BEWARE!!!! Of Hand Sanitizer...(Updated!!)

It may seem odd or even unbelievable, but when my mother sent me this article it was not the first time I had heard of something like this. I know that we all become germaphobes when our babies are born...and it is good to be cautious. But germs are actually good for your child. If you do want for people to have clean hands before touching your little one I would suggest soap and water over hand sanitizer...if that is an available option.

And this is why. Hand sanitizer is nothing but rubbing alcohol...which is toxic to children. If you do decide to use it please make sure that your hands are 100% dry from the sanitizer before touching your baby...esp anywhere near their mouth. If ingested it can be LETHAL and would be categorized and alcohol poisoning.

This is what my mother sent me:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/sanitizer.asp

Something I found on CNN.com

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/blogs/paging.dr.gupta/2007/06/hand-sanitizer-on-rocks-please.html

And from ParentDish.com

http://www.parentdish.com/2007/06/26/hand-sanitizer-can-poison-your-children/2

Now don't get me wrong...I have hand sanitizer in my house, but it is NOT in reach of my 35.5 inch tall 16 month old. And we wash his hands (he loves it and thinks that he is a big boy at the sink) and not use sanitizer. But that is just us. If you are comfortable with using it regularly with your children then go for it...this post was an FYI.

***Update***

A reader left me a comment and told me about CLEANpHIRST which is an ALCOHOL FREE hand sanitizer!!!!

Per their web site the Alcohol-Free Foam Sanitizer is an extremely safe, effective, non-irritating, non-flammable, non-staining alternative to alcohol-based hand sanitizers. In addition to killing a wide range of common and dangerous microbes with unprecedented Log 5 efficacy (99.999 percent reduction of Staphylococcus aureus), Alcohol-Free Foam Sanitizer is the ONLY hand sanitizer on the market today that will kill both strains of Norovirus, Feline and Murine. It also protects for 30 minutes past application alcohol is 10 seconds) and you get more applications per container!!!

Looks like I will be stocking up on this stuff!!!! Thanks for the link!!