Clean air for the family?

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Jay2 said:
Karin… re-read carefully…

It’s a baby… they don’t know yet… before dropping $$$ on super-vacuums and filtration systems (which aren’t in place now from what I read) give it some time.

If symptoms do show up, then start taking action (as you have;) )… just don’t immediately assume your baby is susceptible and turn your house into a surgical suite.
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ah…sorry I did misread your post…
 
I forgot to add…

Malia, two of the best immunity building devices ever created are already in your possession! Tip your head down and look…Yup, those. I hope you’re using them.
 
Jay2 said:
Why not just leave your house alone? Unless your baby has known immune deficiencies (family history isn’t applicable yet) why spent the money?

Me, hubby, our dog and even out cat have allergies. That is reason enough, lol.

If the baby has allergies, they’ll show up and DD/DS will either build immunities to them, or you can take steps at that point.

She frequently gets stuffy at night and it interferes with her sleep. She also sneezes ALOT. I’ll be talking to her doc at her next appointment.

Creating a “micro-climate” in your house doesn’t solve anything… you eventually WILL go outside!

Not trying to create a micro-climate, just a clean one. Especially here where the winters are so long that it’ll be awhile before we get fresh air again.

All this “anti-bacterial” stuff and hyper-cleanliness is actually weakening our immune systems by not letting us get a cold or minor infection, etc. (exercising our immune system), and promoting hybrid strains of “bugs” that are resistant to anti-biotics.

I don’t use anti-bacterial products for that exact reason. And if you knew me you’d laugh your butt off at the “hyper-cleanliness” statement, lol. I am FAR from it.

I not saying putting your child in peril here, just let him/her be a kid and get a cold or scrape every once in a while and not medi-vac them to the E.R.!

No ER visits (thank GOD) and no over-reacting here. I just want to create a clean environment for my family (not “hyper-clean”, just clean).
Malia
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Jay2 said:
I forgot to add…

Malia, two of the best immunity building devices ever created are already in your possession! Tip your head down and look…Yup, those. I hope you’re using them.
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**Yup:yup: **
That is why I have endured nearly 3 months of pure agony/torture (breastfeeding has not been easy or fun). It is getting a little easier now, but I would never call it pleasant. I am doing it purely for any potential health benefits it can offer my precious little one.
Malia
 
puzzleannie said:
get a radon test especially if you have a basement, get a CO dectector and smoke detectors. Keep them operational.

I need to google radon as I don’t know what that is:o . We have working smoke detectors though:thumbsup:

most harmful fumes come into the home in the form of products and furnishings–insectisides, formedehyde, strong cleansers, carpet, furniture, textiles etc.

Got rid of our carpet before baby came along. Don’t use strong cleansers or insecticides. Only new piece of furniture is a reclining chair and we chose leather instead of fabric.

Anything new or drycleaned, air it outside first.

No drycleaning.

HEPA filters on the furnace, clean your heat/AC system and ducts every year, clean chimneys if you have them and install glass doors if you intend to use your fireplace (will save money too).

I was wondering if HEPA filters were a good investment or a waste of money (one of the reasons I started this thread). Ditto for furnace cleaning. Don’t have a real fireplace, just a gas one that we can’t afford to operate, lol.

You do not need strong chemicals to clean, and they should never be in a house with children. Clean with basics like vinegar, mild soaps and detergent.

We have phased out almost all commercial cleaning products and use mostly vinegar, baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide.

Washing soda and borax have lye and are extremely dangerous. If your water is that hard, get a water softener.

I wasn’t aware that washing soda was bad, we use it for laundry (including diapers). Do i need to stop?
Can’t afford a water softener at the moment.
Malia
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I don’t know that washing soda and borax are all that dangerous. Here’s something I did find about washing soda–it’s a stronger form of sodium bicarbonate.
cutofcloth.com/article_bakingsoda.asp
I don’t think it has lye in it, but it is considered caustic

Here’s something about borax
dialcorp.com/index.cfm?page_id=56

I love using borax but I’ve never tried washing soda, I may though, with the stains I get around here! LOL

We also use mostly vinegar, baking soda and such for cleaning. I hate harsh, smelly chemicals. I do use bleach occasionally, esp for toilets and hard to get out stains.

Jennifer
 
Well, if she’s stuffy & sneezing you may need to look into some type of filtration system… but seeing as you’re in Canada here’s a few more suggestions (I’m in central MN - so I know about cold too)

I’d have your furnace ducting cleaned, but be aware that this will stir up MORE airbornes in the following weeks!
They can’t get every bit out, and the procedure loosens stuff in the ducting that will come out (supply side) via air pressure. The return duct stuff should get caught by your existing furnace filter. Just change it every few weeks in the following months, then every month.

Keep your furnace fan running. It only costs pennies a day.
Most thermostats have a FAN control, with “Auto”, “Off”, or “On”. Switching it to “On” will keep the fan running always, and circulating the air (through the filter:thumbsup: ). In the “Auto” position the fan runs only when there’s a call for heat.

Do you have a humidifier on the furnace? If not I’d seriously consider this for your 1st upgrade.
Getting humidity back into the air during winter REALLY helps. 68 degrees will feel like 72, the stuffy sinuses (me) go away, and the house is just more comfortable. Find a model that has a “humidistat”, and have the installer put it next to the thermostat (not downstairs in the furnace room duct). You’ll have to adjust it occasionally to match the outside air temp, but it’s just twisting a dial. Maintenance is as simple as keeping the water-pad inside the unit clean and changing it annually… about $10.
 
