high-ish/high lead levels

[tzs]

my sweet little babe just came back with a lead level of 10.4. i guess it's just outside the acceptable range and we are doing a follow-up blood draw. but apparently most kids come out at around 2 and anything near 10 is not really acceptable.
we live in a 100 year house with yeah...old paint which chips in places. ugh.
anyone out there that has experience with levels like this?
obviously we have to do something about the house but what are preferred options?

[PatioGardener]

The reading I have done warns that as you remediate the house it is best to remove baby for the duration as the levels of lead in the dust actually increase as you are fixing the problem (sanding old paint, etc.)

that sucks. Hope that you get great advice from btdt Mamas!

[staceychev]

I'm so sorry!

There's a lot to do with your house, and it really depends on where the lead is. At the very least, you need to start wet mopping with two or three buckets several times a week at least. I'd institute a shoes-off policy, and... oh there's so much to think about. After our daughter's lead poisoning we bought a HEPA vacuum and started using that.

As far as Ada goes, make sure she's getting mega doses of Vitamin C, Calcium and Iron, all of which block lead absorption. I can't help you with home remediating her, because my daughter was a high enough level to need hospitalization and chelation.

Definitely post on the "Moms Dealing With Elevated Lead Levels" thread. You don't have to read it all, but there's some good info there if you can scan.

GOOD LUCK!

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=265284

[staceychev]

Originally Posted by PatioGardener

sanding old paint

Great idea to remove the baby, but don't ever sand lead paint. And don't remove it with a heat gun either. That just vaporizes it, and you can inhale it. We used a lot of Peel Away on our circa 1880 house (which was, oddly, not where DD got her poisoning--it was from my mom's circa 1965 house).

Unless you're painting over to encapsulate (great idea, unless it's a friction surface like a window track) lead paint needs to be handled really carefully by people who know what they're doing. A lead-ignorant but well-meaning carpenter was responsible for my daughter's lead level of forty-seven.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

well if it was a finger stick it is probably artificially high, really an iv blood draw is the only way to get a good result. (ds has had 3 iv blood draws for lead levels). We always get his blood drawn at the children's hospital by pediatric phlebotomist because they are usually way better with kids. He's never so much as screeched during a blood draw (one when he was 2.5 he said "that hurts" but he was talking about the tourniquet)

as far as things you can do in your house right now:

• take your shoes off! ( a lot of lead dust comes in from outside, always remove your shoes and have guests remove theirs)
• wet mop (especially with something like a swiffer that you can throw away the pad, instead of a reusable mop where you just spread the lead around the next time)
• use simple green to clean (it is a natural cleanser that binds with lead to help remove it)

[tzs]

thanks for the posts and the link to the thread. i feel a little guilty taking a level of 10.4 so poorly when i know there are kiddos out there that come back with really high numbers, yk?

how did you find out where your lo's lead came from?
are pipes a more likely culprit or paint?

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by staceychev

Great idea to remove the baby, but don't ever sand lead paint. And don't remove it with a heat gun either. That just vaporizes it, and you can inhale it. We used a lot of Peel Away on our circa 1880 house (which was, oddly, not where DD got her poisoning--it was from my mom's circa 1965 house).

Unless you're painting over to encapsulate (great idea, unless it's a friction surface like a window track) lead paint needs to be handled really carefully by people who know what they're doing. A lead-ignorant but well-meaning carpenter was responsible for my daughter's lead level of forty-seven.

thanks for this info!

nak

[carmel23]

You should be able to test you pipes to see if they are leeching lead. It is easy--you just run the water, and then turn the tap off over night, and leave it like that for a certain number of hours, 8 or 9. Then take a sample, and send it to the lab.

Our water utility tested ours--contact yours and see if they can help you with this as well.

Test your back yard for lead as well. If you garden and stuff it is good to know, anyway.

I wouldn't remove the lead paint, just make sure it is covered with latex paint to trap the lead paint in there. Look carefully at things like windows, etc. Where there are moving parts to wear the paint down.

Also, ask your ped. about diet to reduce lead.

[Plarka]

I'm paranoid. How do you know you need to get your kid tested for lead poisoning? I don't think I have any reason to, just this thread has scared me!

[Nicole730]

Originally Posted by Plarka

I'm paranoid. How do you know you need to get your kid tested for lead poisoning? I don't think I have any reason to, just this thread has scared me!

It is part of the routine 12 month check up as far as I know.

[tzs]

i actually asked at her 9 month which was actually at 10 months....i was just worried about it because we live in this old house that is in all different levels of disrepair and it just became way more apparent since she's been crawling around.

[wombatclay]

testing- many states suggest testing at 1yo and 2yo well baby visits. It's a blood sample and it can stink if you don't have someone who does infant blood draws regularly, but lead is so... well... sneaky! It's a test I always advocate for since lead can be found in so many places, it's treatable if caught early, and the damage can be extreme/permanent if it's not caught.

You can be exposed through toys (modern or handed down), soil or plants grown in contaminated soil (the soil behind our last house was significantly contaminated, to the point that we couldn't let our dd play out there... some neighbors had their lawns "replaced" to deal with it!), old paint, old or imported dishes, fumes/dust from industry (or a neighbor remodeling their home without protection), etc. And symptoms can start very small. You might want to check the AAP statement here... it's got lots of info!

[tzs]

wombatclay.....what do you suggest for testing?
i spoke with the health department today and they said they probably wouldn't send a tester out for lower high levels.

i know the hardware store tests aren;t supposed to be so accurate and the lab tests are expensive.

i guess i know that the paint in our house is probably an issue, that teh window areas are a biggie and might just have to be replaced, and that maybe the soil should be tested....but what about other random stuff. i could test the toys that seem suspicious to me but they might be the ones that are fine and some seemingly nice wooden toy could be the culprit.

p.s. i'm still reading the lead tribe linked above but there's alot on there. but plodding through it all!