Warning to home renovators TTC

[Blurbz]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to flag an issue I was unaware of when TTC.

We were in the middle of renovating our house when I was probably very early in pregnancy - didn’t know I wasn’t pregnant, but we’d been trying to conceive.

I sadly lost this baby at 10 weeks, where it was measuring around 7. It always measured under when I had scans.

I’m now convinced the miscarriage was caused by inhaling/ ingesting LEAD PAINT when sanding back our old stairs.

I saw a TV feature the other day in which another lady suspected her miscarriage was caused by lead paint too.

I was totally unaware of the risks and just want to try to spread the word a bit. I know lots of people get busy renovating before welcoming a baby and starting their family. But please check the risks of things BEFORE you do them. Check paints and solvents etc. too.

Hope this helps some people. Whilst this was never the confirmed reason, I have a strong feeling it was the cause of my miscarriage and wouldn’t risk anything like it again.

Happily pregnant again now and expecting in June. X

Im so sorry for your loss and hope you progress to June now uneventfully.

Thank you for sharing this as you’re right that a lot of us are doing up homes while TTC. Navigating what is TTC and pregnancy friendly, even just from a food perspective, is more stressful than I’d imagined. X

@Carlotta27 thank you. So far so good with this one thankfully.

I know, I totally agree. I had some smoked salmon before Christmas then realised it’s back on the NHS to be avoided list, and caused so much stress. I only had a tiny bit!

It’s easy to be scaremongered and read awful things on Google, but I’d rather be aware of risks and avoid things than get hung up over something I did that could cause an issue.

I'm sorry this happened but there is no way to prove a connection. Most miscarriages are genetic issues which couldn't have been avoided. It's actually quite upsetting and unhelpful to hear this rhetoric that women could do anything to stop a miscarriage. It only piles on top of the social stigma and shame. And I say that having had two, and I've always been very sure with myself that there is nothing I could have done about it. Women all over the world live and work in appalling and unhealthy conditions, and have perfectly fine babies.

A mosscarriage is awful but I don't believe that the relatively small amount of lead that would be ungested- especially you were taking reasonable precautions would cause an issue. You would feel the effects of the lead enough to want to stop if it had entered you bloodstream in any quantity.

@Rosesanddaisies1 @TheLurpackYears appreciate both your positions on this.

It’s obviously a very personal thing and I personally wish I’d known there were associated risks prior to carrying out the work.

As I say, I’ll never know if this was the cause, and I don’t claim to know that it was for sure.

I think it’s worth being aware of - TTC or not, lead ingestion is not good for anyone anyway.