How indoor air quality impacts babies and toddlers

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published June 24, 2025 at 10:47 AM CDT

Preschool teacher Bridget Jeffreys reads to students, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, at Dorothy I. Height Elementary School in Baltimore. (Stephanie Scarbrough/AP)

When you hear about the dangers of unhealthy air, you might think about what you experience outside on a hot day. But new research highlights that we spend more than 90% of our time inside, and indoor air quality can have a powerful impact on the health and development of babies and young children.

Here & Now’s Peter O’Dowd speaks with Dr. Lindsey Burghardt, a practicing pediatrician and chief science officer at The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.