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Can you catch anything from showing or bathing in the water?

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L.A.lady

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Joined: Jan 16, 2007
Posts: 26

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Posted: Jan 20, 2007 - 04:29 AM
Post subject: Can you catch anything from showing or bathing in the water?

This may sound like a really stupid question, but I am completely new to China, living in China, health issues in China, etc. I keep hearing about how the tap water is so bad for you to drink. Does this mean that it would be bad for you to shower or bath in? Can you catch anything from showering in the water?

We will most likely be renting a villa in Pudong (not sure if that makes any difference), but will the water source in our villa be ok to shower in? Would a filter even help? What would it filter?

I will be coming over with a newborn, so that will be my primary concern. If the water is an issue, do people use bottled water to bath their babies?

Or am I just being completely ridiculous and paranoid? Any insight would be MUCH appreciated!!

THANKS!

mat

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Joined: Apr 26, 2004
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Posted: Jan 20, 2007 - 03:13 PM

Quote:

Or am I just being completely ridiculous and paranoid?

you pretty much answered it right there. Of course it is fine to shower and bath in. Don't drink it that is all.

You can get filtration systems, which actually makes it safe to drink. Your villa may or may not have this. Either way, still best to use bottled water for drinking.

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CoffeeHawk_0
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Joined: July 14, 2005
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Posted: Jan 20, 2007 - 03:51 PM

a few parents have commented that they bath their babies in bottled water, but that seems a matter of preference, I have not heard any doctors suggest doing this, but it couldn't hurt to ask.
The sum of all the other water threads is that there's so many chemicals in the water it is very unlikely there could be any bacteria that would cause a sickness. I think only a doctor could say if there's any or too much of a chemical that could harn an infant.
All us adults bath in the water and we're completely norbal still and mambo dogface in the banana patch too.

answerer

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Joined: Apr 26, 2006
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Posted: Jan 21, 2007 - 06:42 PM

The tap water is bad to drink for a few reasons:
-Bacteria - This will give you an upset stomache
-Heavy metals - Long-term drinking of if will give you a host of medical problems. These metals can't be absorbed through the skin.

Unless you like to drink from the showerhead, bathing in it is perfectly fine. When you move in, get your landlord to install a good RO filter for drinking. Bottled water is essentially filtered tap water. If you're VERY particular about the water, some houses have water that's centrally filtered at the point where it enters the house.

TXMOM
Raver
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Joined: Mar 20, 2003
Posts: 445
Location: Shanghai

Posted: Jan 25, 2007 - 03:00 AM

CoffeeHawk_0 wrote:

All us adults bath in the water and we're completely norbal still and mambo dogface in the banana patch too.

TXMOM
Raver
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Joined: Mar 20, 2003
Posts: 445
Location: Shanghai

Posted: Jan 25, 2007 - 03:02 AM
Post subject: Re: Can you catch anything from showing or bathing in the wa

L.A.lady wrote:

Or am I just being completely ridiculous and paranoid?

Absolutely not! You never know, especially here! It never hurts to ask.'

Kind of an unrelated story, but it does illustrate that you can't take anything for granted:

Just before she left Shanghai, my friend found out that her ayi of three years had not been using hot water or soap to wash their dishes (unless they were greasy/oily, I think). I'd read somewhere early on (in the Ayi Survival Guide maybe?) that you should make sure your ayi knows to use soap and hot water to wash dishes, because many Chinese don't have this practice (true?). So I'd discussed this with my own ayi when she first started working for us, but she already knew how to wash dishes properly.

But I had no idea that my friend hadn't done so with her ayi! And I used to eat at her house off of her dishes . . . Doh! Shocked

KRS1

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Joined: Oct 11, 2005
Posts: 41

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Posted: Jan 29, 2007 - 11:59 AM

My pediatrician advised bathing my newborn in normal tap water, however to wash his face with warm bottled water.

BONNIE
Veejay
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Joined: June 17, 2005
Posts: 1890
Location: Amsterdam/Shanghai

Posted: Jan 29, 2007 - 12:14 PM

I do notice that cuts and scratches sometimes become inflamed, take a while to heal after bathing/showing in tap water.
Anybody else noticed the same thing ?

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robnot
Rocker
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Joined: Aug 21, 2006
Posts: 657

Posted: Feb 01, 2007 - 02:00 PM

answerer wrote:

I drink tap water all the time... and I'm still here

but I do set off the metal detectors at the airports every damn time

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CoffeeHawk_0
Board Buddha

Joined: July 14, 2005
Posts: 14380

Posted: Feb 01, 2007 - 04:16 PM

I'd guess tap water is good for killing any potential infectious bugs that might be in the cut or scratch.
Some people wash their dishes just by letting them soak in tap water for 2 days.