Home bathroom cleaning?

[Dahlia28]

Hello, I just registered here. I'm a 28 year old female and I was just diagnosed yesterday, after a false negative 4 weeks ago. I've been doing research on cleaning procedures for the home and the websites don't really say how often to clean. I've been using a 1/10 bleach solution and bleaching the entire toilet after every time I use it and washing my hands twice.

I have followed all other cleaning procedures, but was unsure of how often I should be cleaning the entire bathroom.

For a side note, I have a 5 year old who had a surgery 2 weeks ago and was on an antibiotic. I have already discussed the importance of hand washing with him and his father.

[AllisS]

Hi Dahlia; welcome to the site. When you have a chance, please take a look at the guidelines for new posters on our intro page.

It sounds like you're already using a good cleaning protocol. You can either continue with the home-made bleach solution -- perhaps add slightly more bleach so that it is closer to nine parts water:one part bleach -- and/or you can use Clorox Germicidal Bleach Wipes if you would find that more convenient. They aren't available in either retail stores or pharmacies but can be found online, e.g., at Amazon. Use disposable gloves to handle them if you go that route. They can be handy for cleaning surfaces, e.g., countertops in bathroom and kitchen, as well as door and cabinet knobs, TV remote, and other frequently handled items in the home. (Only hard surfaces; they shouldn't be used on fabric.) It's unnecessary to clean your entire bathroom on a daily basis. There's no hard-and-fast rule on how often to clean, but many times people tend to overdo it.

Frequent handwashing, especially before preparing food and of course after using the bathroom, as well as when returning home from outside/errands, is probably the best preventive measure, not just for C. diff but for viruses as well. Rather than washing twice in a row, make sure to lather soap thoroughly, including fingers as well as palms. The "formula" that's often recommended is to do this for the length of time it takes to sing "Happy birthday."

[sammi79]

When I had it, I would clean the toilet after every use and just wipe down the sink. That was on a daily basis. On a weekly basis, I would do a deep clean and bleach every surface in the bathroom that was bleachable. Also, after I showered, I would spray the tub down with bleach. Not that I had accidents in the tub, but just made me feel better to protect my family. The only other thing I did that stands out was that I washed all of my clothing after I washed my family's clothes and then I would run a sanitize cycle on my washing machine.