Cleaning products result in wheezing

Usage of household chemical products by pregnant women may increase the risk of wheezing in children.Researchers from the University of Bristol in the UK found that products like bleach, air fresheners, aerosols, carpet cleaners and pesticides may make the children prone to wheezing and further to the risk of developing asthma. Persistent wheezing stops the child from living a normal life, exercising and going to school. This may make them susceptible to other conditions, such as obesity. The study did not measure how much exposure to household chemicals is safe for pregnant women, but researchers recommend that they should be sensible with chemicals, and follow the manufacturer's instructions, particularly with regards to ventilation.

To see if prenatal exposure to these chemicals increases the risk of breathing problems, researchers asked the mothers of 7019 children about the chemicals they were exposed to during pregnancy, and how often their children wheezed from birth to the age of 3.5 years. The women completed surveys while pregnant, and periodically after the child was born. More than 6 per cent of the children showed signs of persistent wheezing. Children whose mothers used the most chemicals were more than twice as likely to persistently wheeze than those whose mothers used the least chemicals.

Experts suspect that chemicals may affect infants' breathing by irritating their airways and lungs. Mothers who use a lot of chemicals during pregnancy will likely do the same thing once the babies are born, so it's difficult to say whether a baby's wheezing comes from exposures before or after birth.
The findings suggest that frequent use of chemicals during the prenatal period may lead to persistent wheezing in children.

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