-to-school item. But what is in it? How safe is it? And is it actually effective? I didn’t have any good answers, so I decided to do some research.
Why Hand Sanitizer is Good
Hand sanitizers typically contain 62% alcohol, which is an effective antimicrobial. Because it is thoroughly time-tested, we know that it does not lead to the creation of superbugs. It is also typically less drying than soap and water. And studies show that it is more effective at decreasing school and work absenteeism than encouraging frequent hand-washing. As well, hand sanitizer is more effective against certain viruses, including the common cold, than hand-washing.
Plus, let’s face it, hand sanitizer is convenient. Lining a whole bunch of kids up to wash their hands does not sound like my idea of fun. And hand-washing isn’t always a good option when you’re outdoors or otherwise away from a handy source of soap and running water. It’s also much faster, so I suspect people are more likely to use it than wash hands, and I bet that is why it’s so good at reducing absenteeism.
Why Hand Sanitizer is Bad
Hand sanitizer does just what the name suggests – sanitizes the hands. It does not, however, actually clean your hands. If you have dirt on them, the sanitizer will be less effective, and the dirt will still be there.
Also, while the alcohol is effective at killing bacteria, it’s still alcohol. There have been cases of children ingesting hand sanitizer and becoming intoxicated, and there is even a risk of alcohol poisoning if enough is consumed. So hand sanitizer should be kept out of reach of young children, and they should be supervised while using it, to avoid any risk that they’ll lick their hands right after applying it or something like that. And keep in mind that alcohol-free sanitizers are often poor alternatives, since they typically contain Triclosan or Benzalknonium Chloride, both of which have been linked with the creation of superbugs.
Hand sanitizer is also not effective against all viruses. For instance, it appears to be less effective against norovirus than hand washing, and the jury’s out when it comes to the flu. This means that it shouldn’t be viewed as a completely effective alternative to hand-washing in all cases.
The other concern about hand sanitizer is what’s in it besides alcohol. Most commercially-available brands use synthetic fragrances, which typically contain phthalates as a stabilizer. Other ingredients thicken the hand sanitizer, preserve it, maintain the pH and so on. So while the alcohol is generally safe, the rest of the sanitizer may not be.
How Clean?
Leaving aside the safety and effectiveness of hand sanitizers, there’s still another question: How clean do we really need to be? My grandfather liked to say that a little dirt never hurt anyone, and I tend to agree. I’m far less concerned about my kids contracting something from playing outside than with them contracting something from an indoor playspace. There is some science backing Grandpa and me up, too. Excessive cleanliness is linked with higher rates of allergies and asthma. We’re cleaner than ever, but we also have higher rates of allergies than ever.
The evidence suggests that the problem may be that we’re killing the good bacteria at the same time as we’re killing the bad. Hand sanitizer, with its high alcohol content, will do this for sure. Some of these good bacteria promote respiratory and digestive health, which reduces the risk of allergic reactions. Taking pro-biotics is one way to re-introduce the good bacteria, but so is laying off the hand sanitizer.
After doing some reading, I’ve decided that hand sanitizers, when they avoid chemicals like phthalates, are maybe not so bad. I still don’t plan on sending a bottle to school with Hannah, especially given the concerns surrounding possible ingestion. But I would consider carrying a bottle in my mom purse for certain situations. Although I will opt for soap and water whenever possible, and I won’t sweat it when my toddler eats dry cereal off the floor.
What about you? Are you a fan of hand sanitizers? Do you let your kids eat crackers off the floor? Or do you strive to be as clean as possible? I’d love to know!
I hate hand sanitizer. I don’t like using it. But… when I’m at work, I find the soap is more harsh on my hands. Frankly, I’d like to bring in my own soap, but I don’t want to be THAT person. So I keep some sanitizer by Burt’s Bee’s. Basically the only ingredients are: water, witch hazel, bark extract, glycerin, natural fragrance, aloe leaf extract.
