Am I being overly cautious? Should I just let the contractors do their
thing and just clean up stuff myself afterwards? (HEPA filters, TSP
soap, etc.) Is it unreasonable to expect a contractor to do things
properly with regards to lead?


While one can be too paranoid, I don't think you are, with an infant
in the house. I would call a few- make that quite a few- more
contractors, until you find one who will do the removal with proper
precautions- plastic sheeting to isolate the area from rest of house,
vacuum to create negative pressure so the dust goes through vac filter,
thorough cleanup of area. You can follow with your own cleanup, wipe
down walls, etc. Infants do put everything in their mouths, and the
more we learn about lead, the more we find that it is harmful even in
minute quantities to infants. Qute a few middle class people who have
done home renovations have been shocked when their kids turned up with
high lead levels, which they always associated with 'the ghetto.'
Granted, yours is not a major renovation, but I would still take
precautions.