To move house to protect my unborn child? (pollution-related)

[Iggypoppie]

And have/would you do the same?

I'm 7 months pregnant so please bear with me, but I am so stressed about living next to a motorway and the potential effects on the baby. I know it is too late to move before the baby is due but what about afterwards?

I am reading so many articles on health effects of air pollution (see below), and have asthma myself, but it seems like I cannot get away from air pollution unless I move miles away from work, friends and family. I am even thinking about renting a caravan somewhere.

Has anyone done the same? Or have you stayed near a busy road/motorway with young children and all has turned out ok??? [NB: I know stress is also important and should be reduced anyway as it's not going to help either].

Recent articles:

Impact of large industrial emission sources on mortality and morbidity in Chile: A small-areas study
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412016301192

Spatial variations in the associations of term birth weight with ambient air pollution in Georgia, USA
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412016301350

Projecting ozone-related mortality in East China
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412016301179

Maternal residential proximity to major roadways, birth weight, and placental DNA methylation
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412016301003

Fibrin clot structure is affected by levels of particulate air pollution exposure in patients with venous thrombosis
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412016301106

Evaluation of air quality indicators in Alberta, Canada – An international perspective
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412016301015

Short-term dynamics of indoor and outdoor endotoxin exposure: Case of Santiago, Chile, 2012
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412016301167

An assessment of dioxin exposure across gestation and lactation using a PBPK model and new data from Seveso
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412016300939

Association of modeled long-term personal exposure to ultrafine particles with inflammatory and coagulation biomarkers. Environment International 2016;92-93:173-182.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412016300940

There are a lot of factors that affect quality of life (yours and the children's) and yes, air quality/pollution is one of them.

IF you have a choice of where you live, it makes sense to choose somewhere that gets you a good balance of many factors. And these would be individual to you; e.g. an area with low pollution may bring with it a very long commute, or a lack of job and therefore resources for buying healthy food, or lack of family support causing lots of stress, and end up being worse for you overall than a different area with slightly higher pollution.

So you would try to find the 'least bad' pollution area within the larger area that allows for keeping a job (without having a nightmare commute) and having family support. For example.

If indeed you factor air pollution into your next house move choice, then I would advise you to look carefully at the real pollution, rather than just assumed pollution. There are air quality maps online. It is not just roads that cause pollution. If you wanted to, you could get a personal air quality measuring thing (e.g. from CleanSpace) to give you a more detailed picture - sometimes you only have to move one street down to improve your air quality, but that wouldn't show on the larger-scale pollution maps. That would also allow you to choose less-polluted walking routes, and to help you decide which park is worth going to. But the point of this kind of thing would obviously be defeated if your unpolluted route would then cause you to e.g. use unnecessarily dangerous road crossings. It has got to be a balance.

In my opinion, if you do care so much about air quality and how it affects us and our children, then it would be a logical consequence to yourself choose less-polluting options whenever you can sensibly do so. Walk, cycle, get a low emission car, buy local, avoid unnecessary car trips, reduce/re-use/recycle, etc. If everybody did that, fewer people would need to worry about pollution.

I'm sure baby will develop just fine inside you, your body will probably filter any pollutants in the air before they can get to baby. But long term I would also worry about living so close to a motorway, so if you are thinking of moving somewhere where there is a bit more fresh air then YANBU in my opinion. I would move for that reason too. We all ingest/absorb a lot more crap then we probably realise from all sorts of different sources, so eliminating one of them seems sensible, not hysterical. You are a good mum, putting your baby first.

Thanks all

Yes I will think I will consider moving in a while when I know what the situation is with EXH and mortgage etc.

Will also look out for an air quality monitoring thing - it's perhaps not as bad as I thought.

I think this may be a lesson for me on some of thoughts/worries I'm going to encounter and how I need strategies to deal with them.

Don't worry about development windows for baby's lungs. I had chronic bronchitis as a baby, and my parents moved away from the pollution somewhen because of that.

Haven't had any bronchitis ever since I can remember things.

Look for job opportunities and plan your escape, but don't panic. Very likely, your baby will be just fine.

The thing about air pollution is that it's very very local. Take a look at this map of Heathrow. www.cerc.co.uk/environmental-software/ADMS-Airport-model.html See how you can make out the motorways? That's because the NO2 stuff just doesn't travel very far. So 500m away from the motorway is actually really quite a long way.

Air pollution from major roads drops quite quickly with distance from the road. More than 200m and the amount of pollution from the motorway will be near background levels. At 500 yards that's around 450 metres from the motorway so I wouldn't worry too much about that where you are. For walking around, yes it is better to take quieter side roads if there's a sensible route, especially if the main road has queuing traffic.

