Sounds like a ridiculous question - can you wear perfume while pregnant?

[Gateau]

Yes, it sounds daft I know.But I read in a newspaper quite a few months back that wearing perfume during pregnancy, especially in the first 12 weeks, can render a baby boy infertile.
Has anyone heard this, and does anyone abide by it?

[Poppet45]

Wow Gemzooks that's interesting, but terrifying stuff, I read somewhere that every person in the world now has some Scotchgard stain repellent in their systems, as it's like Teflon and you can't get rid of it... they were testing their Canadian workers, then someone added in some random samples and it had even reached the inuit!
I'm interested in getting some natural deodorants as anything that near the boobs/lymphatic system has to be pretty important for the future safety of jnr, and all the aluminium in the mainstream ones is scary. Some of the Lush ones are pretty good, I just worry that just because something is 'natural' it can still be harmful. Think of all those essential oils on the banned list during pregnancy!

[WowOoo]

I didn't wear it as I thought smell might put baby off. Then jsut got used to not wearing it until recently.

[Gemzooks]

well, I didn't care about any of this stuff till I started working for an environmental organisation as a consultant, then I read more and more research and started getting worried! The thing is, you can't let yourself get totally paranoid and start weaving your own body cream, BUT on the other hand people are getting all these cancers, infertility and allergies etc which it seems may be attributable to pollution and nasty chemicals in everyday products (hence the EU is testing all these chemicals again as part of the REACH process, precisely because most have never been tested). And looking into the EC Toys Directive I was horrified that known carcinogens are allowed in toys etc, it seems unbelievable but true, and the CE mark on toys which I always assumed was some kind of guarantee of safety is just a voluntary declaration by the manufacturer which is only checked up on on a random basis.

Anyway... I made some small changes in my lifestyle as a result, and main ones have been substituting normal cleaning products with ecover, avoiding body creams with parabens in them, avoiding sun creams except from organic/really safe suppliers, using weleda or other natural deodorants (they don't bloody work but hey), and avoiding perfume because of the musks.. just small stuff like that. using natural stuff/oils/creams instead, they do smell quite strong in themselves! also will be getting bisphenol A-free baby bottles when the time comes for expressing etc and try not to heat food in plastic containers in the microwave or whatever.

With breastfeeding, there's a lab in Germany that will actually test your milk for you for toxicity, I'm quite interested in this! Since humans are at the top of the food chain, we've absorbed loads of toxins and they are passed on in breastmilk. so although it's still of course much better than formula, there are things like brominated flame retardants from the mattress you sleep on, and up to 200 other manmade chemicals in most women's breastmilk, all being hoovered up by your child. My aim (36 weeks preg with DC2) is just to try and imbibe as few of these chemicals as possible to keep the breastmilk as 'clean' as possible.

A lot of people say, why bother with this kind of stuff when climate change is the real threat, but if I can avoid myself or my child getting some random nasty cancer or allergy in a few years' time then I'd rather play it safe..

[Gateau]

Intersting, Gem. Thank you. How long would you stay clear for?
And WooOo, whyt did you not use while b/fing?

[Gemzooks]

some have artificial musks which contain oestrogen mimicking chemicals, hence the risk of feminisation of baby boys, it's not that it automatically or definitely will make them infertile or whatever, but there is a link between oestrogen mimicking chemicals and feminisation/infertility, check out this recent Danish research on phthalates (plastic softeners found in pvc, soft plastics, tupperware, kids' toys etc) ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/7na1.pdf

a good reason not to let your baby chew on anything made of soft plastic!

there is also here is quite a good site called skin deep cosmetics database where you can check specific products, it's American but very comprehensive www.cosmeticsdatabase.com

I would personally steer clear, and also think about things like deodorants, creams, household cleaning products, a lot have quite nasty chemicals in them.

[WowOoo]

Well, I wear perfume.
With ds I stopped when I was bfeeding, so didn't wear any for about 11 months after he was born but when pregnant yes I do.
Hope it's OK.