I’ve also read rave reviews on a sanitizer by Clean Well. I recently wrote a post on their soap that I use, and love. http://mums-diaries.blogspot.com/2010/08/washing-hands.html
As for my kid? I haven’t even thought of using santizer on him. If we were out and about, I would rather rinse his hands with water before squirting sanitizer on them.
Although, I will admit I do keep wet wipes in my car… but for some reason I don’t think of those like the sanitizer we all know about.
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I’m with you on this. We were given hand sanitizer when our daughter was a babe, I think the bottle is somewhere about still, and full and she is 3.5years old. I’m also not a fan of antibacterial soap for the some of the same reasons. Few people actually spend sufficient time washing their hands. Hmmm, maybe it is time to take my opposition to this stuff to the preschool.
I don’t own hand sanitizer. I have used tea tree oil diluted in a spray bottle for wiping down our phone and remote controls though. I make sure the girls wash their hands after the washroom and before food. I too opt for vaccines (my husbands family doens’t agree, and they have cases of whooping cough and worse) and my grandpa said, “I ate dirt and was glad to get it”. If my kids are sick, I let others know to make their own choice. I feel very bad because in our little village Emma brought Fifths Disease this summer. She was the first reported case and it took pretty much the entire summer for it to work its way through our circle of friends and beyond. Every little child had that slapped cheek look to them. I cringed at every red face. It’s easy to pass along though and really, isn’t harmful. But I still felt horrible. It slipped passed me. We have been cold free for many months now, but with school starting yesterday it is only a matter of time before we are packing kleenex up our sleeves again. I accept that.
When I took my daughter Emma for her kindergarten vaccinations the nurse tsk tsked because when she asked me when the last time my daughter had a check up from the dr I answered…I don’t know? When she was 18 months old? We have only been a couple of times for ear aches and the whole Fifths thing, but other than that, we don’t go unless we need to. We do go to the dentist and optometrist though on a very regular basis.
I do my best to keep healthy children, but I know that they need to be sick a bit too. Each cold we fight off on our own helps build our arsenal of defense against future illness. My grandma used to say a cold was three days coming, three days with you and three days going. This is the rule of thumb I use for all of us. I am also pretty great at wraping socks around the throat after I have rubbed linament all over. We do our best and that’s all we can do!
I don’t do hand sanitizers. I find them a pain in the butt. Besides, isn’t this what our immune system is for? Let your kids get a little dirty, let them have a few colds. Otherwise their little bodies have no way of fighting off ANYTHING!!
Over reacting to every little thing is what has landed humanity in this position of having to deal with things like superbugs. And seriously, what is the deal with the PEANUT allergies??? Do YOU remember any kid having a peanut allergy when you were a kid? I knew MAYBE one kid…but now we have peanut bans and peanut free foods…seriously, THAT should be the big concern, not the allergy itself. How did we get to this point, and what will it be next?
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My 5 year old has a peanut allergy and she is the only one in our whole family (extended and immediate) to have an anaphylactic allergy. I am not an overly clean mom, I avoid antibacterial cleaners, bleach, hand sanitizers, and i think nothing of letting my kids play on the ground, in the dirt, and eating dropped food (maybe not if it was dropped in a very dirty public place though). I have no idea what we did, if anything, to cause this allergy (we question vaccines and the fact that when she was a baby she had a severe infection in a lymph node that landed her in the hospital on several I.V antibiotics and eventual surgery) but I am very very thankful that so many places are peanut free, especially her school. I used to feel the exact same way, why should everyone have to pay for one kids allergy? Then I had a little girl whose life could end due to someone else’s snack. Changes your perspective a lot.
I have some on my desk, we have dispensers at work. I tried for awhile using it all the time (+handwashing) and it made no difference in the number of colds we shared in the family. In fact, my hands got cracked, red, and dry, and I dreaded using it because it stung.
The stores sell “Kiddie hand sanitizer” now, which is a small tube you can attach to their backpack that, if ingested, is not a harmful quantity. You can get scent-free and alcohol free if you need to, but I am leery of the chemical list I’ve seen on those. Yuck!
