Our daughter, who's now 20 months, failed a lead screening. Even though we were out of the house for the worst dust, I have to think it's because of the demolition/construction, which encompassed the first 16 months of her life. Her finger-prick test was 17; the cut-off is ten. I'm taking her for a blood draw this week, which is a more accurate assessment. In the meantime, I'm trying to up her iron intake, and have ordered a HEPA-filter vacuum, because our current vacuum is old and dusty, no matter how new the bag is. In addition, I'm going to wipe down the walls and windowsills with disposable wipes and wash all the toys.
Out pediatrician says this isn't such a high level that we need to freak out. I'm crossing my fingers that this will resolve itself without too much fallout, but if I had to go back, I'd have bought a HEPA-filter vacuum before construction and used it frequently.
2 comments:
When we lived in a fully renovated house, one of my children (actually the one named Beatrix, which if I remember correctly is your daughter's name) had an elevated lead level (14 or so). We were never sure why, since that house had been renovated 10+ years before she was born, but assumed it might be from the dirt around the house. Once she got a little older and stopped putting everything in her mouth the lead dropped down to almost nothing.
Although an elevated lead level is scary and makes you feel guilty, at that level it isn't going to cause her any problems. I hope it drops away to nothing soon though.
Thank you for the comment, Jordana. I'm starting to feel that way, too, that in time it'll be fine.
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