Soiled Underwear in Day Care Centers

I live in Indiana and have a question. The day care my children attend have told me that it is the law that they cannot rinse out soiled underwear. They simply remove it from my child and let it sit in a bag even with poop in it without rinsing or dumping the poop from the panties all day til I come to pick them up. Of course by the time I get it home it is disgusting and the panties are usually ruined by this pt. It becomes not only gross but costly to replace the stained panties. What is Indiana state law on this? Is it true? If it is, whoever passed this one obviously has never opened up a bag of 8 hour old poop.
Thank you kindly

[Former Teacher]

In Texas I don't think there is such as law, however I have read up on other centers and their policy is that of they can not rinse it out.

I would think it is a matter of sanitary. For years I personally would sit there and rinse out the soiled underwear until about 2 years ago. There was a boy who was 4 years old and he was just lazy to go to the bathroom. He would potty in there but he was lazy to do the other one. Well I would rinse out the soiled underwear for the first few times.

I happened to be walking out with the mother one day after she had her bag with his soiled underwear. We had a great communication. I really liked her alot. Anyway, we were walking out to her car so I could wish her and her son a good night and she walked right to the trash can. I was like "no! I already rinsed those out for you. She said do you honestly think I will put that in my washer? Even though its rinsed?"

We went on to have a long discussion and I agreed with her. It became MY policy that should a child in my care soil (THAT way not pee pee) then they would go in the trash.

Yes a few parents got upset because underwear costs money etc.. I just explained to them that I was sorry but I didn't have the time nor the staff to be rinsing out dirty clothes. Eventually over time, it became a personal "unspoken" center policy. I would think it would depend on each center.

As for the law, you might want to check Minimum Standards or perhaps the health department.

[ConcernedMotherof2]

This is one of the reasons I REALLY don't miss the days just after diapers went out the window. I've had many soiled pairs of underpants sent home with my children in plastic bags, but was never told it was the law that it be handled this way.

I saw this stage as part of potty training. Once you make the transition to cloth underpants vs. diapers or pull-ups, kids have accidents. (my daughter had WAY more than her share) Instead of approaching this at an angle of your provider is doing something irritating, it may be more constructive to communicate with them on what you can do to keep your daughter from having these accidents.

I don't know how old she is, but she's obviously old enough to be potty trained and this is what I had to do with my daughter... First, I was lucky enough to have some very understanding and experienced providers during this time and they were able to give me guidance. The communication was essential, as this point in a child's life can be difficult. I had my daughter wash her own panties out (with supervision, of course). She didn't do a very good job, but she was able to get an idea of what a mess she was making and she eventually quit making the mess. Of course, thorough hand washing after she was done was essential.

[mac60]

I would think it is more a "guideline/law, I have a mom who has told me to just throw them away when child pooped in them. I sent them home with them, I didn't want them in my garbage for 4 days.

I too will not rinse out pooped cloth panties. No way. If your child is old enough to be wearing cloth panties, they shouldn't be pooping their pants, and while I understand that if a child is ill or in a unusual situation and it happens, then oh well, just throw them out. For less than $1.75 per hour, I am not cleaning poop underwear. I think the dc was right in what they did. It is definately a sanitary issue, and I personally don't want to have to wash them out in my toilet or put them in my washer.

I will say, that if a child poops their panties, I will do my best to get the poop off by shaking them off. But I am not washing them out.

[seashell]

I will dump the poop in the toilet, bag the undies and send them home.

[mac60]

So parents, what do you think is the right thing for the providers to do in the situation where the childs poops their cloth undies?

[Chickenhauler]

I honestly don't see the big difference between rinsing out some poo and changing a filthy diaper.

If a little poo skeeves out a DC provider that badly, then they're in the wrong business.

To the lady who was throwing rinsed underwear in the trash because "I'm not putting that in my washer", I hope her husband never eats Chili or Brats and Kraut.

[seashell]

Originally Posted by Chickenhauler

I honestly don't see the big difference between rinsing out some poo and changing a filthy diaper.

If a little poo skeeves out a DC provider that badly, then they're in the wrong business.

To the lady who was throwing rinsed underwear in the trash because "I'm not putting that in my washer", I hope her husband never eats Chili or Brats and Kraut.

The difference is, a diaper gets wrapped on itself and tossed in the trash. You don't need to scrub the diaper and you certinly don't run it through your washing machine. This is a health concern and I know that in my state, it is required that the undies be put in a bag and not washed out, which can spread germs and takes time from the children.

[tinytotzdaycare]

All of our children start potty training at 22 months and all but a few have been potty trained byt the time they were 2, I have my own technique and it works and since I dont use pull-ups here we have a lot of accidents at first...
I have had a utility sink and seperate washer installed in my laundry room. I put the majority of the accident in the toilet, then rinse the undies with dawn dishsoap (wear gloves) in the utility sink..this sink is used ONLY for this purpose. I clean it with bleach each naptime & night. Anyways during naptime I wash a small load of soiled clothing in the XTRA washer and put those clothes back in their cubby for the next time they need them.

Parents dont have to bring in clothes all the time, I always an extra outfit for them and it doesnt cost them more money. ***IF THEY HAD A VERY LOOSE STOOL I DO AS STATED IN MY CONTRACT/HANDBOOK TOSS THEM IN THE TRASH!!!

If they are wet, I rinse them and toss them in the wash as well.

Parents know that underwear WILL ALWAYS BE BLEACHED!!

[judytrickett]

As a daycare provider I don't rinse them out either. It's pretty unhygenic to rinse out someone else's underwear. Besides, if a child is not fully potty trained then they shouldn't be in underwear in a daycare setting anyway. Peeing and pooping in underwear exposes the other kids to it too. Yuck!

I think I'm just old! I used cloth diapers on my kids [long ago] so therefore I really don't have a problem rinsing out the poo from a child's underwear. Wear latex gloves, rinse most of it out, place it in a sealed bag and send it home.

I have noticed that many younger parents don't want to deal with the mess so they toss the underwear. To each his own... but it seems wasteful to me.

What about poo in the disposable diaper? Does anyone dump most of it in the toilet and flush it? I do. It cuts down on some of the smell in the diaper pail.

[HandsOnLearning]

we throw them our if they are soiled...if they are wet we rinse them and wash them here then put them back in their cubby for next time. Parents understand in the contract it states soiled underwear will be tossed in the trash for safety! Noone complains b/c most of them dont want them back anyway

I guess my rules, are that if there is formed poop in underwear, I try and just get it to go into the toilet, if not, everything is wrapped up in a bag, and sent home for the parents to deal with.

I have a little one in cloth diapers at my home daycare, and I guess I'd do the same with underwear accidents as I do with the cloth diapers. Dump whatever poop I can and bag it up to go home. I don't have the time to be rinsing or soaking things. And as a parent, I'd want to know if my child was having accidents in their underwear, so I'd want them to come home with me, even if I did just toss them in the trash ...

[canadiancare]

I'll dump out formed poop. I have to wonder if the poster's child is ready for underwear if this is a constant occurrence.