Bedroom Talk

Painting while pregnant?

I know i am not suppose to paint indoors while i am pregnant..but i have just started my own business decorating childrens furniture, and i have a huge order for two complete bedroom sets for twin girls... My question is... would it be ok to paint on my screened in porch? it is a 20x30 foot sunporch with 18in walls all around and the remaining portion of the walls are screens..i have 2 ceiling fans as well...

Public Comments

1. I helped my husband paint the nursery when I was about 24 weeks pregnant. We opened the windows to the bedroom and I also wore a mask. I heard that latex based paints are okay to use when pregnant.
2. No! There is some no VOC, low emission paint that you could probably use...but do you really want to risk birth defects?
3. You might want to wear a mask - even a ventilator mask. They sell them at Home Depot or any hardware store. While it makes the job sweatier, it does make it safer. You could also use low-VOC or no-VOC (volatile organic compound) paint. Unfortunately, no one has a definite answer to whether it's safe. But I did quite a bit of DIY while pregnant - after all, it wasn't get done *after* the baby arrived. ;)
4. Well, I just asked my mother (because I have no idea) and she said buy nontoxic paints and try to paint outside so you don't smell all the vapors and toxic aromas from the paint, oh and wear a mask.. And she also says congratulations.. ^_^
5. You should have plenty of ventalation on your porch. It's not like your closed up in a bedroom. You and the baby should be fine. Ask your Dr just to be sure!
6. Depends on the type of paint you are using. I would take all precautions available. Wear a ventilated mask and use low Oder-safer paints. Be in a very well ventilated room. You still risk birth defects... BUT... mothers have painted for years before all the hype and studies were made and few had little aliens. Otherwise we all would be walking around with two heads, four arms, and thirty six toes. Nesting you know. I painted with acrylics while pregnant, but they are non toxic. I did avoid regular house paint, it made me sick even to smell. Gotta love pregnancy. I think it would be fine as long as you limit the amount of time you breath in fumes. Best if you could find some one else to paint the basic, overall areas and you add the details and finish work.
7. There's plenty of ventilation on your porch, so I'd say go for it. We painted 2 rooms of the house, a dresser, and a crib when I was pregnant, and my son is fine. We opened all the windows, turned on the fans, and then after the painting was done, shut the door to the rooms until it dried (to minimize the odor in the rest of the house). There are some special paints you can buy, but I'm not sure what brand/store they are. Also, they sell those little paper masks at places like Home Depot, and if you wore that, you'd be even better protected from accidentally inhaling something. We used regular paint, and had no masks when we did ours.
8. I heard it's not good to take fumes of paint when you are painting and pregnant .....