Clean Your Home Safe When Having a Baby
When you have a baby, your home might seem a lot messier than before. Every possible surface seems filthy and disgusting and threatening for your child. But, before you start vacuuming and scrubbing everything in sight, take in mind that obsessive cleaning using caustic household cleaning products has its own downsides. They can affect a baby’s airways, skin, eyes and more.
Parents need to understand that there can really be a trade-off between a disinfected kitchen and the health of their babies. But there is also good news — with changing some simple things and practising safe cleaning, you can maintain your house clean without risking your child’s health. For the exhausted parents this situation is win-win: a healthy baby without tons of housework.
What Dangers Do Household Cleaners Hide?
Eczema
A baby’s skin is very sensitive. Several studies have found that household cleaners contain allergens and irritants that can cause skin conditions — from minor light irritations to eczema.
Respiratory irritations
Some of the evaporations from household cleaning products are quite strong and toxic and can irritate your child’s airways, worsening allergy or asthma symptoms. The use of certain chemicals for cleaning in schools (such as chlorine) have been linked with higher rate risk of asthma.
Eye irritations
Household cleaning products fumes can also irritate baby’s eyes, causing watering (known as epiphora or tearing) and redness. Not to mention that household products, splashed accidentally into eyes, can cause serious damages.
All sorts of allergies
Some studies suggest that having a home that’s sterile cleaned can increase the long-term risk of emergence of allergies in a child. This is known as “the hygiene hypothesis”. Without any exposure to germs, a baby’s immune system might not develop as strong as it should. Instead, the immune system becomes hypersensitive and starts to overreact to harmless allergens, like pollens.
High risk of poisoning
Every year, over a million kids under the age of five swallow different poisons such as common household cleaners, sometimes leading to devastating effects.
Unknown health hazards
Common household cleaners are fragranced and contain dangerous chemicals. Actually, it’s quite surprising there’s no good safety testing for a lot of the chemical ingredients of everyday use cleaners. Many parents are turning to alternatives and trying to reduce the use of harsh chemicals
Tips on Child-Safe Cleaning
There are plenty of good ways to maintain your house safely. Keeping your child’s good health and your home cleaned doesn’t necessarily mean you need to go wild scrubbing every surface, possible. Here are some ideas on safe cleaning practices:
Choose child-safe labelled detergents
Experts recommend looking for household cleaning products that are less caustic and friendly to both the environment and your body. Look for labels “green”, “non-toxic”, or products saying “biodegradable”, “petroleum free”, “phosphate-free”, “VOCs-free”, or “solvent-free”.
Remember — less is more
Most of the household cleaners diluted with water still work quite effectively. Diluting a chemical product is an easy way to make it lighter and better for safe cleaning. Many people often assume better household cleaner costs more. Diluting a detergent, or using a smaller amount of it every time has the additional benefit of saving your money.
Don’t use antibacterial soaps. Despite the popularity of antibacterial soap, plain old one and water will get the germs off your child’s hands just as well. Antibacterial soap not only contains excessive chemicals, but in long terms it may increase the risk of creating stronger, more resistant bacteria.
Avoid using carpet cleaning spray-on products. According to specialists, chemical carpet cleaners have a lot of ingredients that can be embedded deep in the carpet’s fibres. To ensure child-safe treatment, use a hot-steam cleaner with ordinary water and no detergents.
Make your own safe cleaners. It’s actually quite easy to make your own cleaning agents. What’s the advantage of using home-made cleaners? You know exactly what they contain. You can make an excellent kitchen cleaner out of ordinary soap and baking soda. Baking soda is good for effective stain removal from carpets, clothes, upholstery and curtains. Diluted vinegar is great for cleaning windows.
Make sure other people understand your cleaning regimens. If you use help at home — like cleaning service or a babysitter, make sure that they will understand your approach to safe cleaning. Show them the household cleaning products you prefer and how and when they would use them.
Prevent dirt from getting into the house. Use doormats to wipe your shoes as you come in the house — it will reduce the dirt as well as many contaminants coming from outside. Better yet, take off your shoes when you come inside the house. The floor won’t get dirty so quickly and you can clean it more rarely.
Don’t clean while kids are in the room. When you’re a busy parent, it’s very tempting to multi-task, but it’s much safer to use cleaning products without your child being in the room. Make sure to ventilate well before your baby is back in.
