Just wondering?

Question

I'm not trying to be gross or funny just wondering about this.
I have heard that tons of germs come out of the toilet after you flush if you don't close the lid (after #2)...bathrooms are germy places anyway so I don't like my 7 month old daughter in there playing...Well my mother-n-law who I am staying with currently is driving me crazzzy and I really don't know what to say without feeling stupid...She will be up getting ready for work in the morning and takes it upon herself to put my daughter in her little umbrella stroller and sit her in the bathroom with her while she gets ready..ok thats not so bad right, well then she will precede to close the and go #2 with my daughter in the bathroom..Not only does this totally gross me out...I dont think it sanitary!! How should I apporach her about this?

Meant to type close the door above

Sorry I don't think I am over reacting...I don't think normal people like people having their babies in the bathroom while people are going # 2...Its a different story if its me...or someone is watching her and there is no one else there to take her..but when I am sittinh in the next room what reason on Gods green earth would she want to take a crap with my baby in the bathroom,,,sorry its just creepy and werid.

Answer 1

I don't think your baby is going to run into any health issues by being in the bathroom while someone is going.

BUT, if it bothers you, just say something casually like "I have this thing about bathrooms being germy, so if you don't mind, I'd rather have her out of the bathroom unless it's absolutely needed."

Answer 2

I had read an article about this same fear and you heard correctly! It is when the toilet flushes that the problems occur. See below:

"Germs in feces can be propelled into the air when the toilet is flushed. For that reason, Philip Tierno, MD, director of clinical microbiology and diagnostic immunology at New York University Medical Center and Mt. Sinai Medical Center, advises leaving the stall immediately after flushing to keep the microscopic, airborne mist from choosing you as a landing site. "The greatest aerosol dispersal occurs not during the initial moments of the flush, but rather once most of the water has already left the bowl," he says."

In fact, I have also read that when studies are done on all the things in the bathroom the toilet seat and sink are the cleanest things. The towels, floor rugs, even toothbrushes have traces of fecal matter due to the spray after flushing. Hope this helps, you could show your mother-in-law the website. Good luck!

Answer 3

My mom read the same thing somewhere, supposedly the germs are propelled a pertty far distance when you flush and don't put down the lid, so now, wherever we are, we close the lid before flushing, course, we close the lids at the house anyways, should my son, houdini, get past the doorknob covers into the bathroom. Actually I shot the lid pretty much as soon as I'm....done...b/c my son likes to PUT things in the toilet. My son turned 2 today . I haven't peed (or anything else for that matter) by myself for 2 years! He's always there with me.

If you're looking for a way to say something, taking the self-depracating approach usually works. Something like, "I really may be totally overacting and overprotective, but it grossed me out so bad when I read how germs fly everywhere when you flush the toilet, so help me calm my frazzled nerves and say you'll put the lid down before you flush, or bring her to me first."

I included a link to a web site in the sources that has an experiment to proove to your MIL that spray from flushing really does travel.

Answer 4

Don't look to much inot her doing that because it is a natural thing, and the other reason for not getting mad is because the bathroom is (90% of the time) the cleanest part of your house. There are probably more germs on your kitchen counter than on your toilet seat. Your baby probably has a better chance of getting sick from a kiss that sitting in the bathroom while someone is going to the bathroom. Just think, tons of people are going to the bathroom in public places while other people are in there. And that is also one of the cleanest places to be in the whole building, cause it's cleaned just about every hour(if not every day).

Answer 5

If you flush the toilet without closing the lid, aerosolized fecal matter can fly as far as 20 feet, landing on combs, towels and toothbrushes. The bathroom is a virtual germ hothouse, with bacteria growing on wet bars of soap and sponges. Down in the laundry room, germs can take a ride in the dryer and in all but the hottest washing machine water and emerge none the worse for wear. You can guess what goes on in the kitchen, with all that inviting food offering an endless bacterial smorgasbord.

Answer 6

I'm sorry, but you are totally over-reacting. What do you think is going to happen to your child as a result of being in that bathroom at such a time? My child is 2 and has followed me into the bathroom from the time she could crawl. She's hardly been hospitalized or stricken w/ some weird illness as a result.

If it makes you feel better - clean the toilet on a regular basis. Otherwise, if you plan on keeping your child safe from the big bad germs in this world - best of luck to you. You're going to be incredibly busy!

Answer 7

omg, I know how you feel about the toilet thing. and it's not just after #2, it's any time you flush it (sorry, didn't mean to gross you out more). unless your daughter is right over the toilet or right next to it, she should be fine. and since she's in the stroller and can't get out, you don't have to worry about her playing with anything she shouldn't. if it still really bothers you and you still can't talk to your mother-in-law about it, after she leaves for work just spray down the bathroom with lysol. they even make a lysol that's safe to use around children.

Answer 8

Tell her this ..

In microbiology class we did a study after teh myth busters episode on poo in the bathroom. we estmaited that 100 000 germs per flush come into the air ... Did you ever see the myth busters episode that showed that your toothbrush has a high% of fecal matter on it ?
take your tooth brush and place it in your room, casue it has poo all over it .. infact buy a new one ASAP and keep it out of the bathroom.

As for your nose , when you sneeze about 20 000 germs per sneeze that enter the atmosphare.

Answer 9

You can either be direct and say you dont appreciate it, or you can keep your eye on it and when you hear her or see her getting ready to do that, go get your baby and say"you dont want to be in there" or something like that.The germs die after they dry because they need moisture to live, if that helps any.A office desk has more germs than a toilet

Answer 10

oh my god I feel so sorry for you, I had to live with my in-laws 4 four horrible long painful months.. it was driving me crazy. I hated staying there. we had to stay in this horrible tiny little depressingly blue room. I would walk in room and go blind from all of the blueness.. keep her out of the bathroom whilst your mother in laws is in there.. I hated it when my mother in law would take my SON in there. I mean ew.(if it was me then it would be another thing you know cause I'm his mother)...by the way I don't like my in-laws either. they are so annoying