Page 3 - Healthy Kids Now - Fall 2022

Preventing lead exposure at home
These tips can help you prevent lead exposure:
• Clean floors and dusty surfaces.
• Take off your shoes before
entering your home.
• Wash your child’s hands,
bottles, pacifiers, and toys.
• Feed your child foods high in iron, vitamin C, and calcium.
• Get your home tested for lead if it was built before 1978.
If lead is present, have it safely removed by licensed professionals.
HWow to protect children from lead poisoning
e assume our homes are safe, Bureau’s latest American Housing exposure to lead can include learning but something you can’t see Survey, more than 90% of homes in disabilities, behavioral problems, and
or smell may be hurting your child
or grandchild. This hidden danger is lead, a toxic metal that can build up
in the body over time and cause serious health problems.
There are several ways children
can be exposed to lead, including contaminated dust and soil around
a home or day care center. Children younger than 6 years old are especially at risk because their developing bodies are growing so quickly. Young children also tend to put their hands and other objects — which may have lead dust on them — into their mouths as a normal part of their development.
Know the risks
Many homes and buildings built before 1978 contain lead-based paint (which was banned by the federal government that year), particularly around doors and windows. According to the Census
Philadelphia were built before 1978. When the paint chips, peels, or
cracks, it releases lead dust that settles on floors and other surfaces where babies and toddlers can easily get it on their hands.
Other sources of lead include:
• drinking water carried through old
lead pipes and plumbing fixtures; • glazed pottery and ceramics;
• imported toys, candy, jewelry,
cosmetics, soil, toys with lead paint, leaded gasoline, and old or recycled electronics;
• traditional medicines.
Get your child tested
Lead poisoning symptoms can include weight loss, irritability, fatigue, stomach pain, and vomiting, but symptoms
may not appear until there is a high lead level in a child’s body. Some of
the serious health effects of long-term
attention deficit disorder (ADD). Talk with your child’s provider if
you are concerned about possible lead exposure or have questions about your child’s development.
A simple blood test, usually performed at 12 and 24 months, is the only way to determine if your child has lead poisoning. Your child can have a lead test at their provider’s office or
at any participating Labcorp Patient Service Centers, including LabCorp at Walgreens. Your child’s provider will also perform developmental screenings during regular well-child visits at 9, 18, and 30 months to ensure your child is meeting key developmental milestones.
If the blood test is positive for lead, the provider can offer information on how to lower the level, get your child treated if the level is high, and prevent additional exposure.
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