I know it is said that you have to be careful with smelling certain things (i.e. gas fumes cigarette smoke are some obvious) but I forgot to ask my doctor about household cleaning chemicals. I use Clorox Cleanup and the stink is just too much for me now, but I am not sure about how these things might be affecting my baby. Any thoughts?
Re: Cleaning Chemicals and Baby
I'm not sure how it'll affect the baby, but if you can't stand it then just avoid it. I clean with a vinegar water mix, and just have a fan pointing away from me if it's too strong. For hard-to-scrub spots I'll sprinkle a little baking soda and spray some vinegar on it and let it fizzle out....usually wipes away no problem. If it doesn't then I'll pour a little boiling water and let the water cool, then wipe.
And it's eco-friendly and cheap too!
I'm kind of a dork on this kind of stuff, LOL!. So, I looked up the MSDS sheet. It says, "Exposure to vapor or mist may irritate eyes, nose, throat, lungs."
Spray Kind: https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/products/msds/cloroxcleanup/cloroxclean-upcleanerwithbleach-spray.pdf
Not Spray Kind: https://www.thecloroxcompany.com/products/msds/cloroxcleanup/cloroxclean-upcleanerwithbleach.pdf
I don't know that those things directly impact baby, but they do impact you. I'm not all doomsday about it, but I think that pretty much EVERYONE--PG or not--would be better off scrapping harsh chemicals and green cleaning (there are tons of books and websites on this). Reading MSDS sheets can be very eye-opening and having a baby is the perfect time to wrangle up motivation for product change.
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Safest thing to do is avoid chemical fumes.
Bleach, ammonia, acetone, even rubbing alcohol--these are things you don't want to be smelling or touching regularly. If you use a little bit once a week it's probably fine, but if clorox is something you use daily, you should find a less-toxic replacement product.
ETA: this is advice I got from an epidemiologist who specializes in toxic exposures and birth defects.