I’ve never used it on my son, we wash his hands and face with (gasp!) soap, but really, if he gets a cold now and then, big deal. We get our flu shots, he’s up to date on his vaccinations, and a few germs will give him lots of immunity later in life. A flu may come home with us this year too, but we will deal with it.
Personally? I don’t think hand sanitizer is the answer. I think eating well, getting rest, drinking fluids, and lowering stress will do more to ward off colds and flu than slathering microbe killing gel all the time. You can sanitize your hands, walk to a door, open it, and there are germs back on your hands.
I have hand sanitizer at my desk at work. I find it handy to sanitize my hands between tasks as I can’t always run to the washroom and wash my hands. I also keep a small bottle in my purse for sticky situations wtih the children when a washroom isn’t close by. It’s also good in the car (if you let your kids eat in your car like I do). And at the beach prior to having a picnic. I also use wipes which are handy for face washing and wiping hands off after sanitizing. I don’t consider myself a germophobe but do like to ensure my kids hands are clean prior to eating or after petting an animal as my oldest has allergies. Kids are going to get sick regardless because there is no way you can ensure their hands are clean at all times, that they don’t put their mouth on toys, that another child doesn’t cough or sneeze in their face but at least I can be sure they don’t muck up the windows of my car with sticky hands…lol.
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My kids used to be required to bring a bottle to school.
We moved two years ago and the new school does not allow it. Although for a while last fall they were using it because of the H1N1 scare. A child who attended one of the schools on the board died and I guess they got scared. They stopped using it after a while though.
I do not like the stuff myself. It really dries my hands and it gives my daughter exema.
I think that for some reason today people are just way too afraid of germs. Even the common cold tends to be treated like a major illness. I always want to scream that it is just a cold and to get over it.
I have a bottle in the car, and a pack of wipes, but we also are on the road a lot, and the sanitizer and wipes are very useful for those side-of-the-rural-road bathroom stops. It’s a handy tool, but not one that is used a lot in our home. Regular soap and water are much preferred.
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So, I agree with lots here – soap and water is the way to go, but what about out-and-about? I for one find it almost impossible to get my 2 yr old’s hands clean at a public bathroom – holding him at the sink, he manages to touch every dirty surface before his hands are dry (and then on the way out of the bathroom too!)
My attitude is “city germs” vs “country germs”: I don’t mind the dirt, but weird things lurk on surfaces at schools, hospitals and libraries in cities that perhaps are better avoided!
Enjoy the blog, thanks! I especially liked the letter for Kindergarten *you made me cry!
I have a bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse that’s been there for a few years now. I use it that rarely. I don’t like using hand sanitizer if I can help it – on myself or the kids – and always opt to wash our hands with soap and water wherever possible. The only time I ever pull out my hand sanitizer (that’s probably mostly evaporated by now) is if we’re at a particularly grungy place with no easy access to water – after riding rides at the fair for instance.
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Sometimes I wonder if I’m going to far the other way because I am so anti-hand sanitizer. Atthe market, we are obligated to provide a bottle of sanitizer for the portable toilet. It gets stolen every time we leave it in the portable toilet, so instead it lives on the corner of the table and I watch people use it. They SLATHER it on, using two or three rounds, using it ON THEIR FACE (gag!), slathering their children with it… Then I watch them pick their noses or carry their disposable diapers to the giant dirty garbage cans and then five minutes later they are shoving a hot dog in their mouths.
I don’t like sanitizer because I think it provides a false sense of security. I think we need to use common sense. I also agree that there is city germs and country germs but I view it as manmade and natural germs. I don’t care if Kale is carrying around a stick and a pinecone, but a bottlecap and a granola bar package mean we’ll be washing our hands.
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I remember a biology experiment way back in high school – we swabbed and cultured the microbial load from hands pre and post washing. It’s amazing how quickly bacteria colonise after a hand is washed.
As for hand sanitiser, I find it drying and avoid it most of the time. We use it when there are no washroom facilities.
