to be concerned about thirdhand smoke from my cleaner?

[TheBerry]

I have a cleaner who comes once a week.

She obviously never smokes in the house, or takes smoke breaks while she’s cleaning, but I know she’s a smoker because I can smell it on and around her while she’s in the house.

I work from home so I notice the smell while she’s here, but DD is always at nursery while she’s here. By the time the cleaner has left, and DD is back home, I can’t smell smoke any more.

Could this still be a health risk to DD? I know it must be a minuscule amount, but tiny smoke particles must be lingering around the cleaner and maybe settling on the floors and furnishings in our home.

No.

No.

It sounds like you could use some help with your anxiety.

It's not a risk to your DD. You're being very over-anxious about this.

It's not a health risk but personally I wouldn't employ a fag ash Lil cleaner just as I wouldn't employ someone who had B.O.

Same.

Get a grip - we are not living in a totalitarian state thank god

Agree. Respectfully OP, your levels of anxiety over this aren’t normal. Are you this anxious about things? If you are then you definitely should seek help for it

No.

It's probably less harmful than a walk down the street given the fumes coming off cars.

id get a new cleaner

Goodness me. Are you never going to take her to tesco in case the checkout lady smokes? Or walk past anyone in the street in case they smoke? How do you know her nursery teachers don't smoke?

This. Also how can you be sure that the nursery workers aren't having a puff on their lunch break ?(which they would be entitled to do so)

I don't mean to be gross but do you worry about particles of human waste that your daughter is inhaling when she can smell it in the bathroom? It's the same thing.

Your daughter will come into contact with very small particles of all sorts of things in life, because she lives in the world.

Car fumes, chemicals, pesticides, air fresheners, perfumes, bacteria, viruses, allergens - you can't stop all of these things and really you need to try and address your anxiety.

Simply being able to smell smoke on somebody is absolutely miniscule. Her lungs can deal with it.

I think any health risk would be miniscule, but I wouldn't have her doing my house cleaning just as I wouldn't have someone reeking of BO or farting everywhere!

That’s grim.

She’s a cleaner, she’s supposed to be clean, not utterly bogging.

It really annoys me when smokers pretend they don’t know how much they stink. Just be honest!

It was more that I was was worried the smoke particles would settle in the house so she would be exposed to them long-term, rather than just passing a smoker in the street.

I’ve never smelt smoke on any of the nursery workers, but perhaps.

As long as there is no risk, I feel much better 🙂

I really don’t think they know. They’ll be so used to the smell.

Are you going to address your anxiety?

Do you accept that this level of micro worry is not normal ?

Btw My reception primary school teacher used to give us our reading words in her old tobacco tins I still remember the lovely smell of those tins

Grim? I’m not a smoker but some of the reactions on this thread are hilarious. She’s not smoking Crack.

We have a local nursery i walk past regularly at lunchtime. I see a few of their workers round the next street having a smoke. So im sure many other nursery workers do inc your childs workers. Then hugging /personal care, playing etc with your dc

So a cleaner is far less a risk.

I would speak to your doctor about this anxiety, it's not normal

You’re worrying too much, she’ll be fine. The only time to worry would be if someone who was really close to her a lot was a smoker. Even then, I can’t imagine many adults have never been around a smoker as a child, even if they didn’t do it in their presence.

I’m a teacher and I always think it’s horrible small children coming into school stinking of stale smoke. Also like someone else mentioned staff go out and hang about the gates for fag breaks which I also think is grim.

Smoking is disgusting and I'm glad hardly anyone does it anymore.

But honestly, what's happened to common sense on the subject?

Next we'll have threads from OP's who think they're going to die, because they spotted a smoker speeding past in a car on the M25 heading towards Kent 🙄

I also have a cleaner who comes once a week.

She has a Northern accent. Of course she is not allowed to speak in the home or within 200 yards of it.

But do you think the possibility she might say something within DD's hearing might affect DDs' health or perhaps her self-esteem?