When pregnant or with young children present, cleaning and disinfecting are frequently at the top of the list. However, some of the ingredients in cleaning supplies have the potential to harm your unborn child or may not be the best choice when there are young children nearby. You can carry out routine tasks while pregnant as long as you follow a few safety precautions. That being said, you might need to mark the following domestic chores off your to-do list and either assign them to someone else or engage a professional cleaning company if you have certain pregnancy issues or limits.
Cleaning while pregnant
Keep away from fumes
Abrasive, harsh substances should be avoided. Instead, give eco-friendly green cleaning a try. This will not only safeguard you throughout pregnancy but also get you ready for a change in how you will clean your house without using harsh chemicals after the birth of your child. What you can accomplish with lemons, vinegar, and baking soda will astonish you.
Reduce mopping and vacuuming
The sciatic nerve, which originates in the lower back and travels down the leg, might be irritated by using a mop or vacuum when pregnant. Leaning over a mop or vacuum can aggravate the sciatic nerve, which can become strained during pregnancy. Early on, you might feel all right vacuuming and mopping, but later on, in the pregnancy, you might experience pain. So it is best to put off doing this work until later in your pregnancy and instead hire professional cleaners.
Cat litter box
Cats that spend time outside occasionally acquire the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which can lead to toxoplasmosis. While most individuals are unaffected by this illness, it can cause complications during pregnancy. You don't need to worry about petting your cat because this parasite can only be acquired through direct contact with cat excreta. Instead, get someone else to clean the cat's litter box as a precaution.
Read the labels carefully
If you don't like homemade cleaners, see what's available at the store. When doing so, pay close attention to labelling. Any cleaning product whose label contains the terms "toxic," "danger," "poison," or "corrosive" should be avoided. Your defences are weakened during pregnancy, so hazardous vapours that appeared okay before could irritate your eyes, nose, throat, and lungs as well as cause harm to the unborn child. Instead, seek out items with "non-toxic" and "all-natural" labels.
Do not strain yourself
The first and third trimesters are frequently characterised by prolonged, extreme tiredness. Expect this to change the way you clean. For instance, if you were a once-weekly cleaner, you might now need to figure out a strategy to spread out your chores throughout the course of the week. Try breaking up your chores into 15-minute sessions, perhaps one early in the day and one later. You might also reconsider your cleaning requirements once your baby is born nonetheless.