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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To use the log burner with a newborn baby?

106 replies

Teenytinyfeet · 19/10/2022 17:06

….given our circumstances?

We had a new log burner fitted last winter, defra approved etc etc. We have a carbon monoxide alarm in the living room and an air filter machine (no idea if that actually does anything)

We are oil central heating and the price of oil is just extortionate, with the government only offering £100 in support at the moment.

We are extremely lucky in that we get free wood so in previous years mostly use this to heat our home.

However, DC is 2 months old and I’ve said to DH I’m not happy using the wood burner this winter due to the increased risk of SIDS and asthma etc.

DH says I’m being ridiculous and that it doesn’t emit smoke into the room and with the monoxide alarm and air filter it’ll be fine. He says we can’t justify not using it this winter given that it’s a free heat source.

We’ve just had yet another row about it.

I don’t know what to think/ do.

Has anyone used their log burner around a young baby? AIBU to be worried?

OP posts:
RamblingFar · 20/10/2022 03:52

I don't have kids, but I avoid them as an adult. They are a big asthma trigger for me. As more neighbours are unfortunately using them, the smoke comes in my bedroom in the winter despite not having one in the house.

If you are sensitive to what they are emitting, you can tell how much is escaping into the air. If you don't react to the particulates, you probably are unaware how many much is being released. Yes, even from the modern ones, with seasoned wood and a well swept chimney.

Some of my relatives/friends have them inside their houses and several cafes I've been in have had them. I usually need my inhaler, especially if they open them to add wood.

MintyFreshOne · 20/10/2022 04:14

Cantthinkofanewnameatm · 19/10/2022 17:33

It’ll be fine. Properly fitted log burners are safe and you’ve got a CO2 detector in the room. Used one for both of mine ( only heating we had)/ DD2 used a log burner when her lo was born during a horrendously cold winter —- no problems at all.

Surely you mean CO?!

caffelattetogo · 20/10/2022 07:53

Would an air purifier with a hepa filter help?

Orangesare · 20/10/2022 08:00

If you live in a radon area do you have your houses tested and if necessary add positive ventilation. Radon is equivalent to smoking
Candle are polluting
its all about assessing the risk

Runningintolife · 20/10/2022 08:04

Why don't you both research the risk together and decide what level of harm you are willing to expose your baby to? Look at independent sources of research and advice and evaluate. You wouldn't smoke in front of baby or use lead paint - once these risks were known, people gradually changed their behaviour.

Soontobe60 · 20/10/2022 08:16

We have a wood burner. When our grandchildren come to stay, we don’t light it until they are in bed, or if it’s really cold we light it but don’t sit in that room. Their parents have a wood burner and have used it throughout. My DD does have intermittent asthma, but the fire doesn’t seem to set her off.

at the end of the day, if used correctly with well seasoned wood the emissions are as minimal as those from a regular boiler.

SarahMused · 20/10/2022 08:21

You have a few options. The worst thing for your baby is to have a cold house so if you can’t afford to continually use the oil central heating the best option is to burn your (free) dry wood, get your chimney swept regularly, and open the vents when you load the burner. Remember oil boilers emit particulates too so comparing for example, an old oil boiler with a new eco stove is not as simple as people here seem to think.

bigbluebus · 20/10/2022 08:24

I was brought up in a house with an open coal fire. It was lit daily as until I was 13 we had a back boiler. We all sat in a small room with the doors shut and in the early years my parents would sometimes smoke (as was quite common then).
Myself and my siblings are now late 50's to mid 60's with no health problems whatsoever. My parents both lived into their late 80's.

DH was also brought up in a house with an open fire. He's 60 with no health problems.

Whilst I accept that churning out smoke into the atmosphere is not good for the environment, I fail to see how lighting a wood burner with the door shut is seriously going to damage your child's health.

And no I haven't read the reports linked to above - I'm going on my evidence. I'm always a firm believer that you can 'prove' anything if you research and write a report based on the evidence you looked for. Remember Andrew Wakefield anyone?

FourTeaFallOut · 20/10/2022 08:32

Mumsnet is weird. On the one hand you see mils who are smokers being asked to scrub down and change clothes to hold their grandchildren for a bottle and on the other you see posters minimise the effects of the particulate matter emitted from their own log burning stoves.

But between the increased link to sids, the link to poor lung health and emerging links between dementia and exposure to particulate pollution, people will wonder what the hell people were thinking when we regressed from central heating back to stoves in years to come.

BerriesOnTop · 20/10/2022 08:47

bigbluebus · 20/10/2022 08:24

I was brought up in a house with an open coal fire. It was lit daily as until I was 13 we had a back boiler. We all sat in a small room with the doors shut and in the early years my parents would sometimes smoke (as was quite common then).
Myself and my siblings are now late 50's to mid 60's with no health problems whatsoever. My parents both lived into their late 80's.

DH was also brought up in a house with an open fire. He's 60 with no health problems.

Whilst I accept that churning out smoke into the atmosphere is not good for the environment, I fail to see how lighting a wood burner with the door shut is seriously going to damage your child's health.

