Does wudu break if I touch a baby’s urine or poop?

No, wudu (ablution) is not invalidated by cleaning a child’s urine, changing their diaper, or touching impurity (najasah). Touching impurity is not a nullifier of wudu. However, it is obligatory to wash the impurity off one's hands or affected areas before performing Salah (prayer).

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.


All praise is due to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.


The established ruling in Islamic jurisprudence is that contact with impure substances—such as urine, poop, or blood—does not break one's wudu. The nullifiers of wudu are specific (such as passing wind, urination, defecation, etc.), and touching filth is not among them.


1. The Ruling on Touching Impurity

The Standing Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta (Al-Lajnah Ad-Da’imah) has stated:

Wudu is not invalidated by washing impurity from the body of the person who has wudu or elsewhere.
Majallat Al-Buhuth Al-Islamiyyah, 22/62

Shaykh Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz (رحمة الله عليه) further clarified this matter, distinguishing between the validity of wudu and the requirement to be physically clean for prayer:

As for touching blood, urine, and other impure substances, that does not invalidate wudu, but he must wash off whatever gets onto him.
Fatawa Ash-Shaykh Ibn Baz, 10/141

He also addressed the specific scenario of handling a child's clothes:

Touching a child’s clothes that are wet with urine does not invalidate wudu, but the one who touched it when it was wet has to wash his hand.
Fatawa Ash-Shaykh Ibn Baz, 10/139

2. Touching the Child's Private Parts

Sometimes, whilst cleaning a child, one may touch their private parts. Does this specific act invalidate wudu?


Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymin (رحمة الله عليه) ruled that this does not break wudu, as the prohibition applies to touching the private part with desire (shahwah), which is absent in this context. He stated:

If a woman washes her child, boy or girl, and touches the child’s private part, she does not have to do wudu... because touching the private part without desire does not necessitate wudu. It is known that when a woman washes her children, desire does not even come to her mind, so if she washes her child she only needs to wash her hands to get rid of any impurity that has got onto them...
Majmu` Fatawa Ibn ‘Uthaymin, 11/203

Conclusion: If you change a diaper or clean a child:

  1. Your wudu remains valid.
  2. You must simply wash the impurity from your hands before praying.

And Allah knows best.