I don't think you're mad, actually: I think more people need to think like you and realise that SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE!

Much of London now breaks the EU NO2 limits: back streets, main roads, parks. So I'm not sure that albertcampionscat is quite right.
Particulate issues are much more localised (and are at their very worst when you're in a car yourself! you're much better walking along a main road than sitting in traffic).
(Have a look at the CityAir app, and at Kings College research)

Assuming you can't move, then what can you do:

• walk or cycle rather than taking motor transport.
• keep to back routes as much as you can
• keep away from the kerb: pollution levels drop steeply
• if you drive, make sure that you stay well back from the car in front in heavy traffic, close windows, and have the air conditioning recycling rather than bringing air in from outside
• remember that the good you do to yourself by being out and about and active is much greater than the ill you do yourself by breathing dirty air
• once baby is here, avoid congested roads, and if you do have to go along them, consider a sling rather than a buggy (air is more polluted at lower levels)

My own view is that the situation in many cities is utterly unacceptable, but that if we move away (and then have to travel back in) we will become part of the problem. So we're sticking here, and trying to become part of the solution.

Howards thanks for this info. I don't drive so moving out would mean I used buses and trains slightly more but I don't think I would be personally adding to the problem. And I would only move somewhere where I could walk to shops etc.

I think, in the short term, I'll make sensible adjustments, do some research into monitors/air filters and just monitor the baby's health generally.

In the longer term I'll probably move, for more space and perhaps a garden. But won't move somewhere that I need a car.

Lastly, when I am feeling more level-headed, I'm going to try and empower myself with information and then maybe use it to annoy lobby my MP etc.

This is going to sound a bit silly when you haven't even had the baby yet, but all our most excellent local state schools are right beside the motorway, on both sides. It is a big concern for parents so if you are buying somewhere new you may need to take more into account than just your home location. Ditto where you will work if your asthma is bad.

DH was going off on one about relocating until I produced pollution stats for his preferred location... We are now active supporters for local clean air campaigns.

Thanks tread I will factor this in because yes it's not just about the home environment.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35717927

Did you see this recently? V interesting outcome re living properly in the sticks and commuting by diesel train.

Step away from google...

Dd2 was born with a condition and I saw an article in a magazine (reputable one, think it might have been National Geographic) about the number of children in Moscow who are born with this,every year and linking it with pollution. Sounds plausible maybe?
However when I did the calculations based on number of births, it was almost exactly the same proportion as children born in the UK. And in the UK it is certainly not clustered round towns, among those I know almost the opposite.

Your revised plan seems sensible. Just remember that you can't mitigate for every risk factor - kids living in the countryside, eating organic food still get ill, and kids living on congested roads eating a less than ideal diet, don't. Nothing is guaranteed.

Love your child, take some sensible precautions.

I'm glad you're a little bit back from the motorway (though some poor souls clearly aren't ) You are right to be concerned, chances are it may not affect your child, but it does affect some children, so it affects the community. It's a big issue in the London mayoral election apparently, at least in voters' minds - UK regularly breaks law about this.

So take reasonable informed steps eg not walking the buggy along busy roads, choosing nursery & school & potentially new home in a side street etc but DO NOT FEEL GUILTY. It is not your fault that all of us are exposed to this, its the fault of the government, lying car manufacturers, et cetera. And don't go and live in the sticks! its lonely and backward and very dull for teenagers

Re the air quality inside your home, depending on what sort of ventilation you have you could look into installing 'though the wall' ventilators. The kind that both supply and extract air (usually first and foremost for heat recovery, ie they blow warmed fresh air into you house rather than sucking in cold air though cracks) usually also have a filter for the incoming air. If you installed the right number of these (- probably two or three in a flat/small house but ask the manufacturer for advice) you would not need to open windows or trickle vents - all your air supply would come in through the filter. They run all the time so usually you get better indoor air quality than if you are just relying on window opening etc, which is usually intermittent and depends on wind etc.

They do cut down (though can't eliminate) pollution, which is good for the whole household's health - also might cut down cleaning . We have a similar system (though ours is centralised) and there is a constant quiet hum, but its a lot quieter than the fridge, radiators, etc and our house has been a lot dryer since we installed it - we used to get mould.

Oh, and my ds has asthma - needless to say I blame myself for bringing him up in a mouldy old farmhouse surrounded by beautiful fields.... DD doesn't though , same house!

...and don't feel guilty if you can't afford/don't want to install ventilators either. I posted as much for the unlucky people who live right on the busy roads as for you. I would install them if I lived on a busy road, because I don't like soot on my nice paintwork!

Thanks all, great advice/tips.