Eco-Friendly Family

Daycare--disposable gloves to change diapers

So my daycare agreed to use my pocket diapers and cloth wipes. Three of the teachers are totally impressed especially that there haven't been any blow outs which is pretty common for the other kids. I go there at lunch to feed DD and I noticed that they wear disposable gloves to change diapers. It made my skin crawl to see all those gloves go in the trash with the sposies....we are talking 50+ gloves a day! Does anyone know if this is something that law requires? I'm sure it is state by state. I would think a good hand washing would be adequate, but maybe I'm wrong. I don't think I'll say anything, but I was a little shocked by that.

Re: Daycare--disposable gloves to change diapers

  • I don't know about t he laws, but I bet their hands get so dry from washing them after every change, feeding, etc... that they are just trying to cut down on their discomfort.  Not EF, I know, but I kind of don't blame them.
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  • I worked at a daycare over 10 years ago and we were "required" to wear gloves.  I have no idea who's requirement it was.  It really was a PITA.
  • Yikes, that is a lot of waste. The pp has a point though; my hands are so dry just from washing my hands so often from one diapered baby. I can't imagine washing them 5-6x as often as I do.
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  • In VA, yes, this is required by law.
  • Yes, they are required to use Universal Health Precautions (which require gloves when in contact with bodily fluid amongst other things).  This is for their health and the health of the baby. 

     

     

  • I'm from Florida and the daycare I worked at "highly recommended" it, but did not require it.

    I would check to see if the child was wet or had a bm, and if they'd had a bm, I would always use gloves. If they were just wet I would only wash afterwards.

    I was glad to use the gloves for the baby who was on formula with some solids - those diapers were disgusting! I would then grab the old diaper using my right hand, use my other hand to pull the glove over the diaper and then do the same for the left handed glove. It kept the stink down in the room.?

    Definitely not very ef... imagine how long those diapers are going to take to decompose! I certainly won't around then. ?

  • When I worked in daycare we were required to wear gloves and wash our hands before and after every diaper change. I worked in the 2 year old room and there were 14 kids in there.

  • GA state law requires gloves AND hand washing.  NAEYC goes further and the process somehow involves two pairs of gloves per change.
  • imagerenee143:
    GA state law requires gloves AND hand washing.  NAEYC goes further and the process somehow involves two pairs of gloves per change.

     I remember now.  First pair of gloves is thrown away with soiled diaper.  The second pair is worn to put new diaper on.  Crazy, I know.

  • NY is like this too...

    wash hands before picking up child, then put gloves on after baby is on changing table, then after removing soiled diaper, remove gloves and place new gloves on.  Then wash hands and the child's hand.  How you put gloves on while the squirming 1 year old is already on the changing table (not once but twice), I still don't think is very safe...

  • I used to be the director of a childcare center, and not only is it required and wasteful, but it's also incredibly expensive!!!  The amount of money that I spent on gloves each month was insane- I would have much rather spent that money on my staff!  Daycare workers are insanely underpaid, and most don't receive any kind of benefits.  But hey- they're supplied with 2 pairs of gloves per diaper change!  And remember that they are required to change diapers every 2 hours- so that's a lot of gloves.
  • Ours wears gloves too. They do our cloth diapers, but every night I open the wet bag to see each diaper wrapped up in a plastic bag! Dh has told them so much that they don't need to do that. I forget in the morning so I'm writing a note to stick in the diaper bag for Monday. 
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  • Thank you for the education! I had no clue it was required, but I know there is good reasons for it.

    Mere--That's hilarious that they wrap the CDs in plastic bags. Kind of defeats the purpose. My husband's grandmother bought us those plastic bags specifically for diapers so we had a way to transport CDs when we were away from home. When she was here she saw my travel wet bag and was amazed. She said "Gosh, if they have all this stuff out there then I guess a lot of people are doing this" It seemed that suddenly her mind set on CDs changed because I'm not the only one out there doing it.

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