My two-year-old Bode is ultra independent. He wants to do everything himself–including washing his hands. If I’m supervising, we use warm water. But for those times when Bode climbs up and turns on the tap himself I don’t even want to get into hot water. I’ve asked him to limit his use to the cold tap so he won’t “burn himself.” And he actually listens to me.

Bode loves soap and can often spend a few minutes washing his hands. But I’ve always wondered is the cool water is enough to kill germs? Turns out it is.

A study by the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that water temperature had no effect on bacteria reduction. When it comes to removing germs, it’s soap and water that’s important–not temperature.

Independence, safety and results–just perfect.

Tags: bacteria reduction, cold water, cold water hand washing, germs, hand washing, water temperature

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 5:02 am and is filed under Nancy's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.