How often do you....(when you have a baby)

[Pamela H in Texas]

Okay, so my "baby" is 16yrs old. So what do *I* know about having a baby around? Our new baby is 6months old. We've had her for 2 months. When we first got her, she stayed on a blanket if on the floor. Life was good.

 

Now, she has other plans. She wants to roll, turn, roll some more. She's trying to crawl. She sits and rolls some more. She thinks rolling is a transportation method!

 

I cannot STAND her on the floor. I have trouble with her 18month old brother being on the floor. It drives me batty. Just so you know I'm not totally crazy, I am not usually bothered by the 3, 4, and 5yr olds being on the floor.

 

So I am wondering if I'm just being nuts...but...

 

How often would you vacuum with a baby new to rolling and trying to learn to crawl? She's not putting things in her mouth (other than toys). But she's TOUCHING the floor! LOL

 

I guess the other part of this question is "and is that enough?" Should I just not be freaked out about it as long as the floor is as reasonably cleaned as can be expected in a family of 9 if I'm vacuuming, sweeping, and mopping regularly?

Edited August 14, 2011 by 2J5M9K

[LibraryLover]

:D You made me laugh. They have to be on the floor so they can do their baby thang. That said, I did vac frequently. I still vac a couple times a week and we don't have babies.

 

I also could not stand to let them into my bed (which I know you can't do with your little one) after they had crawled around on the floor. I always changed them or stripped their outler layer off right before putting them in my bed. I just couldn't stand the thought of floor in my bed. ;)

[fatfishes]

I have creative darlings.They are always cutting and sticking and making something.Plus I have a dog and cat.Most days it got hoovered twice- just the high traffic areas.

[Renee in NC]

I said Daily, but we vacuum daily anyway (sometimes more than once!)

[Farrar]

I said every other day, but we only have a couple of rugs so the vacuum only gets so much use here. I think I swept pretty much every day (or twice!) from the time they were about 6 mos until they were about 2.5 because they were just on the floor SO MUCH. Their food was on the floor half the time. Now, honestly, I only probably only sweep twice a week and vacuum once a week.

[Tap]

I vacuum daily when there is a baby in the house. It is easier than watching for every stray thing they will find.

 

I usually put a huge comforter or blanket on the floor for them to roll around on. It is a bit cleaner, since I can wash it in the machine. They eventually roll off of that too, but it helps to minimize the ick factor when they are on the blanket.

 

We wear our shoes in the house so I do feel that he carpet is truly dirty. If we didn't wear our shoes, I would be less inclined to worry about it.

[LidiyaDawn]

I voted "other" because I don't vacuum floors - I sweep. Lots. :D Vacuums, to me, are for carpets.

[swellmomma]

my "baby" is nearly 4 and I still vacuum daily. I vacuum the livingroom and bedrooms everynight before bed as part of my evening routin(I sweep and mop the other floors too). When I babysit smaller babies, in addition to my nightly vacuum I often vacuum mid day too and still keep a blanket down just in case. I have a cat that sheds, kids that leave a trail of crumbs everywhere and the olders have a habit of forgetting to take off their shoes when they run in to grab something. So it gets done everyday no question.

[extendedforecast]

I voted 'other' because we have tile floors that get swept or vacuumed at least daily. When we had carpet, I would rotate vacuuming upstairs and downstairs, so my answer would be every other day. I was constantly picking up little things off the floor as I saw them if it wasn't a vacuum day.

[JennyD]

My youngest is 12mo, and I vacuum and wet mop the floors once a week. However, we never, ever wear shoes in the house and I block the baby from going anywhere near the entryway where outside shoes are kept. I also sweep the dining area and kitchen several times a day.

[Murphy101]

Approx twice a week for the rooms baby is in the most, once a week for other rooms.

 

We actually vacuum our living room 3-4 times a week because it is a huge traffic hole and the baby is on the floor on a blanket often.

 

It sorta depends on your lifestyle too.

 

9 siblings here = forever bits of paper and whatnot on the floor.

 

With such a huge gap between your kids ages, I'd just have a family powwow saying the floors and 2 feet up from them need to be extra safe until the little one is onto the next phase.

[Excelsior! Academy]

I voted 2x a week, but the real answer is as often as needed. We sweep our tile 1-3x per day and vacuum carpet a minimum of 2x a week.

[RahRah]

My six month old started crawling....normally the family room, where he tends to spend the most time on the floor, is done once a week - but now that he's mobile and crawling everywhere, we're doing it every other day, and still checking days we aren't vacuuming for small things, bits of paper, etc. that might be overlooked if it were just us 'bigger folk'.