And no I haven't read the reports linked to above - I'm going on my evidence. I'm always a firm believer that you can 'prove' anything if you research and write a report based on the evidence you looked for. Remember Andrew Wakefield anyone?

This is really the classic ‘my parents smoked and lived into their 80s’ type of response

FourTeaFallOut · 20/10/2022 08:50

I fail to see how lighting a wood burner with the door shut is seriously going to damage your child's health.

As an aside, how do you light a wood burner with the door shut? 🧐

Whitegrenache · 20/10/2022 08:53

Good god both my kids were brought up with log burners and have survived

BloodyHellKen · 20/10/2022 08:59

OP this is madness. We have always had either wood burners or an open fire and have raised 3 children, one to adulthood. No one has died from sitting in a room close to either but we have been kept nice and warm. Ditto everyone who was ever born before central heating became a thing.

I'd be more concerned about traffic fumes if I were you.

Unless you are planning to strap your baby to the open chimney pot I'd say you are fine 😀

FourTeaFallOut · 20/10/2022 09:02

Survival isn't really the bar most parents are aiming for when raising their children.

bigfamilygrowingupfast · 20/10/2022 09:04

It depends on your house - my parents have one but their house is very draughty 🤣 so single glazed windows, lots of airflow through the room where the fire is lit etc. They never lit it when my daughter was there (and never lit it until I was about 11) but it was more about accidents than breathing issues - our neighbour's child got severe burns from falling and supporting herself on the window of the log burner when she was about 3.

Some friends of my partner's have one and it's in a tiny room that isn't well ventilated - I probably wouldn't light it in their case if they had a baby.

That being said, mould and damp is significantly worse for your baby's respiratory health!

SarahMused · 20/10/2022 09:15

FourTeaFallOut I don’t think comparing the situation of smoking, which is a lifestyle choice, to the choice the OP has to heat her house is fair. In an ideal world we would all have access to clean green electricity or at least gas to heat our homes but the choice for many of us in rural areas is between very expensive oil or in our case, free wood. Then the question is how much more harmful is burning dry wood in an eco stove than using oil, or being cold because you can’t afford the oil. Probably the answer is use the oil you can afford and light the log burner when it gets really cold and you know the oil would cost a lot to maintain the house at a decent temperature. We are making these kind of decisions all the time even if we don’t know it. Do we walk the short route along a busy road or take a longer way down a quiet side street to avoid traffic fumes? Do we fry or roast or steam our food? Etc etc.
Btw you have to open a stove to light it but I think the suggestion is to close the door while it is getting going rather than letting it burn with the door open for a few minutes.

bigbluebus · 20/10/2022 09:21

@BerriesOnTop maybe that's because they did - as do many others who were all brought up with coal fires. Maybe we should look at the bigger picture of all the things that have been introduced in greater quantities that impact the health of the nation eg excessive car use, additives in food.

I can't remember seeing an AIBU to drive my children to school because I might damage their health and those of other children. .

I regularly walk past a Primary school where parents park up an hour before finish time so they can a)get the closest space - meaning their child doesn't have to walk far and ) leaving the engine running for the whole of that time for either the aircon or heating. And the irony of the school currently appealing for funding for an all weather track so the children can do the 'daily mile'. Most of the children live within easy and safe walking distance of the school. Just walking to school and back would see them doing a 'daily mile'. Something my generation and my parents did (and more) as children.

Worldgonecrazy · 20/10/2022 09:51

Love my wood burners. All Swedish made high efficiency low emission.

The only thing I would advise with toddlers is installing a safety screen as you should use for any heat source.

worriedatthistime · 20/10/2022 12:42

I would ask your health visitor or dr rather than on here

DysmalRadius · 20/10/2022 13:35

I was brought up in a house with an open coal fire. It was lit daily as until I was 13 we had a back boiler. We all sat in a small room with the doors shut and in the early years my parents would sometimes smoke (as was quite common then).
Myself and my siblings are now late 50's to mid 60's with no health problems whatsoever. My parents both lived into their late 80's.

So, on the basis of your anecdote, do you not believe in the dangers of smoking either?

ReadtheReviews · 20/10/2022 13:39

Interesting. Two children 2 and 7 both grown up with log burner as main heating downstairs. Have a ventilation pipe fitted in wall away from log burner, monox alarm and regular alarm. Never thought anything of it. Dp has asthma and log burner doesnt affect him. Supposedly hypoallergenic cockerpoo kills him though.

TheHauntedPencilCase · 20/10/2022 19:28

My kids are 10 and we've always used a wood burner since born as its our main source of heating.

wordler · 20/10/2022 19:36

It's the only type of heat we had and it was fine for ours. I'd recommend an air filter with it - although that will use electricity of course.

Freddiefan · 20/10/2022 19:41

I was in a club which had a log fire. I was ok until the manager opened the door to put more wood in and that caused a bad asthma attack.

whoruntheworldgirls · 20/10/2022 19:41

We used ours all the time and our daughter is fine, as she grew up she loved it! Staring at it relaxed her

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