To ensure that Junior has the best conditions for his development, it is important to pay attention to healthy furnishings in his kingdom. If the room is contaminated with harmful substances, this can lead to illnesses and developmental disorders. Children are particularly at risk because their organism absorbs three times more pollutants. Since their immune system is not yet fully developed, they also have fewer defenses than adults.

Often the ill-making culprits are in wallpaper, carpets, or furniture and escape from there into the air we breathe. The pollutants can irritate children in the short term, make them ill in the long term and even cause allergies.

It is therefore important to know that new inventory – from wallpaper to carpeting, from mattresses to furniture – needs some time to air out before use. This allows solvents and plasticizers to outgas, preferably four to six weeks.

Be sure to observe the specified drying times for wallpaper, paste, and paint.

The best protection, however, is offered by ecological products that combine health with environmental compatibility. They are low in pollutants and release few substances into the environment. An ecological carpet is made of natural fibers and does not contain biocides against moth and beetle feeding. So children crawling on the floor do not come into contact with insect poisons.

The walls in the children’s room should be wallpapered with woodchip and paper wallpapers that bear the “Blue Angel” eco-label. These are environmentally friendly recycled paper products that emit hardly any harmful substances such as formaldehyde. Low-emission wall paints are also available.

Harmless Children’s Furniture

When it comes to wardrobes, beds, mattresses, and the like, make sure they are as low as possible in solvents, plasticizers, formaldehyde, and pentachlorophenol content. It is best to turn to an ecological manufacturer of harmless children’s furniture. With him, the entire production route is aligned with health and environmentally friendly aspects. This is good for children and nature alike.

Ecological furniture can be made from the environmentally friendly raw material wood, without overexploitation of nature. The children’s furniture manufacturer PAIDI from Hafenlohr, for example, processes forest wood that comes from environmentally and socially responsible forestry.

Products from PAIDI bear the ‘Blue Angel’. This seal of quality helps consumers to identify harmless furniture. The world’s oldest eco-label rewards companies that offer ecologically optimized products. The ‘Blue Angel’ stands for low-pollutant furniture without solvents, CFCs, and heavy metals.

For children, in particular, it is especially important that not only the furniture itself is free of harmful substances. “That’s why we use sweat- and saliva-proof varnishes and stains, as they are normally used for children’s toys that are often put in the hand or mouth”, explains Udo Groene, Managing Director of PAIDI.

The lifespan of furniture alone is often a sign of whether it is an eco-logical product. The longer the pieces of furniture are used, the later and less numerous they end up in the garbage. This is possible only if the furniture allows the personal development of the child. Furniture that grows with the child is practical so that a baby room can be transformed into a child’s and teenager’s room in no time.

The Children’s Room Is Not An Operating Room

As a general rule, a pollutant-free nursery should not be a germ-free nursery.

Excessive cleanliness and extensive cleaning with aggressive or even germicidal agents are out of place in a child’s room. According to the current state of science, moderate contact with germs is even important for the development of the child’s immune system. And finally, all the ecological furnishings in a child’s room are of no use if excessive cleaning mania and chemical cleaning agents subsequently make the little ones sick.