Help!

[lilyLl]

Hi all, I am currently 18 weeks pregnant and I had the genius idea to start cleaning my carpets today 😕. I have used a product without thinking and only after I checked the labels on the back that reads " 4.2% of this mixture consists of components of unknown toxicity"
I am now in full panic mode as I've read that carpet cleaners can cause birth defects 😭

Please don't panic.

I'm not a doctor but do a lot of reading about these things. From what I understand birth defects are usually caused by exposure to very severe things (I.e. think Chernobyl, or the radium girls - not cleaners that anyone can buy over the counter) or very excessive exposure to milder things (perhaps like carpet cleaners).

You have had minimal exposure to something relatively mild. If you were a carpet cleaner for a living with regular exposure to the same chemicals I would worry and recommend stopping work whilst pregnant.

But you are not, you came into contact with something once, briefly and didn't ingest it or anything.

If I were you, I would just have a chemical detox for the rest of pregnancy to balance it out. Choose natural cleaning products (like method), natural shampoos for your hair (like Bumble and Bumble) and natural soaps and deodorants for your body and clothes generally.

You can also avoid artificial preservatives in fast food and check packaging on what you eat to eat as naturally as possible. Again, don't panic about every ingredient but avoiding excessive intake of things like MSG and E numbers will make you feel a lot better

Thank youuuu !!! Feeling much better and will definitely try to be more careful and read the labels! Thank you x