Furnishing children’s rooms with low levels of harmful substances

Children spend most of their time in their room, where they sleep, play or retreat to study. Their parents are often unaware of how heavily contaminated with pollutants these rooms can be. They can come from floors, furniture, textiles or plastic toys, for example. Pollutants in children’s rooms can affect their health and development.


Children’s immune and nervous systems

Babies and small children in particular react much more sensitively to indoor air pollutants than adults due to their still developing immune system . Their metabolism is higher and their skin surface area is comparatively larger. The younger the child is, the higher its breathing rate. For this reason, babies are also most at risk of inhaling air pollutants more quickly. They also have a higher risk of developing asthma or allergies.

In addition, children can come into contact with harmful substances much more quickly. They explore their environment more intensively and put things in their mouths or cuddle for hours with blankets or toys. These toys or other plastic items often contain plasticizers that are so toxic that they can cause cancer. They can also affect genes and fertility in the long term. It is particularly problematic that products with which children frequently come into contact can continue to be contaminated with hazardous substances.


Dangers from pollutants

Toxic substances in the nursery

Substances that are particularly toxic to babies and children can come from various types of furniture. These pollutants can be found in beds, floor coverings, decorative items, toys, cupboards, wall paints and varnishes. The harmful substances include formaldehyde, PVC, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), solvents and plasticizers(phthalates).

Harmful substances can also find their way into children’s rooms when new furniture, paint, floor coverings and other things are added. Many of the substances are complex, as they consist of several hundred individual substances.


Common pollutants in children’s rooms

Aldehydes, such as toxic formaldehyde, are particularly common. Solvent-based paints, adhesives and varnishes, which can spread across ceilings, walls and floors, are the most contaminated products. Many of the toxic compounds in furnishings take several months to outgas. The pollutants can be harmful to health in different ways. Among other things, irritation of the eyes and mucous membranes, headaches and fatigue can occur. Allergies and asthma are also triggered by pollutants. It is therefore best to complete the furnishing of the nursery at least six months before the child is born. Due to the particular health risks for babies and children, it is important to choose products that are as low in harmful substances or free of harmful substances as possible.


Furnishing children’s rooms with low levels of harmful substances

Low-pollutant floor coverings

Babies and toddlers in particular are often on the floor when they play or crawl. This means that they have much more frequent contact with the ground, which can put a strain on their sensitive immune system. They also absorb potentially toxic substances through their skin. PVC flooring and laminate in particular can be heavily contaminated with dangerous plasticizers or toxic formaldehyde. These should therefore not be laid in rooms for children and babies if possible. Instead, floors made of natural materials are particularly recommended for children’s health. These are, for example, floor coverings made of wood or cork. However, care must be taken when laying them to ensure that they are laid without harmful varnishes or adhesives.

Various test seals provide guidance for selecting floors that are as low in pollutants as possible and have been tested for pollutants . When selecting suitable flooring for floorboards, laminate, parquet, carpets or linoleum, it is important to check whether they contain special labels such as the “Blauer Engel“,“Eco Institut Tested Product” or “natureplus®“, for example. The Kork-Logo® is a seal for cork flooring. Carpets contaminated with harmful substances are also very harmful to health, especially for babies, as they can absorb the vapors more quickly when crawling or absorb the toxic fibers by sucking on the floor. On the other hand, carpets made from natural materials such as virgin sheep’s wool or organic cotton are harmless to health.


Low-pollutant wall paints

When renovating with wall paint, conventional paints, which in many cases contain pollutants, should not be used. Vinyl wallpaper and latex paint are particularly questionable, as they can also contain toxic substances such as PVC, as in wallpaper. Therefore, wall paints that are as low in harmful substances as possible should be used for repainting children’s rooms. Special low-pollutant paints for babies’ and children’s rooms are available on the market. Paper wallpapers bearing the “Blauer Engel” logo are also an alternative. Eco paints are also very suitable, as they generally do not contain any pollutants that pose a health risk. Lime or silicate paints are also recommended for painting children’s rooms. They are also effective against the formation of mold.