My own attitude to everyday sanitisation is pretty relaxed – we do what we can as appropriate, but kids touch stuff, pick their noses, poke fingers in mouths, and so on. FYI a full surgical hand scrub to near-complete sterility takes minutes and many lather/rinse steps, not just twinkle, twinkle litte star ie. not feasible in everyday life. Also, respiratory germs can be airborne, viruses can be picked up from all sorts of surfaces, and people are usually infectious before they show it. A robust immune system is better than endless handwashing IMO.
Yes, my kid does ‘eat off my floor’, I’m a fan of tidy rather than excessively clean, and a little bit of dirt never hurt anyone. The Wee Guy won’t be going to school with hand sanitiser in his pack anymore than I will be sending him with a good Scotch.
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But his teacher might really appreciate the Scotch. I would, after spending all day with some elementary school children.
I rarely use hand sanitizers, but I do keep a bottle handy for the really messy situations. And by that I mean when we’re having lunch out at a museum where there is lots of touching going on. For general day to day stuff, I just use good ‘ol soap and water. Here’s another helpful document about the use antimicrobials in the home: http://www.caringforkids.cps.ca/healthybodies/HomeAntimicrobial.htm
Basically they dont’ work! I tend to stick with vinegar and water.
I’m a believer that a virus here and there actually does the body good!
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I use it whilst traveling if there is no soap in the washrooms, and whilst camping and on a few other select occasions when the yuk-factor wins out over my general dirt-tolerance. For normal everyday life (including Kindergarten) – no. Just like you I don’t think it actually replaces hand washing with soap and water anyway.
I do own one of those little bottles and it’s deep within the hidden pockets of my diaper bag. I bought it for me though for if I ever had to change a diaper somewhere that I couldn’t wash my hands. My kids preschool uses hand sanitizer but other than that my kids never use it. Plain old soap and water for us!
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I have the same attitude as you do toward germs. Soap and water is best. If kids are playing outside, they are DIRTY, not just germy. Hand sanitizer just doesn’t do the trick. When the whole H1N1 broke out, my son (who was in grade 6) had to bring hand sanitizer to school with him and I was okay with that. I have some on my desk that I used frequently at the time, but don’t very often any more.
I have no problem with letting my kids eat something off the kitchen floor. I don’t mind if they play with other kids who have a cold. I’m pretty laid back about the whole thing, too.
Interesting post, Amber! I also enjoyed reading the comments so far!
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Yes, I do keep hand sanitizer spray in my purse. We live in the most densely populated state in the US, very near to a city (to which we travel frequently), and both of my children are in school, and out & about. It’s not a magic bullet, but its a good tool. We also take probiotics, Vitamin D, echinacea, garlic, and elderberry too keep our immune systems strong.
We don’t use hand sanitizer or antibacterial soap at home. and yes I let my kids eat crackers off the floor – particularly my own.
ps: FWIW, I love the brand EO – its an organic alcohol base, uses organic essential oils for scent, and Vitamin E for preservative.
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My favorite thing to use before eating if we don’t have access to a sink is a wipe. I guess to me it seems like they are wiping some of the yuck off, and if unsupervised you don’t have to really worry about ingestion. Maybe I’ll include one in my kids’ lunch box when it is time. I do let my kids eat their food when it falls on the floor. They probably wouldn’t eat anything otherwise, joking kind of! I am really not too concerned about viruses and bacteria. I do however lean more towards the germ phobia side when it comes to parasites such as lice, and the travel kinds…ick!! Those guys freak me out!
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Someone said city germs/country germs. Totally. Kids are filthy, as it should be. Which is why when mine are around other ones I will use the sanitizer – at the drop in gym or at the mall, where the bathroom is actually more disgusting than the play equipment. More often, I forget it’s in my bag, b/c I never carried sanitizer before last year’s “OMG WE”RE ALL GONNA DIE oh maybe not” H1N1 pandemic thingee.
