Protect your child from lead poisoning: be a cleaning machine

Turn yourself into a cleaning machine and save your child from lead poisoning. It’s that simple. By vacuuming and dusting at least once a week, you could help eliminate lead dust that could cause lead-related health problems in your child.

Other ways to get the lead out include:

l Washing your children’s hands and toys often.

l Cleaning baseboards and window sills weekly.

l Washing woodwork and painted surfaces with warm water and a general all-purpose cleaner.

l Removing children from an area before any renovation work begins and returning them only when the work area has been completely cleaned.

l Never dry scrape, dry sand, power sand, power wash, use a torch or a high temperature heat gun to remove lead-based paint.

l Keep children away from areas outside where paint chips are on the ground.

l Serve your child at least three meals a day that include foods containing Vitamin C, calcium and iron. This will help your child’s body prevent lead absorption.

Children become lead-poisoned by chewing on lead-based paint chips or on surfaces painted with lead-based paint. They may also ingest lead by putting dusty or dirty hands, toys, bottles or pacifiers in their mouths.

Children are exposed to lead when they play in dirt or a sandbox near an old building or where an old building was torn down. They can be lead-poisoned by breathing in dust from lead-based paint that is being scraped, sanded or removed with a heat gun. Remodeling or repainting a home can increase the risk of lead exposure.

Lead-based paint is common in homes built before 1960. Lead-based paint, chips and dust can pose serious health problems in your family, especially children. Children’s bodies absorb more lead than adults and are more likely to be damaged by it.

Children with lead poisoning may be easily excited, not able to pay attention, complain of stomach aches, or are more tired than usual. However, some children do not show any signs of the disease. The only sure way to know if your child has been lead poisoned is a blood test from your health care provider.

One out of every seven Iowa children is lead poisoned, making the state’s rate of lead poisoning three times the national average.

For more information, contact Montgomery County Public Health at 712-623-4893.