[cicim]

<p>Since we got our dog about 8 months ago, she's been slowly scratching up the exterior door coming from our porch into the dining room.  She gets so excited after her morning trip out to the yard, she just can't wait an extra moment to be let in...</p>
<p>Anyway, in the area right next to the doorframe she scratched through the upper coat of white paint and down to the original, 55-year old green paint. She also scratched through the green paint to the bare wood in a small area.  I've been worried about lead in the paint for a while and finally got DH to test it yesterday.  Lo and behold, the green paint has lead in it.  Not a high concentration - the test solution didn't get as dark as it could have - but there is definitely some.  </p>
<p> </p>
<p>This morning, DH has already dealt with the problem by painting over the area with enamel to seal it, and he'll be putting up a kickplate over that to prevent further damage.  Still, I am mentally beating myself up for not dealing with this issue sooner. How worried should I be about potential contamination in the house, in my body, etc.???  I'm 11 weeks pregnant. I mean, it's not like I have been licking the door or the floor or anything (!), but the dog could have tracked particles of paint through the house, and she does jump up and put her paws on our clothes, furniture, etc.   There are visible flakes of paint (mostly the lead-free white paint) lying on the doorjamb and the rug outside the door. Undoubtedly some if it has come inside the house and been sucked up by my vacuum cleaner (and potentially blown back into the air?)  One thing in my favor is that I AM very careful about washing my hands before I eat and never eat right after petting the dog, so I'd say my chances of having ingested even a tiny amount of the paint are very low, but I'm still worried about being exposed through dust in the air, on the floor, on my skin, etc.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Everyone is telling me not to freak out, that I'd really have to EAT a decent amount of the paint to do any harm. Still, I can't seem to stop worrying about it.  Is there anything I can do to reassure myself about this? Should I get bloodwork to check for lead exposure? If I WAS exposed to some amount of lead, is there anything that can be safely done about it during pregnancy?   <img alt="greensad.gif" src="http://files.mothering.com/images/smilies/greensad.gif"></p>

 

[MyFullHouse]

<p>I honestly would not worry about it, based on the small amount and your lack of interest in eating the flakes. ;-)</p>
<p>But getting tested is a good idea if you really need the reassurance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We discovered a lot of lead paint in our crumbling apartment when ds was 3 and I was pregnant with #2.  It really wasn't something we had thought about when we moved in, unfortunately.  Ds and I were tested twice, once while I was pregnant and once after, and dd was tested when she was a few weeks old.  All of our results came back fine.</p>

 

[closedaccount15]

<p>I wouldn't worry either, my BIL owns a construction company that rehabs old buildings and I moved into a house I knew had lead paint. The reason they used lead is because it didn't peel, like you said, the white paint flaked off, but the green didn't. The big concern is when people sand or peel off old paint with heat, or saw into wood with lead paint and the dust flakes are everywhere. One of the ways to contain it is to paint over it. I don't think the dog could have carried that amount of dust in, but you can get tested to be sure.</p>

 

[mylilmonkeys]

<p>My oldest daughter had elevated blood lead levels when she was 2.  We discovered it right after I'd had #3, who tested fine.  Her levels weren't high enough to need treatment, just monitoring to make sure they dropped.  Our oldest son, 5 at the time, was fine, too.  You really have to ingest quite a lot to end up with harmful levels.  You wouldn't want to do anything during pregnancy to try to remove lead from your body.  If you have lead or other heavy metals stored up in your bones, treatment will release it into the blood, increasing the risk to the baby.  Just make sure all painted surfaces are in good condition, watch out for lead dust on window blinds, and consider whether the coming baby may be able to mouth window sills which may contain a layer of lead paint underneath causing exposure.  In our rental house, the entire house had lead based floor varnish, as well as chipping window paint and such, so she was crawling in lead dust, mouthing toys dropped on the floor, etc.</p>