Whats Safe and Unsafe:Home

Is it safe for me to clean with chemicals?

Lead Exposure:
You should avoid exposing yourself to lead during pregnancy. You are at risk if you have lead-based paint in your home, use cookware containing lead, work with lead solder, or come into contact with art or cosmetic products that contain lead. Exposure to lead in pregnancy has been associated with a higher chance of miscarriage and having a child with a lower IQ score. If you think you have lead-based paint in your home, contact your county health department to find out about resources that you can use to evaluate whether there's enough exposure to put you, your baby, or other children in your home at risk. If you think you've been exposed to lead, you can have your blood level checked. If it's above the level that's safe during pregnancy, you can be treated.

Carrying Older Children:
Carrying older children can be dangerous, but it depends on how heavy the toddler is and how far along in pregnancy you are. You don't have your tummy muscles to help you lift, and if you don't use good back mechanics when lifting, you could get back problems. So be sure to always bend your knees and keep your back straight when lifting. In general you shouldn't be lifting heavy things, more than 5 or 10 pounds, when you're pregnant. Obviously a toddler weighs more than that, so it's not a good idea to carry her once you've gone past 30 weeks.

Breastfeeding Other Siblings:
It is safe to continue breastfeeding during pregnancy, but it may be harder because pregnancy does decrease milk production. It is very important to stay well hydrated if you're going to do it because that will help keep up your milk supply. Also, breastfeeding will dehydrate you, and that can be dangerous to the baby. And breastfeeding is a big leach on calcium, so it's important to keep your calcium intake up. This isn't a problem for the baby. Babies always get the calcium they need from your body. But you might not get what you need, so you may need to take calcium supplements.

Litter Boxes:
The danger in litter boxes is toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection carried by cats, transmitted in cat feces, and found in gardens where cats poop. If you get toxoplasmosis for the first time when you're pregnant, the baby can get it in utero. This can cause significant neurological damage. So if you know you've never had toxoplasmosis and have cats, you shouldn't change the litter box and you'll want to be careful about gardening. (Use gloves and a mask if you have to do these things.) If you're not sure whether you've had toxoplasmosis, you can get your blood tested to see whether you've been exposed. If you have been, you don't need to worry about it.

Exterminations:
Because researchers do not know if it is safe or unsafe, extermination and other use of pesticides during pregnancy should be avoided.. If that's not possible -- because you have an infestation of pests that also could pose risks -- you need to be careful. To avoid inhaling the chemicals, stay away from the house or yard for at least the period of time recommended by the exterminator. Afterward, wipe down cabinets, floors, and furniture with a wet cloth to avoid having pesticides come in contact with your skin.

Moving Furniture:
You can safely move furniture in the first trimester, but after that it is not safe to move heavy furniture. You're already going to have a lot of back strain carrying the baby. The whole way you hold yourself changes because your center of gravity moves forward. If you then exert yourself to lift something heavy, it increases the strain on your back even more, putting you at risk for a back injury.

Microwave Use:
If the microwave is really old, there is some danger of radiation leakage. Then it's a concern not only if you're pregnant, but all the time. To test for a leak, you can put your hand by the door and see if you feel air leaking out. You can also close a piece of paper in the door and see if you're able to pull it out. If your microwave does seem to be leaking and you can't afford to replace it, don't use it. If the microwave does not leak then there is probbly no reason to worry.

Painting:
It's probably safer to let someone else paint the nursery for you. All paints contain chemicals, and few have undergone safety studies vis-a-vis pregnancy. If you do decide to help paint the nursery, be sure there is good ventilation (keep the windows open), wear gloves and protective clothing, and don't eat or drink in the room you're painting.

Cleaning Products:
Read labels carefully. Wear gloves and work in well-ventilated areas. And avoid aerosols (which disperse more chemicals into the air than pump bottles do), oven cleaners, paint fumes, solvents, and furniture strippers. Although frequent, heavy exposure to chemicals in the workplace (home workshops count, too) has been linked to birth defects, home use of most products is more likely to make you feel faint or nauseous. You should get help with as much housework as possible.

Comments: Whats Safe and Unsafe - Home

Comments 1 to 2 of about 2.

toveandbrody - 1274 days ago.
Lead and Smoking can cause ADHD, this article just out 11/25/2009, just thought I'd share:) By Stephanie Booth Children exposed to lead or whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), new research shows. The study, published in the December issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, found that children exposed prenatally to tobacco smoke had a 2.4-fold increased likelihood of ADHD diagnosis. Those whose blood showed what researchers categorized as high lead levels were 2.3 times more likely to have ADHD. Exposure to both lead and prenatal tobacco triggered what head researcher Tanya Froehlich, M.D., a developmental and behavioral pediatric specialist and assistant professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, called an alarming 'synergistic effect.' Children in this category had eight times the risk of being diagnosed with ADHD. Froehlich and other researchers analyzed data on 2,588 children between the ages of eight and 15 who participated in the 2001 to 2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Nearly nine percent of the children met the criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD, including inattentiveness, difficulty focusing, impulsivity and hyperactivity. Of those children, 16.8 percent had mothers who said they had smoked during pregnancy. More than five percent of children categorized as having 'low' lead blood levels had ADHD and nearly 14 percent had what researchers considered 'high' levels. 'These findings are not surprising, but do provide confirmation of what we already know: Lead levels in utero are a potential threat to normal brain development and tobacco can be toxic to embryos and fetuses,' says Anthony L. Rostain, M.D., director of the Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program in the department of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia. 'The takeaway message here is that mothers certainly should not smoke and risks for lead exposure in the U.S. are still important to investigate.' The study estimates that up to 35 percent of ADHD cases in children between the ages of eight and 15 could be reduced by eliminating exposure to these environmental toxins. That could translate into 800,000 children. see the rest of the article at :http://www.aolhealth.com/condition-center/adhd/smoking-lead-paint?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl2|link5|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolhealth.com%2Fcondition-center%2Fadhd%2Fsmoking-lead-paint

mel-k - 1520 days ago.
Ladies be sure to GREEN your home! Cleaning products are severely harmful to your children and pets. We don't realize what a potential threat we pose to our families every day when we use them. Please look at my profile, we are working with an AMAZING new green cleaner which is 100% non-toxic YET a stronger cleaner than the chemical cleaners on the market. I want to help everyone understands the dangers in their home please GO GREEN! mrwow.net