Small exposure to solder

[Summerblaze]

We are having a lot of work done to our new house but I have been staying at my Mum's while it has been done.

I popped around to the house where my in laws were doing some work and the plumber was there moving some pipes upstairs in the bathroom. I was in the kitchen.

The smoke alarm then went off but I didn't have a clue why. I left 10 mins later. Today my MIL was talking about the smoke alarm going off and said it was because the plumber had been using his solder gun. Would this have caused any harm.

I have also been really bothered about not going there if they have been painting at the house but when I went this weekend my Dad was doing some tiling. There was a horrible smell and realised that he had been using tile adhesive. Now I am worried that I have caused damage. I am 28 weeks so am I passed that stage anyway.

Hormonal panic maybe but I am really worried.

In the kindest possible way - relax.

I can't imagine for a minute you will have done any harm to your baby at all by catching a waft of solder smoke or tile adhesive.

Having had a look at the HSE sheet on Working Safely with Lead, the time to worry is in the early stages of pregnancy (probably before you realise you're pregnant anyway) and I imagine you'd have to be working with it fairly frequently for any concern to be raised. By 28 weeks your baby is pretty much fully formed and is just laying down fat.

Honestly, I wouldn't have even thought to be worried in your shoes :) You're going to spend a lot of time causing yourself unnecessary worry if you're panicking about things like this

Have yourself a , and if a wee glass isn't for you, have a instead.

Hormonal panic :) Relax.

It's extremely unlikely that your plumber would have been using lead solder. It's been banned from use in relation to drinking water systems (both hot and cold) since the mid-1980s. It's rarely used even on non-drinking water systems nowadays.

Regular brazing and soldering does just smell horrible - my plumber told me it was copper salts burning off the surface of the pipes.