Could the damp be why my babys not growing right?

[rthrn]

Hi,

Does anyone know of any risks damp and mold can have on a pregnancy? I know that no official research has been done, but I am concerned my bedroom is in a bad state of disrepair, and I am constantly fighting fatigue, chest and throat infections as well as water one's and this is from before I fell pregnant. I am now 32 weeks, and the baby was healthy and fine, but at 30 weeks his size had dropped from above the 50th centile to the 10th one! and now his growth is being closely monitored, with talks of induction!

Could this be because I have been so ill, and could that be due to the mold? The mold itself my partner cleans often but its on our mattress, (also the Moses basket now!) our clothes and grows inside the drawers and on my shoes, nothing is safe, we have damp mites in the bedroom, and beetles!. We are now sleeping on the sofa, and my health is starting to improve but I am so worried about my baby as this is my first pregnancy.

Any advice or input welcome, I have environmental health coming round next week to see what they can do.

Thanks

Sorry I don't know about the effects on your baby but you need to get lots of ventilation into your house. Do you open windows often? Are you drying clothes on or in front of radiators? A dehumidifier can help but if your property is rented, the landlord needs to do something ASAP.

I don;t dry the clothes inside and pretty much have the windows open 24/7 as that's the landlords only question when i complain. I also have a dehumidifier in there, it reads the humidity level at 90 and can never get it below 72

Is there any way ypu can move, this does not sound like a healthy environment for you let alone a newborn :(

Oh dear, you need the landlord to do something ASAP! It's not normal that mold grows everywhere, even if you dry clothes inside and don't open windows regularly!

I cannot tell for 100% if mold can affect the baby, but for sure it is not good for your health - it can cause allergies, and they in turn trigger asthma and other chest problems...

I really hope it gets sorted soon xx

My landlord is useless has been promising to wallpaper with insulated wallpaper for 3 months, but I'm still waiting, however I doubt they'll be able to do so, as there is constantly water running down the walls.

I'm looking to move but having to wait in a council flat as I can't afford a deposit or rent upfront for somewhere private.

I'm just so worried that it might be why baby's stopped growing so well.

Have you talked about your fears with the midwife? I know you said you're being monitored but they might have a better idea of the health implications of mould. I hope Environmental Health can do something for you - it sounds like they should from what you've said, they should be able to force the landlord to take action.

Poor love, it all sounds awful :-( From my experience, the damp in itself didn't affect my baby. We bought a damp renovation project and one week after moving in, found out I was expecting. The smells and mould did nothing great for my morning sickness and I had a mean chest infection for the whole of the first trimester. Our bedroom was terrible and I used to wake up in the night feeling queasy because of the terrible smells. My baby was fine and healthy despite such a rubbish start BUT we put everything we had financially and physically into fixing the problem and had moved into a different room asAP which had been fixed to sleep in.

You have to get out of there because the problem is unlikely to be a quick fix - it cannot be fixed in time for your little one arriving if it is as bad as you say. I rented a place years ago where the bathroom was crawling with mould and it made me sick, gave me skin rashes and I was ill over a year after moving out. Hand in your notice, borrow the deposit, whatever you have to do, do it and get out of that house as soon as you can or your baby will have health problems when it is born.

I meant to say, the mould might not be the problem with your little one, it could be down to your poor health from living with the mould.

I am not sure about your health - although sorry to hear you are so poorly.

However I am positive that mould on the Moses basket is no good - so if I were you I would replace it. That would worry me sick about SIDS risk.

Sounds awful hun. Ur landlord needs to fix this or u can refuse to pay the rent i believe. Contact cab urgently hun and also get ur Gp to contact council see if the state of ur health boosts u up the list Xxx