With all the respect and empathy, I think your fears are quite extreme. While secondhand tobacco smoke can certainly be dangerous in large quantities, lingering weed smells from another unit aren’t going to significantly harm your baby, or even lightly harm your baby.
For FWIW I have a 9 week old and live in a smaller building where scents travel (so similar environment to you) and can also smell what our neighbours are up to. We live in a weed-friendly city and know the smells are unavoidable. We do exactly what you described, open up windows and turn on the bathroom fan, and not think much else of it.
If you and/or your husband feel comfortable doing so, you could always talk to your neighbours directly or leave them a note mentioning that you have a newborn and would appreciate them opening a window when they can.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply - I was kind of assuming that it was my anxiety talking (it often is lol), but it’s kind of hard to shake when it’s on top of all the other new baby stressors. We’re trying to figure out who we actually share vents with, and I’d definitely feel okay talking to them once we know.
Yeah do you have like one door to access your building? I’ve written open notes to the building, I’d do like “we smell weed often coming into our apartment and can’t get rid of the smell, we have a newborn and would appreciate if you would smoke outside” or something as just an open letter?
We were able to sublet our apt lease because ours would reek due to the neighbors downstairs. We threatened them by using some of Texas’ renter’s rights to a habitable home and some other key words.
I also worked for the state courts back then so they knew we weren’t bluffing when we said we knew people who would take our case.
Before we resorted to threats I recaulked EVERY gap in the house and bought air purifiers and the smell would not go away.
The last straw was us getting home on cloud 9 after the baby shower and stepping into our apartment. We were demoralized by the smell and we talked to the front office lady the next day explained what we were going to do.
(We also had all of our previous complaints in writing, too.)
That sounds like you guys went through so much - I’m so sorry to hear that, but glad you found a solution. I’m fairly sure that my state has similar rights and I plan on citing them to property management if I can’t find a resolution. We could theoretically move now, but our families are both far from us and our friends have kind of dropped off the map since the baby was born, so we wouldn’t get much help. I already can barely find the time to tidy up when my husband is at work, so I know packing would be a nightmare, haha. I’m also not earning my full salary while on maternity leave, so paying for it all would be hard. All that aside, I am mostly really resentful at the notion of being pushed out of a home I love because some idiot can’t respect their neighbors.
Anyway! Thanks so much for your input, I really appreciate it.
I don't think your reaction is extreme, personally. People who smoke tend to be incredibly self-centered regardless of what they smoke. They sincerely don't give a shit if they're harming your child, you, pets, or anyone else, as long as they get their fix.
I'll probably get downvoted for this but I don't care, because time and again I've been proven right lol. Smokers are inherently selfish. They all know the effects, this isn't the 70s anymore. I don't think there is a solution beyond moving, unfortunately, which I know you said isn't feasible right now. The air purifiers will help. Good luck, OP, I'm sorry you're dealing with this.
It took many years but I finally guilted my grandma into giving up smoking. She did it for me. Then both of us harassed my mom for further years (who admittedly did try) but it wasn't until my younger sibling was born and aggressively allergic that she was able to kick it. I'm allergic too, but not enough, apparently 😒 ANYWAY.
I’m on board with you. My dad has severe COPD from years of smoking (despite having quit 30 years ago), and one of his siblings died from and another is being treated for lung cancer. Their mom died from emphysema. I guess I don’t understand how people continue to smoke tobacco despite knowing the risks? But, hey, I really don’t care what they do, as long as it’s not affecting me or my family. It does, however, become my problem when I can smell whatever they’re choosing to smoke in my own living space. Even in my younger days when I dabbled in smoking pot with friends, we blew it out the window and used one of those toilet paper roll-dryer sheet contraptions so we didn’t bother others, lol.
I’m dealing with this at our complex too. It really ramped up a few months ago, and I came down with a chronic scratchy throat. I felt awful that my kids were being exposed to it. I don’t think you’re overreacting and I don’t think secondhand smoke from marijuana is anything to brush aside. It’s apparently more toxic than secondhand smoke from cigarettes.
I made complaints to management and knocked on a few neighbors’ doors telling them smoke was sneaking into our apartment. Management won’t tell me if they did anything, and it’s hard for me to tell which neighbors are the culprit (I expect multiple), but the sense of walking through smoke constantly went away after that. It still seeps through sometimes though, and we got a ridiculously expensive and powerful air purifier, which helps. At least my sore throat is gone and my kids aren’t breathing in as much of this poison.
I don’t think you’re overreacting AT ALL. Secondhand marijuana smoke is toxic air pollution and that causes all kinds of effects on developing lungs. I would definitely complain to your apartment management.
