There is everything you need to know in this articles about what happens if you sleep in a freshly painted room with baby. Read through to find out what you need to do when you paint your room, and also find other answers to your questions regarding painting your room and sleeping in there with your baby.
First of all, did you know that paints are made with Volatile Organic Compounds(VOC) that are very dangerous to human health when inhaled or swallowed?
Did you know that babies have a very tender immune system that can be harmed by the fumes that ooze out of freshly painted rooms?
Sleeping in a freshly painted room with a baby isn’t a good decision for you and the baby, because of the content of the paints. If you want to paint your apartment, and you’re wondering if you can sleep in it almost immediately, then you must heed this instruction.
There are several kinds of paint out there in the market, buy one with zero VOCs, paint your baby’s room and ensure that it is properly dried.
Once it’s dried, you can sleep in the room with your baby. This is because, zero VOCs paint does not contain VOCs as the name implies and as such, it does not exude dangerous fumes that can harm you and your baby.
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Is Paint Smell Bad for Babies?
The fumes from paints with Volatile Organic Compounds are capable of harming your baby so badly. You must try as much as possible to keep your little child away from paints or rooms freshly painted with VOCs paints.
Before you will allow your child in the room, you must ensure that the paint is completely dried, and the windows open to allow easy airflow. If these are not done, kindly lay your baby elsewhere to avoid health complications.
This is what happens when your child ingests, inhales, or swallows VOCs paints. This fume goes down to your baby’s respiratory organ and causes several problems including renal failure, asthma, and cancer which your baby will begin to manifest physically in no time. It doesn’t stop there, skin irritation and other similar sicknesses will appear. To avoid this, take your babies far away from VOC paints.
In case your baby is already exposed to the fumes and is displaying some health lapses and you’re wondering if it’s as a result of the exposure, these are a list of symptoms to look out for; Sore eyes, nose, and throat. Irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat. Headaches and difficulty in viewing, dizziness, nausea, difficulty in breathing, constant coughing, or memory loss.
If your baby is showing any of these symptoms, consult a trained medical practitioner immediately to avoid escalation.
What Happens If you Sleep In a freshly Painted Room With Baby?
It’s certain that every parent love, cherish, and wish that their child or babies live long. Sleeping in a freshly painted room with baby makes this prayer or wish invalid because by sleeping in a room freshly painted with VOCs paint, you are indirectly cutting your baby’s lifespan short.
You want to know how?
Most paints, except very few, are made with toxic chemicals that are called Volatile Organic Compounds(VOC). These are the gases that get released into the air the moment a can or bucket of paint is opened. They are very toxic both to humans, age regardless, and animals.
These paints also include preservatives such as Methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI) and Methylisothiazolinone (MI) which are responsible for getting rid of microbes such as bacteria.
It also destroys mosquitoes as well. If these chemicals have such an effect on microbes, imagine the level of harm they will be causing in your baby’s body system when inhaled.
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FAQ On Paint Fumes & Baby
i. Can Paint Fumes Affect My Newborn Baby?
Yes, it can. It can cause a whole lot of damages to your newborn baby’s immune system since it’s still too tender to fight.
Lead-based paint is a popular kind of paint that causes poisoning among babies and older children. Children from the age bracket of 6 months to 6 six years are at high risk. Once they inhale the fume or touch the paint itself, it triggers several health conditions such as asthmatic or allergic attacks.
Once their skin absorbs Lead, it affects their brain, bones, and other developing organs such as kidneys, and stomachs.
This is why it’s advised that you paint before delivery and you hire a professional to do the painting while you go away from the building entirely to avoid inhaling the fume which might affect your unborn baby.
After painting, ensure that the windows of the painted room or apartment are open to allow the influx of air which will reduce the fume.
There’s another route though. If you want to do the painting yourself, then you must choose and buy water-based paint which is 100% free of VOCs. 100% VOC-free paints have less than 5g/L of organic compounds compared to about 50g/L organic compounds in low VOC paints.
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ii. Can You Die From Sleeping In a Freshly Painted Room?
It isn’t scientifically proven that sleeping in a freshly painted room can kill but what is proven is that inhaling, swallowing, or even touching VOC paints causes several severe diseases which when not properly attended to, can lead to death.
A lot of people die from asthma, so many from kidney failure, and other organ failures. So, this generally means that sleeping in a room freshly painted with VOCs paint can indirectly lead to death.
To be on the safer side, avoid contact with this kind of paint and also take your kids far away from them because they are at higher risk.
iii. Is Painting In House With Baby Safe?
It isn’t even safe for adults without personal protective equipment, painting your apartment without putting on protection is risky for your respiratory system.
If it’s this bad for you as an adult, what do you think will happen if you have your baby in a room while painting?
Generally, kids are more susceptible to the fumes that ooze out from paint than adults. This is why it’s very expedient that you take your children far away from the environment. If you can’t achieve this, there are ways to carry out this process, ensure you follow the guide keenly.