Something that others didn’t mention, the filters at Target that say HEPA are actually (if you read the fine print) HEPA-like filters. So they aren’t truly HEPA filter air purifiers. I bought my daughter’s air purifier with a true HEPA filter at an allergy store.

If your dd gets sick in the winter, your may go through the dr. recommendations of humidifier, no humidifire, vaporizer, no vaporizer. When my daughter was sick with RSV, then repeated bouts of bronchiolitis and asthma, each visit the doctor would make all sorts of recommendations about humidifiers and vaporizors that I was going crazy. Then, when I saw the specialist he suggested an air purifier. I was still skeptical, so I call my two family members who have suffered their whole lives with asthma and respiratory issues. Both told me that humidifiers and vaporizors did diddly squat, but that the air purifier with HEPA filters (which both bought at the same allergy store) helped them tremendously.

As soon as I forked over the $200 or so for the HEPA air purifier, my daughter hasn’t had a flare up (she was REAL BAD last winter) at home (she had one on vacation at my dad’s animal hair infested house when we went to visit him). If you can’t afford a HEPA filter on your furnace, then purchase the room purifier. They are actually quite quiet and the 10+ hours a day your dd will be sleeping in her room, will be enough time to eliminate most of the irritants that may affect her. We also have a vaccuum with a HEPA filter, which helps a lot too. If you can’t afford a purifier, then try the best you can to clean a little more often. Also, put her favorite stuffed animal and blankie in freezer storage bags and put them in the freezer for a few hours, that will kill the mites if that seems to be a bother.

The hardest part about having a clearly allergy/asthma prone baby/toddler is that the testing at this age is so innaccurate that you just have to kinda guess what the triggers are. I have pleaded with the specialist to test my two year old daughter and he said that he will not b/c the accuracy is only about 20 - 30% at two years old and it isn’t a comfortable test for the child. By 6 or 7 the accuracy is abou 80-90% which is why he will have my daughter wait.
 
Jennifer_J said:
I have read/heard that pet ownership can actually help a child NOT develop allergies. Also, keeping your house too clean and not exposing your child to germs can make them unable to fight off germs. You have to use the immune system for it to work properly. Of course, it could be that I hate cleaning and these are good excuses! 😃

Here are some links (so you don’t think I’m too crazy!):
webmd.com/content/Article/36/1728_55562.htm
pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1448690

Jennifer
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Hey, I actually worked with Christine Cole Johnson and Dennis Ownby (really great scientists and people)! Chris was one of the principal investigators whose grants sponsored the lab in which I worked (at Henry Ford). Most of our work involved large population studies to investigate genetic, environmental, and clinical factors that correlated with allergy and asthma levels (including a follow-up to the study that generated the original pet/allergy data, now that the kids are turning 18). Needless to say, there was a lot of background info lying around the lab for me to read, and it indicated that around the world, the “hygiene hypothesis” held up pretty consistently. However, the suggested preferred environment is one that is just an average level of clean, rather than one that has been completely sterilized. Too dusty and smoggy is possibly just as bad as too clean, if skyrocketing asthma rates in inner cities are any indication. If an air filter helps, then by all means try it. As long as you’re not wiping absolutely everything down with Lysol and vacuuming all the time, your house won’t be too sterile.
 
gmarie21 said:
The hardest part about having a clearly allergy/asthma prone baby/toddler is that the testing at this age is so innaccurate that you just have to kinda guess what the triggers are. I have pleaded with the specialist to test my two year old daughter and he said that he will not b/c the accuracy is only about 20 - 30% at two years old and it isn’t a comfortable test for the child. By 6 or 7 the accuracy is abou 80-90% which is why he will have my daughter wait.
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The tradiotional way of testing the sink prick is uncomfortable and can not be accurate…the most accurate test out there for allergies is the RAST test (blood is drawn and tested) much more accurate and can be done at ant age/time:)
 
Don’t use sprays or oil scents in your home. Wash your hands. Don’t use phosphate laundry detergents in washing machine or dishwasher. Keep the toilets clean and the lids down. Above all wash your hands before you handle the baby! Keep diapers in a plastic bag and use a covered container and clean the container . Wash your hands after each diaper change. Just a few little extras go a long way to a cleaner environment.
 
a lot of the circulating dust and pollutants come in from outside, mostly on shoes, some on clothing and a lot on outdoor pets.

your family can take of shoes at the door or in the mudroom, garage or utility room and put on houseshoes. we never could train our mutt to do that.

have good industrial grade nylon dirt-catching mats at each door - big ones, not 2x3, that can be hosed off in the driveyway. for your climate get ones good for snow, slush and salt.

I think others have already discussed the issue of pets. Unfortunately for our family pets were a mistake and the improvement after we got rid of them was miraculous.
 
puzzleannie said:
I think others have already discussed the issue of pets. Unfortunately for our family pets were a mistake and the improvement after we got rid of them was miraculous.
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True- it’s thought that there are genetic issues that might make some people more susceptible to allergies if they’re exposed early in life. The labs mentioned in the WebMD article linked by Jennifer J are working to investigate that issue as well as are many labs. So yes, the hygiene and pet hypotheses are great for a lot of us, but they’re not going to hold true for everyone. Sometimes there’s no way around the fact that the family pet is a problem.
 
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