The situation is simple. A brand newborn baby hasn’t been exposed to ANYTHING out in the big wide world yet. Not greasy hands, nor bacteria from elevator buttons, lazily washed hands after a toilet visit or a thoughtless wipe of the nose. As their mother you should feel entirely free to insist all visitors wash their hands thoroughly before picking up or touching your baby. This includes family, friends and especially medical staff. I asked staff on two occasions to wash their hands before touching our twins. One replied “Oh I used the gel outside earlier” and then thought better of it and washed his hands anyway without further comment.

There is one thing you are the ABSOLUTE guardian of and that is you and your baby’s welfare. If you feel at any time that you are not comfortable with any situation be it the way a staffer is handling your baby or a visitor who has a cough, speak up immediately. It’s not worth letting it fly around as an uneasy feeling. Act on it and feel better for it.

Ponder this, how often would you imagine a man sends his ties out for dry cleaning?…….hmmm. Now watch as it hovers over you or your baby as he leans in to check you over. How many other patients has he leaned over since that little piece of polyester or silk last saw the inside of a laundromat? More likely it’s been with him through many lunch and dinners, bathroom visits, request for patients to cough, habitual stroking as you see many men do, and then rolled up in an office drawer somewhere day after day collecting various particles over many months or even years.  So if you feel shy about asking, take a lonnnnng look at that tie and picture the life it may have lead. You should feel completely at ease asking him to tuck it into his shirt…and then wash his hands.