They are;
1. Purchase the Right Paint
This process begins with buying the best kind of paint. The best paint you should make use of is 100% VOC-free paint. The best way to identify it is through the label and ensure you are purchasing from the right source to avoid getting the imitation.
You can as well go for paints without primer. These paints have very few chemicals that are kind of safe for your kids. And in case you’re concerned about molds and other microbes creeping into your baby’s nursery, you can ask for antimicrobial paints.
2. Plan a weekend getaway for kids.
Yes! This is the best remedy. If you will be going with latex paint, oil paint, or even solvent-based paints that are extremely dangerous for babies, the best thing to do is to take your kids to visit their grandparents and if they are too far, you can take them to any trustworthy relative that can take care of them for the weekend.
With this, you can paint comfortably without worrying. Before their arrival, the paints must have dried completely and the fumes will be gone.
There’s another way!
If you don’t have a relative within, you can paint your rooms one after the other. While painting during the day, you can hire a nursemaid who will keep an eye on your kids while you paint. After painting, you can air the room. During the evening period, lock the painted room up to avoid the escape of fume and open the other rooms.
4. Ensure the Windows are open while painting.
Painting while the room is locked is suicidal and it won’t help the process of drying. This is why it’s advised to open up the windows and if available, put on the fan to make the process faster.
Paints containing VOCs such as oil paints, solvent-based paints, and even latex paints give out their harmful fumes while drying. The fume can linger for weeks depending on the concentration of VOC.
Allowing the influx of air into the room will help to get rid of this fume in a shorter time.
iv. Are Paint Fumes Bad for Babies?
Yes, it is.
It’s very bad for you and your baby. You as an adult might not really be affected when you inhale the fume for a short while but babies don’t have such strong immunity yet.
Hence, they should not be allowed to inhale paint fumes because it’s very dangerous for them.
It’s even more dangerous when they ingest it. This can cause serious issues like cancer, respiratory problems, renal challenges, and other allergic reactions.
The rule is simple, take your baby or kids away from the painting area or away completely from the environment. It’s for their good. You don’t have to risk the health of your children because you want to beautify their room while having them around you. It isn’t such a difficult thing to do.
v. What Paint Is Safe for Babies Skin?
Since paints contain VOCs, it’s very expedient that you watch the kind of paints you use on your baby’s nursery and the wall.
The best way to know paints that are safe for your baby’s skin is by testing the paints and following other precautionary measures.
To get the best kind of paint for your kids, you must:
1. Verify if the paint contains VOCs.
By now you must have known what VOC is and its effect on your baby’s health. And so, you must strive to test for VOC in any paint you want to purchase. The reason is this, the paint might be labeled VOC-free but if you know more about how to verify it, you can easily spot sincere brands that produce VOC-free paints.
The best way to verify VOC is via checking the ingredients used in making the paints. Volatile Organic Compounds are found in a lot of ingredients used to make paints such as formaldehyde, glycols, and benzenes.
Once these ingredients are seen, you should know that automatically, the paints contain VOCs. You should go for organic zero VOC paints.
2. Buy quality paint from renowned Paint Brand
It might sound weird but this is what you should do for the safety of your baby. You should go for brands that are trusted to give the best. Also, pay great attention to the Green-guard shied with Gold certification on the paint’s label.
The certification signifies that the brand has strictly followed the zero or low VOC standard. Try not to go for paints without this certification as the absence signifies danger.
3. Natural Paints is the best.
You should try going for natural paints for your baby’s room as it does not have any ugly effect on your baby’s skin. Milk paints that only have milk protein casein as the main ingredient are a good example. It also contains other natural ingredients like lime and other natural pigments.
4. Avoid paints with APE Ingredients and Additives
Paints with Alkylphenol Ethoxylates (APE) are harmful to humans generally. According to research, these ingredients have been seen in human breast milk and have been reported to be the cause of certain reproductive problems in humans and animals.
The best way to find out if the paint you’re about to purchase has these ingredients is by looking through the label and searching for certification from recognized bodies.
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vi. Can Babies Be Around Paint?
No! They can’t.
This is because apart from VOCs, most paints contain Lead which is very dangerous to the health of your babies. It leads to Lead poisoning.
Babies are tender and don’t know their left from their right. This means that there’s a possibility that your baby can swallow these paints even without you knowing.
The bad side of this is that when this happens, babies do not readily show the symptoms until it gets to the critical points.
At that point, they begin to show signs like seizures and brain swelling. The best way to avoid this is to take your baby far away from paints and if you’ve mistakenly allowed this, quickly run a blood test to detect if there’s Lead in your baby’s body system.
vii. Is Paint Safe for Baby Skin?
It depends on the kind of paint. Natural paint made with natural ingredients does not affect babies’ skins. In other words, they are completely safe but paints with VOCs aren’t. You ensure you take your baby away from such paints.
In conclusion, beautifying your rooms isn’t a bad idea but ensure you don’t do that to the detriment of your baby’s health. If you’re going to be using paints with VOCs, take your kids away for the weekend and also put on PPEs.
Although it’s best you choose natural paint which does not cause any kind of harm to yourself and your kids.
