My son's lead level has gone from a 3 (when he turned 1) to a 16 now (he's 27 months old). It doubled from an 8 to a 16 just in the last month. I have checked all of his toys and none of them have been recalled. We do know that there is lead paint on our front and back porches and we are replacing them. The rest of the house has been looked over by a person from the health department (it wasn't an official inspection) and she only saw lead paint in those two places. I'm sure at this point that they will be coming out to do an official inspection. I guess I'm wondering if anyone else has had any experience with this. What did you do? Did it effect your child? I'm really worried, but I don't want to overreact.
i know that my daughter had the same problem, however the lead levels were from an in laws house. i fed her the medicine that the doctor gave her in OJ and three months later she was back to normal.
Just figure out if any other houses that your son visited has peeling paint. Also the ages of those homes could tell you. Is there any demo work being done in any of the homes that you both are in.
I haven't dealt with this, but just a thought...Maybe you're tracking it in on your shoes. Maybe it's all over the floor...He plays on the floor, runs his toys across it, puts his hands in his mouth. Just a thought. Try taking your shoes off at the door(outside) and vacuum and mop the floor really well. Good Luck.
I had a scare with my son with lead poisoning. He is severly handicap. He has cerebral palsy, autism, totally deaf, and developmental delay. The health people told me that all of this could be caused from lead poisoning. You should probably make every attempt to get the lead level lowered so that your child doesn't suffer from any physical issues. I'll be praying for you and him. I hope he gets better really soon.
Hi, A..
I don't know if this helps, but I just bought a Christmas Tree (obviously, made in China - everything is made in China nowadays) and its CABLE (the energy cable) contains lead. And a lot, because it said in the instructions to wash your hand after connecting it! Do you have anything like that that your baby might be playing with while you are not watching?
I just read an article in consumer reports that talked about there being many toys not recalled yet that have lots of lead. The biggest being the blood pressure cuff of a toy doctor kit. Also things like your car keys are a problem if he plays with them.
I also think the person that mentioned tracking it in might be onto something. Cleaning the floors and banning shoes in the house might be what you need to do.
I saw something on the news about this... lead paint often flakes off and can get on everything! so it can be tracked in the house and even be absorbed in to the earth around the house... so if he had been playing in the yard this summer and very mild fall that could be where he picked it up so make sure you talk to some one about that... as far as the level for your son im not sure on that but just keep talking to your doctor about it... good luck!
High lead levels are very bad news. I have 4 children, all of whom had rising lead levels in the past 8 months. Lead poisoning often goes undetected. It shows itself in little ways, that, in my opinion seem to mimic ADD/ADHD (it has even been shown to lower IQs.) You can't see lead, so I don't think it really matters that someone 'looked over' your house. I know testing is expensive (starting at around $500) but it could be very beneficial to your son. Also, have you been experiencing any strange symptoms? Before we moved out of the 'lead house' I used to suffer from terrible cluster headaches-we only lived there a little over a year, and I had never had headaches before. Lead poisoning can come from lote of things, and there is a lot of info to be had on it, people just choose not to pay attention. I know more about lead than I ever wanted to! We had to move because the lead was spread too much throughout the house, we basically would have had to tear it down and start over, and even then there could be lead particles in the DIRT outside the house to worry about!
Lead is toxic because when ingested or inhaled and absorbed, it can harm virtually every system in the human body, especially the brain, kidney and reproductive systems of both males and females. Whether that damage is temporary or permanent remains a source of scientific debate. Lead harms so many body systems because it disrupts enzyme systems mediated by other metals important to the body - iron, calcium and zinc.------------------------source: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/leadsafe/leadinf2.htm