At my son’s preschool they wash hands with soap and water before snacktime. I was amazed, frankly, at how *few* germs he brought home. My pet theory is that the pandemic thingee did bring home to people that if they’re sick they should stay home till they get better and no amount of hand sanitizer will make it okay to go out and cough on your co-workers.
I agree that we need viruses to build up immunity. I haaaaaaaaaate it when we’re sick, though. It’s probably the thing I hate most about being a parent. Although I might hate it less this year, now that the kids are older. The two-kids-who-don’t-understand-nose-wiping-and-who-love-to-lick-each-other thing nearly killed me last year.
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I love reading your comments almost as much as the blog itself! Such awesome readers, and that gives me new blogs to check out, which is such a win!
I recently purchased a cute little bottle of hand sanitizer for thrift shopping because I hate that grubby feeling on my hands after sifting through racks & racks. It has nothing to do with actual germs though. I have zero germ phobias, but am wary of *sticky* and *smelly*. I used a lot of hand sanitizer working retail!
I’m about to have a newborn but I’m certainly not running around sterilizing anything. I read somewhere recently, “It’s no mistake that the baby enters the world through the vagina, a couple of inches from the anus” – We were designed to pick up germs.
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OK, you just made me snort tea out my nose. Hee!
We’re dirty hippies. We don’t own sanitizer and I let my kids eat dirt. I hate flu season though. I am a freak about making sure everyone washes their hands after going to the grocery store in winter. Balance, lol.
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I am not a fan of hand sanitiser…
I don’t think it is inherently evil. I used it religiously when my twins were in NICU, and again when visiting my FIL after his heart transplant. I think it works well for some circumstances, but as an every day thing I am not keen.
Society seems to be more and more ‘germ phobic’ but not necessarily more healthy and I just wonder how much of this ‘sanitise everything’ kick is fuelled by companies wanting to sells us something so they use scare tactics and create a bunch of germaphobic, dirt phobic, everything phobic people to buy their products?
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Thanks for doing the research and sharing your findings with us! I didn’t know that hand sanitizer killed any viruses at all; I thought that it just took care of bacteria. Honestly, I’m probably a bigger fan of hand sanitizer when I’m at work (as a high school teacher) than I am at home with my daughters aged 4 and 2.
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I am ALL about letting my kids get dirty and the ‘five-second rule” (which in our house is more like the five-month rule) for eating stuff off the floor, and other natural ways of strengthening their immune systems. I don’t worry about having a sterile anything- home, school, car, body.
But I think hand sanitizers (the ones with alcohol) can be useful in very specific circumstances. For example: public restrooms. In addition to the eleventy-billion germs crawling all over a place like that, every public restroom I’ve used in the last, oh, two decades or so has only offered soap with triclosan or some other anti-bacterial in it. It’s my understanding that the widespread use of triclosan has contributed to the growth of resistant bacteria, but alcohol kills the bacteria without creating the resistance. So I have no qualms about getting out of the public restroom as quickly as possible, touching as little as possible, and using hand sanitizer as soon as we’re out the door (and then washing hands with plain ol’ soap when we get home).
I think I own one teeny-tiny bottle of hand sanitizer, which got a lot more use when Clara was little and I was handling poopy diapers more often, and also a few years back when a family gathering turned into a flu outbreak. Here’s where I think I might start using sanitizer again: you know those nasty public bathrooms where you just want the germs off your hands, but would really prefer not to approach the sinks, which look just as nasty as the toilets, and don’t have automatic on/off so you can’t help but touch taps and countertops and who knows what else (and then probably at least brush against the door again on your way out AFTER washing your hands?) so why not use the sanitizer instead…AFTER you’ve left the contaminant field?
Of course you’d have to make sure other people saw you using it, so you wouldn’t face the judgment of the Germ Police…
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Aaaand I see that CC–just above me–basically already said what I did, but in a more succinct way. Sorry CC! I totally agree with your approach.
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I guess they’d be very handy in places where you can’t wash your hand. However, in our schools there are bathrooms, and washing hands properly when appropriate should be part of the teaching. Nothing can replace simple warm water, a good soap, and a little rubbing: that’s all you find in all the emergency care units I’ve been to, that’s all the technology and technique needed where sanitization is really crucial.
