My month old was diagnosed with CF when she was 5 months old. Since then I have quit my job and have become a germ freak. When you learn about all of these bacteria and viruses that can harm your child, you want to do whatever you can to keep your child healthy. Unfortunately, most cleaning products that kill these bacteria and viruses contain harsh smells, like chlorine bleech. I have found cleaning products that kill these bacteria and viruses and it is safe to use around my child. There are no harsh smells or chemicals. I don't have to open every window and door in my home to venilate the fumes. These products clean just as well, if not better, than the products I have been using. If interested in where I was able to find these products, email me at jcw0975@yahoo.com
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Safe Cleaning Products
- Thread starter anonymous
- Start date
I went through this phase as well....I have to remind myself to still not freak out about germs so much (every day...). If you just use common sense, youre baby should be fine. If I'm using chemicals with harsh fumes, I try and have my son w/cf out of the room and open a window. There are more natural products you can use like vinegar to mop your floors and baking soda to scrub sinks/toilets. I would run a search on google for "natural cleaning products" and see what you find. Good luck!
Carey
Carey
Hi, I use a mixture of water and Grapefruit seed extract t (GSE) to clean things that go in Sydney's mouth (like toys etc). GSE kills pseudmonas and many other bacterias and is natural. You can google it for more info, there are some sites with lots of info on its antibacterial properties and other sites that don't have much info at all. For the most part, I use regular cleaning products but I still like to keep this on hand.
HTH,
Fellow GermiPhobe,
Kelli (mom of Sydney 23 months wcf)
HTH,
Fellow GermiPhobe,
Kelli (mom of Sydney 23 months wcf)
I
IG
Guest
I'm not sure if GSE can be compared to Grapefruit (serving, dose, effect, or whatever) and I think that GSE to clean things would be fine. I do know that you're not supposed to eat any kind of grapefruit while on certain medications (i.e. immunosuppressants for one example) I don't think GSE would be a problem but it probably wouldn't hurt to ask your doctor just as a precaution.
HollyCatheryn
New member
I had posted a reply here over the weekend. Does anyone know where it went? It was about natural cleaning products and the dangers of a house being *too* clean.
HollyCatheryn
New member
OK. I'll try again to post my reply. First thing I'd say is be careful with regular cleaners.One thing that many people do not realize is that one of the most hazardous and chemical-laden places to be is your home. We tend to clean with lots of different chemicals and not get near enough ventilation to air out our house. We should clean, but there are healthier ways to do so. Here are a couple of suggestions for healthy house-cleaning.1) Vinegar - a mold killer and disinfectant, it is also a grease cutter and soap scum remover and glass cleaner (usually diluted in water for use) 2) Tea Tree Oil (TTO) - like GSE it is fungicidal, antibacterial, antimicrobial. It is very potent so you only need a few drops in water or water and vinegar to do the trick. You can put it in almost anything to jack-up the germ-killing strength. It has a strong, though pleasant odor, so some people prefer to use GSE, which is odorless. 3) Baking Soda - a good scrubber. You can mix it with a little bit of water, or dish soap or put it on a wet sponge to scrub sinks, bathtubs, stoves, scour pans. You can brush your teeth with it or use it as an exfoliant. 4) Club Soda - a good glass cleaner5) Dr.Bronner's Castille Soaps - multi-purpose cleaners. You can put it in water in a bucket for mopping the floor, wash your hair or body with it, use it in hand soap dispensers. A little bit goes a long way.Here are a couple of books or articles you can look up for recipes for healthy cleaners. 1) Clean House, Clean Planet by Karen Logan2) Clean & Green by Annie Berthold-Bond3) Mothering Magazine, Issue 112 May/June 20024) Melaleuca (this is a brand of non-toxic, natural ingrdient cleaning products and they carry everything from wondow cleaner and toilet scrubber to laundry detergent and personal hygiene)How I clean...Floors - One bucket has Dr.Bronner's in water and another has vinegar in warm water (you can add a couple drops of an oil or extract like peppermint or lavendar to the vinegar solution to make the floors smell nice also). Using one mop, I mop a small area first with the soap solution, then with the vinegar rinse. Then repeat in another section. You do not need to use the vinegar rinse, but it makes floors feel really nice - not at all sticky like they can be when soapy water has dried. I usually dry the floor with a towwl under foot so that we can get to using the space again faster rather than waiting for it to dry. Windows/Mirrors - a little bit of vinegar in a spray bottle of water. It's great - no streaks.Sinks/Tub/Stovetop/Pans - get the surface wet with water. Then sprinkle baking soda over the surface and scrub with a scotchbrite sponge and rinse. You usually need to wipe the surface as you rinse to make sure that the soda doesn't stay. It won't hurt anything, but the surface won't be shiny if all of the baking soda doesn't rinse down. Countertops - make a spray bottle with water, vinegar and TTO. This kills any germs and cuts grease. It smells really good, too. Laundry - I use a regular detergent, but will sometimes add vinegar to a rinse or TTO to make sure that all the germs are out of clothes or things like cloth diapers and cycle pads. You can put things out in the sun to dry since the sun acts as a germ-killer, stain bleacher. Or you can dry things in the dryer on HOT to make sure any organisms are killed.One of the nice things about using non-toxic cleaners is that you can let the kids help. My daughter always wants to help, but if I'm using chemicals I am hesitant. The other thing that is important to know is that a house (or any other place I suppose) can actually be TOO CLEAN to be healthy. The body needs certain benign bacterial stimuli in order to learn to respond to offending bacteria. Benign bacteria or mild bacteria serve as a sort of training camp for the immune system to learn how to fight and respond when invaded. If a person never comes in contact with these truly or relatively harmless bacteria, it is easy for his/her body to become overwhelmed and then ill when introduced to more dangerous bacteria. These milder bacteria act as a sort of vaccination against susceptibility to other bacteria. There is a balance to be sought. Obviously there are studies and data to support the ability of environments to be either too dirty or too clean. We don't want to harm our kids with living on either end of the spectrum. A good test in many cases of the safety of a cleaner is how many of the ingredients you can pronounce. If you can't say most of them out loud, then it is probably dangerous. Cleaning product manufacturers are not required to put most of the ingredients on their labels, only if it is likely to poison you if you drink it. But, most cleaning product manufacturing plants have hazardous chemical notices posted and have to present their workers with hazard disclosures and training on proper handling procedures. All this even though they are not required to tell you that perhaps 8 out of their 10 ingredients are or may be toxic.Non-toxic cleaning tends to be much cheaper. Probably 1/4 the cost of buying regular cleaners or less. That is another perk of switching over.