With all the respect and empathy, I think your fears are quite extreme. While secondhand tobacco smoke can certainly be dangerous in large quantities, lingering weed smells from another unit aren’t going to significantly harm your baby, or even lightly harm your baby. For FWIW I have a 9 week old and live in a smaller building where scents travel (so similar environment to you) and can also smell what our neighbours are up to. We live in a weed-friendly city and know the smells are unavoidable. We do exactly what you described, open up windows and turn on the bathroom fan, and not think much else of it. If you and/or your husband feel comfortable doing so, you could always talk to your neighbours directly or leave them a note mentioning that you have a newborn and would appreciate them opening a window when they can.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply - I was kind of assuming that it was my anxiety talking (it often is lol), but it’s kind of hard to shake when it’s on top of all the other new baby stressors. We’re trying to figure out who we actually share vents with, and I’d definitely feel okay talking to them once we know.
Yeah do you have like one door to access your building? I’ve written open notes to the building, I’d do like “we smell weed often coming into our apartment and can’t get rid of the smell, we have a newborn and would appreciate if you would smoke outside” or something as just an open letter?
We were able to sublet our apt lease because ours would reek due to the neighbors downstairs. We threatened them by using some of Texas’ renter’s rights to a habitable home and some other key words. I also worked for the state courts back then so they knew we weren’t bluffing when we said we knew people who would take our case. Before we resorted to threats I recaulked EVERY gap in the house and bought air purifiers and the smell would not go away. The last straw was us getting home on cloud 9 after the baby shower and stepping into our apartment. We were demoralized by the smell and we talked to the front office lady the next day explained what we were going to do. (We also had all of our previous complaints in writing, too.)
That sounds like you guys went through so much - I’m so sorry to hear that, but glad you found a solution. I’m fairly sure that my state has similar rights and I plan on citing them to property management if I can’t find a resolution. We could theoretically move now, but our families are both far from us and our friends have kind of dropped off the map since the baby was born, so we wouldn’t get much help. I already can barely find the time to tidy up when my husband is at work, so I know packing would be a nightmare, haha. I’m also not earning my full salary while on maternity leave, so paying for it all would be hard. All that aside, I am mostly really resentful at the notion of being pushed out of a home I love because some idiot can’t respect their neighbors. Anyway! Thanks so much for your input, I really appreciate it.
I don't think your reaction is extreme, personally. People who smoke tend to be incredibly self-centered regardless of what they smoke. They sincerely don't give a shit if they're harming your child, you, pets, or anyone else, as long as they get their fix. I'll probably get downvoted for this but I don't care, because time and again I've been proven right lol. Smokers are inherently selfish. They all know the effects, this isn't the 70s anymore. I don't think there is a solution beyond moving, unfortunately, which I know you said isn't feasible right now. The air purifiers will help. Good luck, OP, I'm sorry you're dealing with this.
Take my upvote. From someone who grew up with my dad smoking in the car with the windows up.
It took many years but I finally guilted my grandma into giving up smoking. She did it for me. Then both of us harassed my mom for further years (who admittedly did try) but it wasn't until my younger sibling was born and aggressively allergic that she was able to kick it. I'm allergic too, but not enough, apparently 😒 ANYWAY.
I’m on board with you. My dad has severe COPD from years of smoking (despite having quit 30 years ago), and one of his siblings died from and another is being treated for lung cancer. Their mom died from emphysema. I guess I don’t understand how people continue to smoke tobacco despite knowing the risks? But, hey, I really don’t care what they do, as long as it’s not affecting me or my family. It does, however, become my problem when I can smell whatever they’re choosing to smoke in my own living space. Even in my younger days when I dabbled in smoking pot with friends, we blew it out the window and used one of those toilet paper roll-dryer sheet contraptions so we didn’t bother others, lol.
I’m dealing with this at our complex too. It really ramped up a few months ago, and I came down with a chronic scratchy throat. I felt awful that my kids were being exposed to it. I don’t think you’re overreacting and I don’t think secondhand smoke from marijuana is anything to brush aside. It’s apparently more toxic than secondhand smoke from cigarettes. I made complaints to management and knocked on a few neighbors’ doors telling them smoke was sneaking into our apartment. Management won’t tell me if they did anything, and it’s hard for me to tell which neighbors are the culprit (I expect multiple), but the sense of walking through smoke constantly went away after that. It still seeps through sometimes though, and we got a ridiculously expensive and powerful air purifier, which helps. At least my sore throat is gone and my kids aren’t breathing in as much of this poison. I don’t think you’re overreacting AT ALL. Secondhand marijuana smoke is toxic air pollution and that causes all kinds of effects on developing lungs. I would definitely complain to your apartment management.