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I don’t trust hand sanitizer.
Just soap and water.
I definately let my children eat floor crackers. In fact, since my baby is starting to crawl, I actually put crackers on the floor for her.
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haha, I got a bottle from when Dharma was born, the midwives give them to you. It’s unopened.
I believe that a good old soap and hot water job is a good idea. I like soap and hot water. Sometimes I use washing up liquid and hot water when I am in the kitchen. When out and about you often find soap and hot water, and if not I have a tub with homemade wipes that we take out when we expect to not find bathrooms.
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Great topic! When I was subbing in elementary school last year, there was hand sanitizer everywhere. It was so pervasive. And you’re right, it does do an effective job at killing germs. I, like you, was alarmed by the cases of children being intoxicated by hand sanitizer. It’s creepy!
With my Ari (who is going on 2 1/2) I use soap and water. If there is hand sanitizer available, and it’s ALL that’s around, I’ll use that.
For myself, if (for example) I just changed a “poop diaper” and hand sanitizer is available, I will BOTH wash my hands and use the hand sanitizer afterward.
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I have a little bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse. I use it for the kids if we’re away from a place where we can wash hands and it’s snacktime, and at work events where I’ve shaken a bunch of hands and I can secretly wipe a bit on my hands before I settle down to share all those germs with my laptop. Q-ster’s preschool had a bottle by the door, and all the kids were supposed to use the “magic soap” as they walked in the door to cut down on germs.
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I keep a small bottle in the diaper bag and in my purse. I hate public restrooms. My kids view them as another place to play and touch everything. My goal is to leave the premises as quickly as possible. Pull up the pants, out the door, sanitize. With four kids (of course the youngest at two weeks isn’t doing a whole lotta running around public restrooms), even this can take time.
The other problem I found is that public restrooms don’t take into account the short ones in our lives. Those sinks are rather difficult for a two year old to reach. Even the six and seven year olds sometimes have difficulty. So now, I have to set my stuff on a poo covered floor, OR i can set it on the counter that is ALWAYS wet, OR I can dry said counter thus giving my offspring more time to lick the floors, in order to pick up a child, lean them on the sink (“Ow! My belly!”) so they can wash their hands. Multiply this by three, and we’ve taken up residence in the public restroom. Please send more sanitizer.
Trash cans. In my mind they are also covered in all sorts of fun diseases and evil bacteria. My girls (ages six and two) seem to think it is necessary to touch them. I’m not sure why. Seriously kid, toss the trash in, there is no need to hang onto the edge of the can and peer in to make sure that the trash has made it in. You’ll know if it didn’t because, well, it will be outside the trashcan. There is no need to check out what other’s have thrown away. It was trash. We won’t be taking it back out no matter how cool it looks. Mommy does not do trash cans. So anytime we come within viewing distance of a trashcan, I whip out the sanitizer because I can hear the evil bacteria calling to my girls, and they will heed the call.
Oddly enough, except for these two areas, I am very lax about germs. We currently aren’t letting just-getting-over-the-cold type people into our home due to a certain two week old. Three weeks ago, however, it wouldn’t have been an issue. I am pro-dirt eating and throw cheerios on the floor for the rugrats at breakfast.
*the six and seven year old children are currently no longer running around touching everything in public restrooms or crawling on the floor in shopping malls. they are old enough to know better. the two year old still doesn’t understand why pretending to be a dog in a public restroom is a bad idea though.
I know this is an old post, but I wanted to say that I like your process and thanks for the info… My son’s school had ‘two bottles hand sanitizer’ on his school list this year, and I bought it, but I’m regretting it because it’s not something I would ever put on him myself. I can’t decide if I should ask the teacher not to use it on him or just let it be?
I think that it would be totally reasonable to at least ask the teacher when and how it’s used. Get all the info, and then you can decide if it’s no big deal, or you’d prefer your son lay off.