 

We also don't usually wear shoes in the house, so for me at least, him being on the floor isn't horrifying since I'm thinking about what others might have walked into the room and onto the carpet!

[RahRah]

 

With such a huge gap between your kids ages, I'd just have a family powwow saying the floors and 2 feet up from them need to be extra safe until the little one is onto the next phase.

 

How true! We just had this talk with DS, who is almost seven, that his legos, marbles, and other tiny piece toys have to be away from the baby....we're hoping by end of the week to have a space that's just for baby toys and space for DS's smaller stuff that we can put some type of gate in front of? Any ideas?

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I voted other. We vacuum atleast 2X a day- sometimes more BUT we have dogs. We sweep the hard floors after every meal plus sometimes a time or two more. I think I did the same when my older kids were little before we had dogs and then once the dogs came we just kept it up.

 

 

Before you say anything about my "habits" we have no dog odors :lol:

 

Ok, now you can call me the crazy vacuum lady :D

[happypamama]

I'm voting "other," because I tend not to put the babies down much until they're walking. They DO crawl, but that usually is reserved for certain rooms, ones that don't get a lot of traffic. The playroom and schoolroom downstairs, and our office and bedroom upstairs, stay a lot neater than the kitchen, which is our most-used entrance into the house, as well as the eating place. I just tend to keep babies on my back when they're in the kitchen during the crawling stage.

[Aubrey]

As often as necessary/possible.

[Laura Corin]

I have vivid memories of taking my crawling boys to my father's house to stay and their fleece sleepers ending up coated with dust from his unvacuumed house. They seem to have survived.

 

We don't wear shoes indoors, so vacuuming once a week would seem fine. As it was, we had household help when the boys were small and the house was swept every day.

 

Laura

[Denisemomof4]

my answer will be different than yours I'm sure. There are a few things to factor in here. How many pets? What kind of floor?

 

I've always been one to wash my floors once per week. I'm starting to slip because we have SO much wood/solid surface flooring and it's really getting to be a bit much. But when I had a baby, I'd vacuum at LEAST once per day, normally with a dust mop or two between, on all hard surface flooring. The area rugs got vacuumed once per day.

 

I have two small dogs, two cats, a greyhound, and DUSTY, MESSY birds, so I vacuum daily, plus sweet and/or dust mop.

 

If I only had one dog and much carpet, I'd adjust. I don't do this because I *want* to, I do it to keep it clean.

[butterflymommy]

I am not a clean freak but am pretty much forced to vacuum (or have one of the kids vacuum) the major traffic areas of the house every day. Otherwise the crumbs and grime very quickly get out of control. With a crawling baby it would be even more important. I also don't let the kids wear shoes in the house, which helps.

 

In the low traffic areas you could probably get away with 1-2X a week.

[Alice]

I voted every other week on the poll by accident, but meant to say weekly. I didn't vacuum more or less than usual with a baby, weekly is about our norm.

 

We also don't wear shoes in the house, don't have carpeting and we sweep if something is obviously dirty.

 

I figure it's good for their immune systems to be exposed to some dirt. :)

[justamouse]

daily, matter of fact it never got put away because sometimes it would be twice and my Mom would get a tongue lashing if she came in the house with dirty shoes on.

 

Now, before I get slammed about the shoes off--I had THREE toddlers at the same time.

[BatmansWife]

Here's a few things you could do to minimize your worry:

 

1. Don't have pets in the house. I can still vividly picture our cat...before we had children...scooting his butt across my living room carpet! A friend of ours had a big dog in the house with her baby....the baby always had dog hair wrapped around her nuk! :ack2:

 

2. Don't allow shoes to be worn in your house. Do you know where your shoes have been?? Think about it when you use a public bathroom the next time. :ack2:

 

3. Don't allow eating in any rooms other than the kitchen. This is one rule I don't follow. We do eat in the living room, but we don't have a baby crawling around. But, I am amazed at how much food and crumbs I find. I would prefer to not eat in the living room, but our kitchen is too tiny.

 

 

daily, matter of fact it never got put away because sometimes it would be twice and my Mom would get a tongue lashing if she came in the house with dirty shoes on.

 

Now, before I get slammed about the shoes off--I had THREE toddlers at the same time.

 

Why would you get slammed about shoes off?? To me, it's only common sense.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Okay, so it doesn't sound like I've been completely anal about this or anything. I guess I just haven't had to do so for so long that it seems weird and I am doing it JUST because of the two littlest.

 

Just for what it's worth:

 

1) We drop shoes at the front door (we have FOUR laundry baskets at the door. One for bags and three for shoes); but we're not nutso about it.

2) We have carpet in bedrooms (she's not in except ours to sleep) and the livingroom (her main stomping ground). The carpet is almost 3 years old but the people before us weren't neat freaks.

