Minimising Environmental Hazards to Baby
All parents want the best environment to raise their babies. Combating environmental hazards at your home with your baby around can be tough. But, you can certainly minimise the risks that these hazards pose to your baby. Some such hazards are:
Household pests
It is not uncommon to find those annoying pests such as mosquitoes, flies and other insects flying around the house or crawling on the floor. Some of them can transmit diseases through bites. The bites can be dangerous and painful. You may consider using one of those pesticides available in the market but they can be harmful to your little one if he places his hands on them. Your baby may even put it into his mouth. Here are some tips that you can follow to keep those nasty pests out of your home:
- If you are keeping your windows open to let in fresh air, cover them with net screens such as Netlon. This allows air to come in through the net but does not allow mosquitoes to enter through them.
- Use box traps or containers to catch rats, mice and ants. You may also use the sticky sand paper to trap flies. But, do remember to keep them out of your baby's reach as he may play with them and hurt himself. A good idea is to set up the trap after your baby has gone to sleep at night and remove them before he wakes up in the morning.
- Keep insect sprays out of your baby's reach and on surfaces where you prepare food. Keep your windows open so that you do not breathe in the toxic atmosphere. Try and use a spray that is least toxic.
Polluted air
Your baby is likely to be indoor most of the time. So, it is important that the air inside the house is as clean as possible. You can try and control the following air borne risks:
- Keep off carbon monoxide. These can cause lung ailments, vision problems and brain problems. Key sources are improperly vented kerosene stoves and poorly adjusted gas stoves. So check them periodically. The flame should be blue in colour. Also, install an exhaust fan to remove the fumes. Another thing that you should avoid is idling your car even for a brief while especially if your garage and house share a common compound wall.
- Avoid benzopyrenes as they can cause respiratory illnesses. To prevent your baby from getting exposed to them, avoid tobacco smoking and change the air filters in your car's vents and kitchen chimneys regularly.
- Particulate matter that are not visible to naked eyes come through various sources such as dusty surfaces. These can cause various allergies in your baby. You can minimise these using the same techniques as mentioned above and dusting the dirty surfaces regularly.
- Formaldehyde is present in almost all modern day to day products and can cause rashes, nausea and other problems. You can use epoxy sealers in your household products to minimise this. Indoor plants help in absorbing the gas. But do make sure that the plants themselves are harmless.
- Fungi are found in most damp surfaces. They can cause bronchitis and breathing problems in babies. Try to keep everything as dry as possible.
Food contamination
Most of the present food available in today's market are processed with various chemicals to make them look, smell and even taste better. You can protect your baby from such foods by doing the following:
- Do not buy food treated with a lot of chemical additives for your baby. Stay away from additives such as brominated oils, monosodium glutamate (MSG), saccharin and other sweeteners, sodium nitrate and nitrite, sulfites, artificial colors and flavours.
- Choose organic foods for your baby. Peel fruits and vegetables that are not organic before feeding your baby.
- Keep your baby's intake of animal fat to a very minimum because these fats store chemicals.
- Give your baby food such as brocolli, cauliflowers and cabbages that protect him against environmental toxins.
Lead
Lead poisoning is another common environmental hazard that poses a serious threat. Intake of lead even in small amounts can cause reduced IQ, alter enzyme function, hearing problems and kidney damage. Some steps that you can take to minimise exposure to lead are:
- Avoid using lead paints. As the paints begin to wear out, they may start chipping off or flaking and fall on your baby's hands, clothing, toys and so on. Finally the lead may enter his mouth through these sources.
- Do not use lead pipes or pipes soldered with lead. Water flowing through these contain lead contamination. Use a reverse osmosis filter to remove traces of lead. However, lead is not the only source of water contamination. You can purify water contaminated by other sources using activated charcoal as it is supposed to be safer than water treated with chlorine.
- Keep your baby away from dust that you think could be due to demolition of houses with lead paint.
