Personal care in early childhood: Infection control
Look at that cute little baby. The last thing that is going through your mind is infectious diseases. However, caring for a baby involves a lot of contact with bodily fluids - you change diapers, milk is spit up on your shoulder. While disabilities themselves are not contagious, people with disabilities and chronic illnesses may be more at risk of catching and carrying infections because they spend more time in hospitals and doctors' offices. They may also have a lesser ability to fight off infections, due to problems related to their disability.
For germs to grow and live, they need warm temperature, moisture, darkness, oxygen, and food.
The two most common ways that germs are spread in the health care environment are through direct contact and indirect contact. Direct contact means that germs are spread from one person to another person. Indirect contact means that germs are spread from one person to an object and then to another person. As you read the examples below, it is clear that caring for a small child is filled with both types of contact. Some examples of how germs are spread are:Direct Contact (person to person)
- Touching
- Infected body fluids
- Coughing, sneezing
Indirect Contact (person to object to person):
- Eating contaminated food - how many times do you see one child grab a handful of chips out of the bag or handle food in other ways? The germs are now spread to the next person who eats food from the same bag.
- Handling soiled clothing, sheets, blankets, towels - which anyone with a small child does several times a day!
- Handling soiled equipment - which many parents of children with disabilities also do several times a day
- Drinking or using contaminated water