3) We have just one dog, a lhasa. However, I also worry about the dog before ours (a lab-ish mix) a little.

4) Only I eat in the livingroom (though my dd eats in her room and my ds in the office sometimes).

Edited August 14, 2011 by 2J5M9K

[chicagoshannon]

I would LOVE to vacuum every day but that doesn't happen. I do it twice a week.

[reign]

I am impressed with everyone's cleanliness. I'm going to try harder!

[BatmansWife]

Okay, so it doesn't sound like I've been completely anal about this or anything. I guess I just haven't had to do so for so long that it seems weird and I am doing it JUST because of the two littlest.

 

Just for what it's worth:

 

1) We drop shoes at the front door (we have FOUR laundry baskets at the door. One for bags and three for shoes); but we're not nutso about it.

2) We have carpet in bedrooms (she's not in except ours to sleep) and the livingroom (her main stomping ground). The carpet is almost 3 years old but the people before us weren't neat freaks.

3) We have just one dog, a lhasa. However, I also worry about the dog before ours (a lab-ish mix) a little.

4) Only I eat in the livingroom (though my dd eats in her room and my ds in the office sometimes).

 

Sounds like it's time to rent a Rug Doctor and do a once over on all the carpeting (especially if you didn't do this when you moved in). Then you won't have to worry about the previous owners and their dog so much. Once you know it's clean from the Rug Doctor, then you can just keep up with vacuuming daily. How's that for an idea? :D

[Calendula]

We get around to it about twice a week (really - that's my husband, I'd probably get around to it far less often). That's not for lack of grossing me out, though - I can totally relate to that. I still try to stick her on a blanket at 5 months, but she is scooting and rolling around, so that isn't really working anymore. She had a cheerio stuck to her face the other day. :ack2:

 

Consider it immunity boosting.... ;)

[staceyobu]

I am seriously blown away by all the daily vacuumers. I think our house looks pretty clean and i never vacuum more than once a week. A little dirt doesn't hurt anyone! Neither will a stray dog hair or two!

[Farrar]

But see, I can't imagine sweeping/vacuuming daily NOW. I just voted that I did back when the kids were that little. And a lot of it was because they made huge messes themselves back then - crumbs, muck, drool puddles, and the like. The time that I'm most likely to sweep now... is when a friend with a baby is coming to visit!

[RahRah]

Okay, so it doesn't sound like I've been completely anal about this or anything. I guess I just haven't had to do so for so long that it seems weird and I am doing it JUST because of the two littlest.

 

Just for what it's worth:

 

1) We drop shoes at the front door (we have FOUR laundry baskets at the door. One for bags and three for shoes); but we're not nutso about it.

2) We have carpet in bedrooms (she's not in except ours to sleep) and the livingroom (her main stomping ground). The carpet is almost 3 years old but the people before us weren't neat freaks.

3) We have just one dog, a lhasa. However, I also worry about the dog before ours (a lab-ish mix) a little.

4) Only I eat in the livingroom (though my dd eats in her room and my ds in the office sometimes).

 

Before we moved in, we had all the carpets steam cleaned (the previous owners didn't have pets, nor do we)....so you might want to look into having someone come in to do the carpet or rent a rug doctor and do it yourself? That might help ease your mind about the cleanliness of the carpeting?

[MamaJo]

Varied based on need.

[RahRah]

I am seriously blown away by all the daily vacuumers. I think our house looks pretty clean and i never vacuum more than once a week. A little dirt doesn't hurt anyone! Neither will a stray dog hair or two!

 

Okay, not to be the paranoid one, but hair can tourniquet around fingers, toes and boy parts - it happens and it's not pretty! But, I do agree, a little dirt'll do ya good - immunity booster!

[zaichiki]

Daily...

dog hair

leaf bits from outside

hair (the females here have long hair and it seems to shed)

 

but the worst offender is CARPET FUZZ.

 

I hate carpets.

[swellmomma]

I am seriously blown away by all the daily vacuumers. I think our house looks pretty clean and i never vacuum more than once a week. A little dirt doesn't hurt anyone! Neither will a stray dog hair or two!

 

Trust me if I don't pick up the floors and vacuum daily it looks like I have never cleaned in my house since moving in. My kids are dirt magnets and it gets strewn everywhere. Add to it the carpet is 40 years old and the underpadding is slowly disintegrating it really needs it. I have a bagless vacuum and you should see how much dirt/dust/hair etc I vacuum up everyday. It is insane.

 

I also have a carpet cleaner here that I use every other month or so (I am bad for spilling things on the carpet).

