Indoor air quality for children with respiratory issues

If your child suffers from respiratory problems, you understand the pain and utter helplessness of watching your child struggle to breathe. While there are any number of respiratory problems that can impact your child, The American Lung Association reports that 7.1 million children under the age of 18 suffer from asthma.

The National Institutes of Health reports that there are any number of everyday household issues that can impact breathing. Just knowing what these pollutants are and how they impact indoor air quality for your child is a good start, but it is also important to know how to properly deal with each problem.

Tobacco smoke.

According to the CDC, 53.6 percent of young children (aged 3-11 years) have been exposed to secondhand smoke. That smoke doesn't just have to come from you. It can be produced by anyone visiting your home and even by people smoking outside public buildings. Thousands of chemicals and hundreds of toxins — some cancer causing — are contained in secondhand smoke. The best way to protect your child is to forbid smoking in and around your place of residence. While there is nothing you can do about people smoking in public, your home can be 100 percent smoke free.

Carbon Monoxide.

Carbon monoxide is often called "the silent killer." It is a gas that you cannot smell, taste or see and can be the result of a faulty furnace, portable generator, water heater, clothes dryer or car left running in the garage. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include nausea, drowsiness and headaches. Exposure to high levels can lead to death.

There are a couple of things you can do to protect your family from carbon monoxide poisoning. Keep your home appliances in good working order and install a CO alarm that will warn you during the early detection phase. There are even security companies set up to monitor your CO alarm, according to homesecuritysystem.com. Make sure you know what your security company monitors for before agreeing to service.

Mold.

The EPA indicates it is possible for you to clean up a mold problem that is confined to 3 ft. by 3 ft. patch or smaller. Anything larger than that will likely need professional intervention. The longer mold is allowed to grow, the more damage it can cause. If you suspect your HVAC system may have mold, turn it off until you can get help as a running HVAC system can spread mold throughout your home. If you do need to hire a contractor, make sure that it’s someone with mold remediation experience. Check the contractor’s references and ask him to follow the recommendations in the EPA’s Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings guidelines. Although the guidelines were written for public buildings, they’re just as applicable to your home.

The US Environmental Protection Agency indicates that indoor air quality is one of the top five environmental health concerns for children. In fact, indoor air is frequently more polluted than the air children breathe outside. One easy fix is to open a window as often as you are able. Even if it's chilly outside, allow some fresh, clean air into your home rather than trapping all the stale air in.

Taken from: Guest Post (article, By Kim Cox), Google (images).