Anyone with hardwood floors throughout?

My house was built in the 50's (If not before). The entire house is original hardwood floor... which we really do like, other than the constant sweeping and mopping, but is good for us because we all have allergies. The babies are going to begin crawling soon, and my question is, what do you do when they first begin? What do you do when they begin scooting and the early stages of crawling? So far their tummy time is usually on my bed, because when I have put them on the floor, even on a huge thick blanket, they have bonked their heads on the floor... not fun. Stefan is beginning to put his bottom up in the air so I know it's only a matter of time before he is mobile. Anyone with an idea? This is one time I wish I had some form of carpeting... at least in one room! Area rugs, just don't seem to be enough! TIA!

 

I use foam mats. You can find some at BJs and online. I just put a few squares down at first, then a bigger area and put a play pen around it.

 

I have ceramic tile throughout my house, which is really hard too. I have area rugs down and I block off areas like the kitchen - areas where they don't need to be going. For the most part there is nothing I can do...in their play area in the living room I have put down 2 comforters (one on top of the other) over the area rug and I keep all their toys around the area of the comforters so they do the majority of their playing on the comforters. Do they crawl and explore areas that are not covered by an area rug or a comforter? Sure, all the time. And they've bonked their heads a couple of times as well - but they are fine. There's nothing I can do about that.

I will say it has helped as far as tantrums go - they learned real quick that if they throw their heads onto the tile in a fit that it hurts!

 

We got foam tiles at BRU for their nursery, but after the cats started eating them (a whole other story), I got an area rug with a heavy-duty pad underneath - both from Overstock.com. That worked pretty well, so we bought a piece of carpet big enough to cover most of the living room at a flooring store, had them bind the edges for us, and got a piece of carpet pad to put underneath. It's a lot cushier than just the carpet, and much cheaper than buying an area rug big enough for the whole living room.

I've seen a lot of twin moms make a large play area as part of a larger room, with super play yard fencing around the foam tiles. Our house was too small to do that, so we basically turned the whole room into a gated play yard.

 

We didn't do anything different. We don't have any rugs or anything on our floors. The girls did bonk their heads a few times but learned very quickly how to fall and hold their heads up.

 

I am planning on buying some of the baby knee pads. I have been a little concerned about this as well

 

I have hardwoods throughout, no area rugs. The babies have done just fine learning to crawl and walk! Sure, there are some bumps and bruises, but it's so not a big deal. It's all part of growing up. Babies are made of rubber.

The only thing I'd do is make sure they have traction one way or another. Bare feet or socks with good grippers when they're learning to walk, and some pants-free time when they're learning to crawl.

 

We have hardwood and tile in all the main living areas. We got these mats at toys r us mats and kept expanding. We moved the coffee table and started with 4 tiles then 8 and now 16. They played on it most of the time until they learned to pullup. Now they are at the windows, tv stand or walkers. We have had some bumped heads, but nothing serious.

 

you can get those foam "ABC" squares, they inter-lock. Also costco has big square foam mats. We have mostly tile. But in the living room its carpet.. I didnt let them into the tiled part until after they were walking well.

 

We also use the foam interlocking squares. Madison doesn't always like to stay on them though - she actually like to be on the hardwood floors for some reason.

 

I have hardwood and I just let them learn to scoot and crawl on it. Babies are pretty smart and learn how to hold themselves and "fall" correctly. We had a few big bumps in the beginning but it was smooth sailing (and crawling) after that. I didn't like the idea of foam mats because I have a cat who chews and I didn't want her to choke or pull pieces of foam loose for the babies to choke on.

 

QUOTE(angie7 @ Oct 14 2008, 09:05 AM) [snapback]1025473[/snapback]
We didn't do anything different. We don't have any rugs or anything on our floors. The girls did bonk their heads a few times but learned very quickly how to fall and hold their heads up.


Ditto.

 

We have a few area rugs, but for the most part we have hardwood floors. It has never seemed to bother them. In fact, it made it easier for them to scoot and army crawl. And they have bonked their heads plenty of times, with no ill effects.

 

Tie the swifter sweeper sheets to their hands and knees and let them mop the floor for you!! :rotflmbo: Ok, just kidding..but I'm glad you asked this question, because we will have the same issue. Good advice ladies! Thanks

 

I'm with the pp !!!!!!! (my twins are numbers 3 &4... somebody needs to do something around here!! lol!) I have the whole brigade of OT/PT/DT professionals in my home... and we throw a quilt or two on the floor and just go with it. I have carpet in 3 of my bedrooms and we are working on getting rid of it.

 

We have all hard floors in our house, and I was very worried in the beginning when they started to crawl. So I basically bought a ton of the foam mats and covered a lot of our main living area with them. So the babies mainly play on them, but they like to explore other areas of the room that aren't covered and believe it or not they learn to fall while holding their head up! I think it only took them like falling once to learn that skill! So we have had a few small bumps, but nothing major. And, they seem to be able to move around on those floors really well crawling!

 

Thanks so much for all the ideas. I guess they will learn one way or another, huh?

 

Hardwood floors are beautiful but definitely tricky with babies starting to crawl. We used thick foam play mats and made sure they covered enough space to cushion any little tumbles. Area rugs helped a bit, but layering soft mats on top worked better for us. You can also check reviews at https://www.flooringandcarpetreviews.com/ for other flooring ideas that work well with kids.