Lead Test

I received the results of Leilani's blood-lead test that was done during her last visit to the pediatrician. She got a 4. After a bit of searching online, I learned that a score between 0-4 means there is very little lead in a child. However, the letter from the doctor said that we should schedule a follow-up appointment and have her retested. Ugh. That's just what I want to do... take Leilani to have more blood drawn because that's always a treat for everyone involved.

What I'm curious about is how she was ever exposed to ANY lead. Her bedroom is almost 100% brand new. By that I mean the drywall, paint and all the furniture is new. I installed it all myself... drywall included. The house itself was built in the mid 70's, so it could run a risk of having had lead paint at one time, but all of the walls have been repainted in the last 10 years, so any lead paint that would be on the walls is safely sealed in by newer paint. And she doesn't exactly go around scraping the walls with her teeth, so what gives?!?

There are two suspected sources in my mind:
1) She chews on the sides of her crib. We bought her crib brand new from Target just before she was born, so the finish on it should not contain dangerous amounts of lead. But who knows.
2) Some of her toys. Specifically this really cute shark squeezy toy that I bought in the little $1 section of, you guessed it, Target. I thought it would be a great toy while we were on vacation in California because she could play with it at the water park. It wasn't until later that I discovered it was actually a DOG TOY. I'm pretty sure the powers-that-be don't regulate lead levels in dog toys like they do in children's toys. So that makes me wonder about it.

Either way, I'm going to go out after Gymboree today to see if I can find some of those plastic covers that go around the edges of a crib and I'm going to get rid of the shark squeezy toy.

I'm determined to lower Leilani's exposure to lead and get a better result when we retest her. Just because the CDC says that a lead test with a result 4 is acceptable, doesn't mean I have to accept it.