Lead anxiety

[jaxy]

@grace_given17 I do trainings for doctors, hospitals and health departments. You don't have to believe my qualifications - that's fine. People talk shit about people on the internet all the time. That's what people do. My life is dedicated to offering free resources to families in this situation and to helping guide them to the scientific tools they need to evaluate the safety of their home. I do this because my own children were acutely lead poisoned and have permanent brain damage as a result of their poisoning and I am trying to protect other families from
having this happen to their children. Prevention is key.

 

[ailsa62]

@grace_given17 Great. I appreciate you for tending to dig deeper. So dig. Check out her sources. Here it sounds like you are speculating that they might not be legit. Some things warrant anxiety, unfortunately. Lead poisoning damages every organ in the body, first and foremost the brain and is irreversible, so what is stirring up the anxiety- that fact, or the person saying it?

 

[ailsa62]

@charity1 My son was 4 months old and EBF when he tested positive for lead poisoning. There was no way ingestion could have happened - he didn't take binkies or bottles at the time. Only possible source was lead dust inhalation.

 

[charity1]

@ailsa62 Thank you for sharing! Do you know what the source of the lead dust was -- was there construction type things going on that created it from lead paint, was the soil on your property contaminated? Thanks for sharing and so sorry you went through that.

 

[ailsa62]

@charity1 Thank you. We have several suspected culprits. We live in an old house with stained glass windows (lead in the glass, lead solder, lead paint in the frame.) They can apparently shed lead dust; we removed them for $5k. We had tested the paint with home Depot tests before we moved in and got some false negatives. We had no idea how unreliable they were. My FIL (barely) sanded a door frame, just a couple swipes, to smooth some things out and cleaned the area. But it had lead paint in the deeper coats. We found out by XRF testing ($880). The other problems include doors and door frames with lbp, we have not been able to replace those yet. And we had a lightweight cordless, bagless vacuum. Not HEPA. We would empty the canister into the kitchen trash (dust cloud).

I can't say for sure what caused the damage, but obviously none of it helps. The baby was not crawling (he didn't crawl into 9 months) and he was never in the direct vicinity when these things were taking place. We kept a clean house. He didn't use binkies or bottles that could have gotten dust on them. That's why I want people to understand, they absorb it SO much faster than adults- it takes truly miniscule amounts for dangerous toxicity with kids and babies. I'll never outlive the guilt and regret that we bought this house and didn't protect our son in his first year of life, but I pray that we caught it in time to prevent severe damage. Time will tell. We can't afford to leave the house.

 

[jaxy]

@charity1 I am over $275,000 in debt from doing this work helping families. Also my children were poisoned by inhalation. It is a myth (often shared by uneducated lead inspectors) that ingestion is the only pathway and that a child has to eat paint chips to be poisoned. I often do trainings for inspectors and hospitals and health departments to help dispel those harmful myths. My work is 100% based in science. I always recommend testing - test your home, Test your baby, test your soil, test your water. Through
testing you will have answers that disappear anxiety. My website is a free resource with nearly 4,000 pages of information and my film is available to watch for free (non-monetized, on vimeo). I often do presentations for doctors and hospitals where doctors get CEUs for coming to the presentation, watching the film & participating in a post-screening discussion. All the answers you need in this inquiry can be found in science.

 

[ailsa62]

@charity1 I disagree with this and would urge anyone to reconsider this stance. Lead dust (through inhalation) is a huge problem- our baby had low levels of lead poisoning from lead dust inhalation. People don't like worrying about this for some reason and shit on lead safe mama and deny basic facts in order to avoid it. Meanwhile you all worry about BPA and microplastics like it's your job when they are way, way less dangerous and infinitely easier to avoid.

OP, if your baby tested under 1, then they and your house are probably fine. Also, European countries outlawed the use of lead paint decades before the US because, you know, unbridled capitalism. However, if you want to know you need to get either the paint tested or your child tested again. Don't mess with this. Some anxiety is justified, some is not. Anxiety about lead is very warranted unfortunately. Go ahead, down vote away. It's just the truth.

I would add, this person lists their sources as: One home inspector and foster parent training. Lead safe mamas sources are mostly medical professionals, specialists in the field and scientific studies. As are mine; realistically, people with anxiety about this do much more appropriate research, as I have because of my baby. Peer-reviewed studies. Both my parents are professional PhD scientists and have helped sift through research.

 

[peacefulmind]

@ailsa62 I don't think anyone is disputing lead dust as a way to be poisoned, the real question is how is lead dust occuring and how realistic a scenario is living in a Lead cloud

Lead paint was banned almost half a century ago, and paint does not last that long. If the house is in anything resembling livable shape, the lead is almost certainly buried under at least one but likely several layers of paint, ensuring the lead is no longer mobile.

Granted, that does not exclude the possibility of a former handyman sanding while repainting, and leaving the resulting lead dust in the carpet or wherever. But now you have a different parent risk, you can rip out the drywall and say there's no lead paint! But the dust is in the flooring.

 

[jely]

@learning1 I have been down this rabbit hole and scheduled another blood draw at 18 months bc I was so worried (she was fine). My ped told me at the appointment that most of her patient population lives in housing from before 1978, and she’s only seen a handful of elevated lead exposures in her career, AND all of those exposures were traced back to a lead painted object in the house (like a rocking chair or toy box) that the child was chewing on.

 

[learning1]

@jely Thanks for responding! Not feeling 100% better yet but this is reassuring to hear! My city is largely older homes so I have been hoping it’s a good sign my ped hasn’t made a big deal about it…

 

[joyung]

@learning1 have you had the paint tested for lead?

 

[learning1]

@joyung No since we are renting- seems like I’ve seen conflicting reports on whether home tests work or not

 

[joyung]

@learning1 testing will help you know if it isn’t something you need to worry about or if it is then you can work on what needs to happen next. if you’re uncomfortable with home tests you can contact the national lead information center at 1-800-424-5323 and speak to them about a certified inspector.

 

[learning1]

@joyung Thanks, good point. Do you happen to know any good home tests/how to find?

 

[goodbookguy]

@learning1 Not OP, but we use 3M lead test kits (They are at most hardware stores).

 

[endtimeseconomist]

@learning1 3M does not make their lead tests anymore, but they were the best. These tests work for paint: https://a.co/d/4vrMn4t

 

[strange1]

@learning1 We've used home tests successfully to identify lead.

 

[jaxy]

@learning1 you want to do scientific dust wipe sampling. It costs $65 for a pack of 5 dust wipe samples on Amazon

 

[shiney77]

@jaxy i’m confused, is this better than a professional lead inspector or just a cheaper option?

 

[jaxy]

@shiney77 I have an entire article on my website discussing how to use these - as well as videos on my YouTube channel. On the site look up "dust wipe" using the search bar and the article will pop right up.