Question from a 1st tri gal...

Beebee09 · December 2009

I was wondering how many of you did any painting while pregnant? DH and I were planning to paint our kitchen, living room and powder room and when I talked to my doctor she said to avoid painting and to not even be in the house. She tends to seem overly cautious, on this as well as many other things and I'm wondering what other doctors have said. I really hate to go against my doctor's suggestions, but I just don't understand why I hear that so many other people were painting and it wasn't a big deal to their OBs.

I'd appreciate any advice and/or comments. Thanks!

laurel_howeth · December 2009

I have done like very minimal painting. I went and rolled some paint in LO's room, just so I could say I helped lol. My Dr. was very against it.. and told me if I insisted to open some windows and limit my time in there.

mrs.Awoods · December 2009

We've been building a house since August, and we've done all the painting ourselves. As long as it's well ventilated I think it's fine. Just to be on the safe side, we got the no-fumes paint from Sherwin Williams.

Lindsey7521 · December 2009

I painted...ALOT. I dont trust my husband to do it...he doesnt pay attention to detail and hes got really bad vision but refuses to wear glasses!

My doc said it was fine....we used Low-VOC paint. (Valspar from Lowes)

Cynthia7461 · December 2009

I didn't do any painting, however, I have read it is ok as long as the ventilation is great. Keep in mind that painting 1 room is different then painting the whole house and that is probably why your doctor said not to be there. Most of the ladies on here just painted the nursey with fans and windows opened. I, personally, wouldn?t go against what my doctor says but that is just me.

nikll34 · December 2009

mrs.Awoods:
Just to be on the safe side, we got the no-fumes paint from Sherwin Williams.

This and you could also wear a mask, which is what I do when I am working in the in-laws attic to finish it for them.

dionnemd10 · December 2009

i painted a guest room, a hallway and my daughter's room-in the summer windows open, fans going and i would do one wall then take a break of 10-20 minutes in a different room. keep area well venilated, take breaks, wear a mask if you feel the need. a lot of paints anymore are made more safely so hope that helps. would i paint now-mid winter probably not.

fromymom · December 2009

I didn't ask my OB but I did help paint DD's big girl room two weekends ago. We just opened the windows and I had a mask handy incase the smell was too much. I just did the trim so it wasn't a big deal.

ibis · December 2009

Almost every day. I do it for a living and worked until 34 weeks. My OB said it's totally fine and most updated info will tell you the same (even WTEWYE). I wore a odor-blocking mask and latex gloves for extra protection. As long as it's latex paint it is safe.

kiki_1218 · December 2009

Lindsey7521:

I painted...ALOT. I dont trust my husband to do it...he doesnt pay attention to detail and hes got really bad vision but refuses to wear glasses!

My doc said it was fine....we used Low-VOC paint. (Valspar from Lowes)

This exactly.

ETA: We have 2 large windows in the nursery that were both open and a ceiling fan on.

valg927 · December 2009

We just finished painting the nursery yesterday and I was in the room the whole time helping. We kept the window open and I wore a mask (mostly to make DH feel better!) The fumes didn't bother me, but I must say I was much more sore and tired than I would have been previously!

cchill01 · December 2009

I only did what was absolutely necessary. DH is not good at trim, so I did the nursery trim when he was done with the rolling.

If you decide to go ahead with it, open the doors and windows. Also, do NOT use that Behr Paint and Primer all in one. The smell was so obnoxious it gave me wicked headaches.

Beebee09 · December 2009

ibis:
Almost every day. I do it for a living and worked until 34 weeks. My OB said it's totally fine and most updated info will tell you the same (even WTEWYE). I wore a odor-blocking mask and latex gloves for extra protection. As long as it's latex paint it is safe.

Even if the paint isn't low VOCs? DH already purchased the paint and its just regular latex paint (Glidden brand from Home depot). Is this the type you were working with?

hterry85 · December 2009

I painted two bedrooms at about 6 weeks, our living room and hallway around 15, and out kitchen this past week. Hoping to do the bathroom before LO comes too! We didn't even open any windows when we did the kitchen last week because it was so cold! I just made DH do everything around the ceiling (on the ladder) but I did that too when we did the bedrooms.

ibis · December 2009

Beebee09:
ibis:
Almost every day. I do it for a living and worked until 34 weeks. My OB said it's totally fine and most updated info will tell you the same (even WTEWYE). I wore a odor-blocking mask and latex gloves for extra protection. As long as it's latex paint it is safe.
Even if the paint isn't low VOCs? DH already purchased the paint and its just regular latex paint (Glidden brand from Home depot). Is this the type you were working with?

