Humidifiers

[boygirl3]

I have read the previous string on humidifiers but wondered if anyone has anything new/additional to add....last posting was April '05. I'm looking for preferences for both cool mist and warm.....we live where it is hot/dry and the water is hard! Thanks in advance.

[boys2enough]

Hi, I don't have any recommendations. But I thought I should share with you our experience with a warm mist humidifier, and it was not a good experience: My DS burned his hand on the mists!

The humidifier was sitting on the floor far far away from his crib. We didn't think it was dangerous since we only turned it on when he's sleeping at night (and when he was supposed to be in the crib). Well, we were new parents then. DS1 was about 10 months old, and one night when I put him down for bed, he started throwing up all the milk badly (projectile style). In the confusion, I left him on the floor and totally forgot about the humidifier. Suddenly I heard his scream. He'd crawled to where the humidifier was and put his hands over where the mists were coming out! We took him to the emergency room. Luckily the burns were not too bad, but I had to apply apointment and wrapped his hand up for a week. The next day we gave away our humidifier to a friend who does not have kids.

That was almost 6 years ago, and when I am thinking about it now, I still feel guilty and sad... :-(

I know there are some good reasons for buying a warm mist humidifier. If you do though, make sure that it is somewhere your baby will not get to.

HTH.

Cheers, Lin
Mom to 2 wild boys
D 3/98
G 11/02

http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/kao/otn/pnoodles.gif

[amp]

We have one of the Hunter Care Free cool mist humidifiers. It's a bit on the noisy side, but we keep it in the nursery in the winter and DS doesn't have any trouble sleeping with it. It works well. We have to fill it about every day or so, and I like to do that anyway, just to rinse it out, but I love not having to change filters. We bought ours at Walmart. I suspect we may also need one for the new baby's nursery this winter, and I would buy the same kind again I think.

[WooChx]

I've posted this before and I'll post it again. I stand firm on my love of my warm mist humidifer.

**********

Here are my thoughts: I have a Hunter Cool Mist - we like to refer to it as SWAMP THING. First of all because of our hard water the perma wick filter turned into a rock after 1 month. I clean the whole thing regularly in the dishwasher (none of the cleaning instructions given would remove the disgusting orange slime). It is now 3 months old. Recently while trying to clean slime out of the motorized housing section with a scrub sponge, I noticed that the plastic tubing had turned orange or at least that's what I thought. It was actually FILLED solid with orange slime. It took over and hour of soaking in hydrogen perioxide and hot water rinses to get the junk out. I HATE THAT HUMIDIFIER. I later found out it was some sort of nasty bacteria that can accumulate in humidifiers and make the air you breath toxic.

On the other hand, we own a Honeywell WARM Mist humidifier and its not affected at all by our hard water and never get slimy. I love it (seriously, I'm in love with my humidifier)!!! In fact I bought a second just in case the first one ever breaks!

[Hippoharbor]

I wonder if this "orange slime" that you mention is similar to the reddish stuff that I have been seeing in DSs cool mist humidifier (Vicks model). I will rinse it out and refill and, by the next day, it has reddish stuff in it. If this is bacteria growing, that is very unsettling and I am going to toss this immediately.
Is there any item that you can add to a cool mist humidifier to eliminate bacterial growth?

Michelle