professional carpet cleaning safe? too late if it isn't :(

sliz

does anyone know if professional carpet cleaning is safe? I got the carpets in the master bd and living room and the stairs steam cleaned today. I didn't realize that the guy was going to use chemicals until he already put down the detergents - he's local and had good reviews on ServiceMagic....- the cleaners smelled strongly of citrus initially but once the steam cleaning occurred there wasn't much of a smell....

i didn't think about it until I called my ob later in the day and mentioned it - she said it was fine as long as the chemicals they used were safe - i called the carpet guy and he couldn't verify that the chemicals used were safe (but said they were very similar to laundry detergent)...he gave me the name of the cleaner and the chemical company and i checked their website but i couldn't find it in their product list (but all of their other products are listed as low hazard on the MSDS sheets)....i tried calling them but they were gone for the day

now I am a little freaked out but don't know if I am being crazy - i mean how can someone who steam cleans carpets in houses use a chemical that is unsafe for pg women, small children and pets?  i made sure to tell him i was pg when i called for the appointment and I was obviously pg when i answered the door this morning....

ugh and I wanted to do something good for the baby by getting all the dust, dirt and mites out of the high traffic areas in the house.....will i ever stop second guessing everything?

fallbride110406

My OB and pedi both said absolutely no painting, carpet/furniture cleaning or use of moderate to strong smelling chemicals (specifically ammonia based bath cleaning products).  My OB said not to do it at all and my pedi said that the babies should be out of the house for 2-3 days if we decided to do anything.

Mouseygail

personally I wouldn't worry about it...is it still a strong smell?  if so, open up the windows and air out the house well, but honestly, I think you are ok!! 

yankee42

Well geez, we did it twice while I was pg with Audrey... I didn't even think about it whoops! She's fine though

marcuej

I honestly wouldn't worry one bit!  Like pp said, just open the windows and let it air out for a bit if the smell is bothering you. 

sommerrayne

I wouldn't worry about it. YOu're not bug bombing your house - you had the carpets cleaned and in theory, they suck up the vast majority of it when they suck it up.

Each doc has a level of worry - I'm from the theory that the chemicals in stuff you eat, the soap you use on your dishes, the chemicals in plastic we store our food in, the chemicals used to clean our public water, etc are MUCH more of a risk on a daily basis than cleaning your carpets once.