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Crawling on Hardwood Floors
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Anonymous
| We have hardwood floors throughout our house and am not sure how to make the floor more comfortable for our soon to be mobile baby. I am disgusted by the thought of all the dirt he will pick up on his hands down on the floor then put in his mouth. Even though we keep things pretty clean, I always get dirt and hair on my feet when walking around barefooted. I also don't want him to get bruised knees. Are rugs the only answer? I know rugs and carpet get dirty, but at least the crud doesn't stick to skin as readily and they provide some cushion. I'm wondering if anyone has any creative solutions for creating a "crawl friendly" environmnet or if people just let their little ones get down and dirty on the hard floor. |
Anonymous
| Not sure how you'd avoid dirty hands, but I've seen knee cushions for crawlers. |
Anonymous
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I think as long as you clean the floor regularly, crawling the floor is ok. Carpets can acutally get way nastier than the floor...it just hides better. But a little dirt can help build immunity. If you don't already, you may want to have everyone in the house take off their shoes at the door so they don't track in additional dirt/germs all over the house. House slippers too...will keep your feet sweat/oil/skin off the floor.
My problem is my hardwood floors are so slippery, my kids keep slipping. They don't crawl anymore but are always running around and are not used to our new floors. |
Anonymous
| I was worried too but dd did not crawl too long beofre walking and now we keep her in shoes/barefoot to prevent slips. They are gonna get brusies, etc. sad but it never seemed to bother her too much. As for dirt, after she went to bed I would clean them. |
Anonymous
| we have hardwood, too, and it has been no problem. kids are going to eat dirt, so I try not to worry about it. I swifer as often as I can. as far as comfort goes, with the cold weather, DS has been in pants or jammies (no bare knees), so no issues there. I have seen these things that look like leg warmers that babies can wear to protect their knees while crawling. |
Anonymous
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We just went to Lowe's or Home Depot and bought some inexpensive area rugs--kind of like Berber but 12'x8' or something like that. We wanted some extra cushioning and traction.
Always get the socks with the rubber grippy stuff on the bottom! I have friends with stone floors (it's a real log cabin in the mountains) and she went to a carpet store and had them bind nice carpet--they have pads underneath too. It's prevented a lot of injuries for them! |
Anonymous
| We have hardwood and just let baby crawl around. I am not sure if hardwood is any more dirty than carpet. Actually, I think that carpet is more disgusting, because dirt just gets ground in and you can't really get it out! We put DD in one-piece outfits with long pants. Then, her knees had some covering. In the winter, fleece is good (although picks up more dirt). Regular pants sometimes just fell off. DD has no butt, so she would almost crawl right out of them! It was one of the funniest things to see! |
Anonymous
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I just wipe my floors down once a week with a solution of vinegar and water and do not allow shoes in the house. I do a quick swiffer each night to get the dust and cat hairs off. We don't have a dog, so I'm sure this helps tremendously in keeping the grime away. I never notice dirt build up-you just have to keep on top of it. There is no way I could keep carpet so clean, carpets harbor so much bacteria.
Keeping shoes off in the house is important if you don't want dirt. |
Anonymous
We take our shoes off in the kitchen-our floors and area rugs stay clean. The hardware floors are never grityy, but they do get dusty. |
Organicmania
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|
We have hardwood floors, and have had two crawling babies on them! Actually, hardwood is better than some carpets, which can let off gases that are not very good for a baby to inhale.
I've never heard of bruised knees! I think the main thing is to remove your shoes so that you are not tracking in chemicals, pesticides, and oils from the streets and sidewalks. A broom and a damp mop work wonders! Good luck and have fun with Mobile Baby! |
Anonymous
Anonymous
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We have hard wood floors but our speed demon DD doesn't have bruised knees. Never heard of that.
We have a no shoe wearing policy in the house (always have) so that definitely cuts back on dirt, etc. We also purchased those colorful large foam puzzle-like pieces that form a mat when placed together. I don't know what the brand name is...sorta hard to describe. |
Anonymous
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Babies have fat pads on their knees for this very purpose! We did not evolve in a carpeted world, and babies can do just fine on hard surfaces that adults would pain adults after just a few minutes.
As for dirt - as long as it isn't unsanitary (like bugs crawling on your floor) it's good for their immune systems. Sweep once a day and spend the rest of your time enjoying your baby. |
Anonymous
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Ditto-never saw a bruised anything from twin crawlers. We had Baby Drag Races and would set them off across the kitchen to bet on which crawling method was faster; the one-knee two-hand push off of the 4 on the floor shimmy. Soon as they could walk, they each got a swiffer. Seriously - they love those things.
Also recommend the foam puzzle mats. Easy to clean/store and less irritating than carpet fibers for our allergy-ridden family. Leg knee/warmers? Look cute, but wouldn't they interfere with blood circulation? (Just kidding!) OP, we found the stuff our babies let out of their bodies all over our wood floors was MUCH nastier than anything they might have taken in. 
Enjoy your pre-walker! |
Anonymous
| My concern too. Since my baby will be mobile soon, does anyone have suggestions for a good wooden floor cleaner that doesn't contain too many chemicals. I use swiffer now. |