20SomethingMum Backs Dettol's Mission for Health Campaign!

You may have noticed on Facebook or Twitter recently that myself and a few of my fellow bloggers (including Me The Man and The Baby, Glowstars, Dance Without Sleeping (formerly New Mummy), Mum In The Madhouse and Adventures of an English Mum who just happened to have her lovey daughter with her too!) mentioning that we were off to London, and we were going to stop off at The Baby Show.

Well, that wasn't all we did whilst there- we fibbed a bit!

In fact, we met up in a house in leafy Highgate to find out all about Dettol's Mission For Health campaign.

Firstly, have a watch of this video of BBC Health Expert Dr Lisa Ackerley who will show you some of what we you what we learnt on the day:

Its simple really, but we're all guilty of health and hygiene crimes- perhaps you don't keep all your raw meats separate  from your cooked meats and veggies. Perhaps you don't always watch to make sure the kids are washing their hands properly. Or perhaps like me, you get sometimes get distracted half way through cutting raw chicken, and make a drink for the kids without first washing your hands? We've all done something which sounds obvious but in practice just doesn't spring to mind when the children are throwing their fiftieth tantrum of the day and we're tired and harassed!

With this in mind, Dettol’s Mission for Health launches today to promote a healthier environment in the home, in the community and beyond. Through three easy to get involved with initiatives- Dettol’s new mums programme, healthy habits lessons in schools and through its partnership with Save the Children, Dettol aims to educate from the home, to schools, and beyond that healthy habits are easy to keep up! 

Adventure's of an English Mum's daughter learns about hidden germs

At home, Mum's are encouraged to visit their easy to use and informative new website www.dettol.co.uk/missionforhealth  as well as "liking" their dedicated Facebook page www.facebook.com/missionforhealth. The tips and handy hits contained at both sites will help mums by suggesting ways to do more for a healthy home, highlighting hygiene hotspots to be aware of and useful tips to help take care of the family. Even things which when we heard them at the open day seemed so obvious, yet more than one of us admitted to being guilty of at home-like not keeping handbags on the table or kitchen worktop. Wont be doing that again soon!

Dr Lisa shows us the hidden germ hot spots around a kitchen

 

We also had the pleasure of meeting well known Health expert, Dr Dawn Harper, of channel 4’s ‘Embarrassing Bodies’ fame, who for once wasn't getting her hands in anything too scary, as well as Prima Baby’s expert midwife Nikki Khan. All gave us informative chats and advice from pregnancy and beyond, and taught us all about the dangers of germs and the effects they can have on our health, and that of our children too. They are all supporting the campaign, and will be giving the same practical advice on how mums can improve hygiene at home especially for those mums expecting or bringing home a new baby, requiring them to be especially vigilant in the home.

Prima Baby's Midwifery Expert Nikki Khan tells us about the effect of germs in pregnancy

For those who love a competition, The Mission for Health Facebook page will also offer the opportunity to win one of 5,000 Dettol Baby Packs containing useful tips on getting ‘your home baby ready’, helping new mums be extra vigilant in the home.  The pack also includes vouchers for money off Dettol Surface Cleanser Spray and Dettol No-Touch Hand Wash System.   

An even better excuse to like the Mission for Health Facebook page is that Dettol will donate 20 pence to Save the Children for every like they receive, with the aim of donate £20,000 to the charity which supports community causes in the UK and abroad.
 

Talking about family health, Dr Harper comments: “Mums are naturally eager to do their best for their family, to keep them happy and healthy.  But with our hectic lifestyles, standards may slip! How many of us mums know our kitchen floor or bathroom taps are not cleaned as often as we like? Even our computer keyboards could do with a good anti-bacterial wipe!”

“Dettol’s Mission for Health will help mums take back control, by suggesting quick and easy ways to keep their homes hygienic, helping to protect their family’s health and advising them on the tools to do it.  By going online they can find out information about hygiene hotspots in the home, and healthy living advice for the family and in particular first time mums.”

What better way to find information on keeping our children in a healthy environment than by turning off Twitter during our tea breaks and logging into the Dettol website instead?

  Want to join in? Well, here are some tips- they may seem obvious, but I bet we all slip up on them fro time to time-       

• Regularly disinfect commonly touched surfaces as some harmful germs can survive on surfaces for longer periods, which can then be transferred to other surfaces in sufficient numbers, representing a risk to catch them and develop an infection 
• Use a surface cleanser with proven efficacy to kill 99.9% of harmful germs including E.coli, Salmonella, MRSA and the flu virus  
• Practice good hand hygiene; wash hands regularly with an antibacterial hand wash and dry thoroughly.  
• If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer. There are many gel and foam varieties available for use while out and about Practice good cough and sneezing etiquette - always cover your nose and mouth with a tissue and dispose of immediately 
• Avoid touching your mouth, nose and eyes with your hands. This will reduce your chances of getting infected  

Remember, if you follow these tips, your children will also learn good hygiene sense from you, like sneezing into a tissue and washing their hands regularly, helping to keep the message of Mission for health going for years to come.

To join Dettol’s Mission for Health or for more information come to www.dettol.co.uk/missionforhealth or go direct to www.facebook.com/missionforhealth to join!