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Home › Articles › General Health › The Germs of Summer

The Germs of Summer

Tips for Keeping Baby Happy and Healthy During the Warm Months

By Renee Roberson

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Germs in the Pool

Figuring out how to keep your bathing beauty safe in the pool can be a source of confusion to parents, and many questions arise on this topic. Does the chlorine in the water automatically count as a disinfectant? What about the pool toys your baby wants to put in her mouth? Why is it that the pool has to be drained if any fecal matter is detected in the water?

"Most germs die once out of the water," says Dr. Dennis Cunningham, a member of the Sections of Infectious Diseases and Emergency Medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital and an assistant professor of Clinical Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. "You can't prevent babies and young children from putting objects in their mouth. That is how they learn and explore the environment."

Instead, Dr. Cunningham recommends cleaning pool toys after your visit with a gentle dish detergent and water hose. Avoid using any alcohol-based product on plastic as it can damage plastic with prolonged use.

If your family is like many, you may have plans to build a few sandcastles with your baby, and those shovels and buckets should be cleaned more carefully than those at the pool. "Beach water can be pretty unclean," Dr. Sears says. "Be sure to rinse any toys you use at the beach with fresh water and disinfectant."

You may have ventured out to your local pool and discovered swimmers being sent home and the pool being drained due to feces floating openly in the water. Dr. Cunningham says that some human waste can transmit dangerous parasites into the water, such as cryptosporidium. Bacteria such as salmonella, E. coli and shigella can also be dangerous.


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