Pollutant-free furniture

Non-toxic furniture is usually made of solid wood. This is particularly suitable for frequently used furniture such as cribs, changing units or tables. It should come from sustainable forestry, such as FSC-certified natural materials. It should also have been produced sustainably, i.e. without toxic paints or plastics.

When purchasing organic furniture, you can make sure that it can be reused and is therefore sustainable. For example, the height of a desk can be adjusted or the length of the bed can be readjusted as the children grow up.

Organic furniture usually pays off when furnishing children’s rooms, as it is more durable and generally of higher quality. Furniture treated with natural oil is non-toxic and therefore more suitable for children’s rooms. Furniture with harmful paints, plasticizers or toxic adhesives should not be placed in children’s rooms.

However, if the baby or children’s room is not furnished with solid wood furniture or organic furniture, the cheap furniture, which usually contains a large proportion of chipboard and coatings or conventional wall paints, should be allowed to “evaporate” for several weeks so that they become less harmful. The adhesives and paints used in production, which may be contaminated with toxins , must also be able to outgas.

A less expensive alternative is second-hand furniture, which is cheap to buy and has fewer pollutants due to its age.

When choosing low-emission and pollutant-freefurniture, you can use trustworthy seals such as ÖkoControl, Blauer Engel, DGM emissions label class A,“Goldene M” and the Eco Institut Tested Product as a guide.


Home textiles

When furnishing your child’s room, you should also make sure that textiles such as blankets, pillowcases, curtains and other home textiles are free from harmful substances. Toddlers often come into contact with their beloved blankets and play blankets when they bite into them or cuddle with them. For this reason, it is important that such textiles are free of harmful substances. You can meet these important requirements if you buy home textiles with the well-known seals such as Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 or Naturtextil IVN certified BEST .


Pollutants from electrical appliances

Televisions, computers and electronic toys can also pose a potential risk to children’s health, as they can emit flame retardants or contain harmful plasticizers . In addition, the particularly harmful chemical TCEP can be found in furniture. It is mainly found in the foams of upholstered furniture, mattresses, wallpaper and carpets. To ensure healthy sleep, electronic devices should also be kept out of the children’s room and removed for the night.


Another significant problem for healthy development is plastic items, which are usually found in clusters in rooms for babies and adolescents. Plastic items should not be kept in children’s rooms as they often contain plasticizers. They are often found in products for children who like to play with them or use them frequently. For example, high levels of plasticizers have been found in rubber boots, mud pants, paddling pools, inflatable toys and other toys made of soft plastic . The products, most of which are manufactured in Asia, are particularly dangerous to health as they often do not meet our environmental and safety standards and contain higher concentrations of pollutants than permitted. The products required for furnishing should be tested for harmful substances in order to furnish the children’s room with low levels of harmful substances or free of toxic substances.

To be even more certain that the furniture for babies and children is as free of harmful substances as possible, parents can obtain information about the ingredients, as specified in technical data sheets, before making their purchase.


Ensuring clean indoor air

In addition to low-pollutant or pollutant-free furnishings for children, regular dusting, airing and cleaning of rooms are important for babies and children, as pollutants can also accumulate in house dust . Washing new towels, bedding, clothes, toys and other items before first use is also important to remove any harmful substances.

Health complaints can occur in a newly renovated room or newly furnished children’s room. In order to better clarify this possible cause, a professional indoor air measurement is recommended.


Measurement and analysis of pollutants via the GSA Schadstoffanalytik

In case of suspicion of pollutants in your private living spacessuch as in the children’s roomwe are happy to recommend our sister company, the GSA Schadstoffanalytik for possible sampling on site.

You can simply contact the team of pollutant experts there to describe your individual pollutant problem. The employees are specially trained to carry out tests on potentially hazardous substances on site and to analyze the measurement results. They use suitable GSA measuring devices for sampling and use highly sensitive equipment such as Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) according to the latest standards to evaluate the results.



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