Patient's question:
We moved back to our new home when our baby was four months old. The cabinets in the bathroom had a bad smell (this cabinet has been purchased for a year and five months now, and the bathroom is ventilated 24 hours a day). It's next to my bedroom, and the door to my room is usually open for ventilation during the day. Later, I found out that if there's a draft, the odor from the bathroom cabinet would slightly drift into the room, but it was limited to the area near the door. I couldn't smell any odor inside the room, and I could only faintly detect it when using the bathroom. There's also a slight smell in one of the living room cabinets, which has been purchased for over a year and has been well-ventilated. I mostly eat in the living room because the dining area is far from the cabinet, so I hardly notice its smell.Could this affect breastfeeding? Could it affect the baby?
Doctor's answer:
The organs of newborn infants are not fully developed, even if they have certain functional capabilities, they are quite fragile. New furniture releases formaldehyde, benzene, and organic substances from paint, which can severely irritate the lungs during the baby's breathing process, leading to respiratory diseases such as rhinitis, sinusitis, tracheitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia. Infants have a low immune system and sensitive skin to substances in the environment. When exposed to harmful gases released by new furniture, they are prone to allergic symptoms such as redness, swelling, and itching.