Originally published here: January 6, 2017
Updated: June 17, 2021
Below is a post I originally wrote and shared in March of 2015. It’s a post I have shared often so I am re-sharing now, so those who are new to my page and my work have context for my story as well as the benefit of the information provided. Thanks for reading, friends! – Tamara
People are ALWAYS asking me… “How quickly did your child’s level go down?” or “How quickly can I expect my child’s level to go down?”
There are so many factors at play (in terms of how quickly you can expect your child’s level to go down) that it is a difficult question to answer.
However – I just was going through (my husband’s) e-mail looking for some information to quickly share with a journalist asking for specifics about our kids’ levels history, and I found the following e-mails from 2007 that discuss Avi’s blood lead level and specifically show how quickly it went down (and then back up and then back down again!)
Please feel free to ask questions in the comments on this post and I will do my best to answer them. Click on the image of the e-mail to see slightly larger.
Blood Lead Tests of my son Avi from 2005
- November 4, 2005 (Avi): BLL 16.0
- December 7, 2005 (Avi): BLL 14.0
Blood Lead Tests of my son Avi from 2006
- January 3, 2006 (Avi): BLL 12.0
- April 3, 2006 (Avi): BLL 15.0
- April 24, 2006 (Avi): BLL 11.0
- May 10, 2006 (Avi): BLL 12.0
- June 14, 2006 (Avi): BLL 9.0
- July 14, 2006 (Avi): BLL 9.0
- August 23, 2006 (Avi): BLL 6.0
- October 19, 2006 (Avi): BLL 6.0
- November 30, 2006 (Avi): BLL 6.0
Blood Lead Tests of my kids from 2007
- January 31, 2007 (Avi): BLL 5.0
- March 12, 2007 (Avi): BLL 4.0
My children’s 2014 blood lead level test results:
- 2014: Avi, BLL 0.8 (age 10)
- 2014: Charlie, BLL 0.4 (age 6)
Sincerely,
Tamara Rubin
Mother of Lead Poisoned Children
#LeadSafeMama
Tamara,
Do blood lead levels need to be drawn from a vein versus finger prick to be accurate?
Yes, drawn from a vein. Finger pricks are not accurate
Hi Tamara, my 7 months old baby tested 0.02 umol/L, c. 0.47 mg/dL. We live in London, so lots of pollution. What level would indicate an ongoing exposure (from lead based paint for example), as opposed to environmental trace elements (unavoidable exposure per se, air pollution etc)? Should pre crawling baby, breastfed, have nil level? Is that possible? Also, what is the expected trajectory from jnfant to toddler in terms of the blood lead level increase? Thank you very much. Justyna