 

The rest of the room might have clutter piled up and look like a mess but the floors are good :D It's one of those things that makes me feel good. If the floor is a mess I start feeling icky.

[WiseOwlKnits]

When I have a baby on the floor, I vacuum/sweep twice a day and do a full mop 3 times a week. We have a black Lab who sheds and I'm anal about stuff on the floor so I'm maybe not the best person to ask. :)

[Parrothead]

Back then I was vacuuming every day.

[justamouse]

I am seriously blown away by all the daily vacuumers. I think our house looks pretty clean and i never vacuum more than once a week. A little dirt doesn't hurt anyone! Neither will a stray dog hair or two!

 

We all walk around the house barefoot. Feeling stuff on the soles of my feet skeeves me out. No crumbs, no hair.

 

We also had a small house back then, with 9 people in it and you think a small house is easy to clean, you would be wrong. I've actually learned that it's harder to keep clean (at least with the amount of people we had in it). Now that the house is bigger I vacuum twice a week-but, if I had babies, I'd still vacuum the room they were in daily.

[zaichiki]

We all walk around the house barefoot. Feeling stuff on the soles of my feet skeeves me out. No crumbs, no hair.

 

 

:lol: Skeeves me out too! (Barefoot here as well.)

[Tohru]

Assuming you wear shoes in the house? I'd freak out too and vacuum every day.

 

But we don't wear shoes in the house. Visitors do not wear shoes in our house. The only time our floor needs to get vacuumed is when some one spills something or because of a pet shedding....so maybe between every other week and once a month.

[roxanne23]

.

Edited January 4, 2023 by roxanne23

[ChristusG]

I have no idea how you guys manage to sweep/vacuum daily...and some even more than once!

 

I have no idea where I'd fit it in. I can usually do it about once or twice a week.

 

We do not wear shoes in the house....and we only eat at the kitchen table. We do have two small dogs though.

[beaners]

I sweep the kitchen floors about twice a day, but that's to prevent ants. I don't do babies on the floor in the kitchen, as it's also our main entrance.

 

We have a room on each of our two floors that is baby-friendly. I probably vacuum each one two or three times within a week. We don't do shoes in the house, and I don't let anyone out of the kitchen without being wiped down, but my kids still leave a trail of dirt through the house. My youngest just turned one and still puts anything he can find in his mouth. It's my least favorite stage!

[Renee in NC]

I am seriously blown away by all the daily vacuumers. I think our house looks pretty clean and i never vacuum more than once a week. A little dirt doesn't hurt anyone! Neither will a stray dog hair or two!

 

We have 8 people (3 with long hair), 2 labs that shed a ton, and 2 cats. If you could see the massive amounts of dirt and doghair we get up daily, you would probably vacuum twice a day!:lol:

 

I am *not* a clean freak or a germaphobe at all, but the dog hair is going to be the death of me. I have even been known to vacuum the dogs!:tongue_smilie:

[Renee in NC]

I have no idea how you guys manage to sweep/vacuum daily...and some even more than once!

 

I have no idea where I'd fit it in. I can usually do it about once or twice a week.

 

We do not wear shoes in the house....and we only eat at the kitchen table. We do have two small dogs though.

 

My 5, 7, and 8yo dc are the vacuumers of the family. I do it every couple of days to get it really thoroughly, but the 7 and 8yo's are pretty good at it.

 

We spend about an hour a day on cleaning/laundry and another 45 minutes on after-meal duty.

[sewingmama]

I have creative darlings.They are always cutting and sticking and making something

 

Me too - regardless of the age of the baby I vacumme at least twice a day. In fact I never put the vacumme away anymore -it stays out in the living room so I can grab it as needed.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I try to vacuum every day, or at least every other day all of the time. When I have a baby that is rolling and crawling on the floor I make the extra effort to vacuum every day. We do not wear shoes in our house but we do have a long-haired dog and somehow there are always little scraps and other yucky things all over the floor no matter how often I vacuum.

Edited August 15, 2011 by Lisa in the UP of MI

[Julie Smith]

I must say. I keep misreading this thread title as:

 

Poll: How often do you....you have a baby)

 

:001_huh:

[foxbridgeacademy]

I vacuumed daily, checked under and around all the furniture for "stray" bits, but I'm a freak that way. It has always creeped me out to think about all the dirt burried in my carpet that the vacuum misses. My house now is 100% hard surfaces, I sweep daily so no more dirt!

[Carrie12345]

Ds will be 8 months old this week. He's been on the move for a few weeks.

 

I have to vacuum twice a day, and he still gets a face full of hair/fuzz. But we have 2 dogs and 2 cats in the house, plus 4 people with rather long hair, and we ALL shed like crazy!