I use regular paint and specialty products that are about the same VOC level as regular paint. Regular paint has a VOC level of 150 or less. Low VOC is usually 50 or less. For comparison, oil based products (not safe) are around 350, more than twice as high as regular paint, and they have solvents in them that are hazardous to the fetus. Latex paints are solvent free and no longer contain mercury or lead. IMO the VOC content of latex paint has more to do with environmental safety since there are no proven harmful effects of <150 VOC in regular paint. It's actually more likely that you will hurt your back while rolling the wall, or just be irritated by the smell, than that anything like that will affect the baby.

I did talk to my doctor, research online, get every prenatal test I could, and talked to other women in my field who have kids... I feel pretty confident in the safety of regular water based paints.

Beebee09 · December 2009

ibis:
Beebee09:
ibis:
Almost every day. I do it for a living and worked until 34 weeks. My OB said it's totally fine and most updated info will tell you the same (even WTEWYE). I wore a odor-blocking mask and latex gloves for extra protection. As long as it's latex paint it is safe.
Even if the paint isn't low VOCs? DH already purchased the paint and its just regular latex paint (Glidden brand from Home depot). Is this the type you were working with?
I use regular paint and specialty products that are about the same VOC level as regular paint. Regular paint has a VOC level of 150 or less. Low VOC is usually 50 or less. For comparison, oil based products (not safe) are around 350, more than twice as high as regular paint, and they have solvents in them that are hazardous to the fetus. Latex paints are solvent free and no longer contain mercury or lead. IMO the VOC content of latex paint has more to do with environmental safety since there are no proven harmful effects of <150 VOC in regular paint. It's actually more likely that you will hurt your back while rolling the wall, or just be irritated by the smell, than that anything like that will affect the baby.
I did talk to my doctor, research online, get every prenatal test I could, and talked to other women in my field who have kids... I feel pretty confident in the safety of regular water based paints.

Thank you, I really appreciate your response. I feel a little better knowing that so many of you were given the okay to paint.

FinallyWed! · December 2009

We moved into a new house so I painted both my son's room and the baby's room. The first I did with regular paint, and the fumes did bother me after a while. With the baby's room we did low-VOC paint and it was WONDERFUL. I don't think I'll ever paint with normal paint again!

carney09 · December 2009

I recently painted the living room with a Sherwin Williams paint and my doc said it was fine.

cateye · December 2009

We had a painter, but I was home when he did the painting so we had him use no-VOC paints. It is the VOCs that are of concern for LO, so if it is no-VOC there isn't anything to worry about. . .We paid a little more, but the pain is gorgeous and we had no concerns about ill effects.

starryeyeddreamer · December 2009

We just bought a house in September & repainted everything before we moved in. I helped with all of the rooms & scrapping the wallpaper. We just painted LO's room last weekend. We used the Olympic paint from Lowe's that is zero - low VOC's & opened windows where we could.

jacodi · December 2009

I painted some chair rail about a month ago, however it's white paint and low VOC's. My doc said to wait until out of 1st tri.

mir628 · December 2009

Lindsey7521:
I painted...ALOT. I dont trust my husband to do it...he doesnt pay attention to detail and hes got really bad vision but refuses to wear glasses!

My doc said it was fine....we used Low-VOC paint. (Valspar from Lowes)

Exactly the same as this, though my hubby has great vision and still misses the details. We went with Benjamin Moore's Aura line and Restoration Hardware's low-VOC paint.

Luv-a-Bug · December 2009

I did a crapload of painting. Both at our house and at our best friends' house (they just moved in down the street). (4 rooms of our house, and at our friend's house I did mostly all taping and edging.

Just make sure the paint is low VOC/odor and make sure that the space is well-ventilated and have at it. We used the Duration home paint from Sherwin Williams.

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