Hardwood/Tile Floors

Our entire house has ceramic tile floors with the exception of the bedrooms which have carpet. It is impossible to keep clean, it's almost like it constantly has a film on it. I don't even like to walk on it in my bare feet.

I'm concerned about the boys crawling on it. For one, I'm scared they will fracture their skull or something if they lose their balance and fall forward. I'm also worried about their knees and hands being hurt from it being so hard. Secondly, I don't know if I like the idea of them crawling on a filmy-feeling floor.

Do you allow your little ones to crawl on hard flooring or do you limit them to the carpeted areas? If they do crawl on the hard floor how do you get it clean enough?

Thanks

 

Emma isn't crawling but Mia is. Our whole downstairs, where we are all day, is hardwood. She does pretty well on it. She doesn't really hurt herself when she slips, but I think that it is because she is so close to the floor. We have an area rug that they used to hang out on until she got into exploring, so she learned to crawl on that.

As for keeping it clean - GOOD LUCK!! I try to sweep as often as possible, but I don't think that I will ever be able to keep it dust free!!

 

Well, I'm certainly not going to win any mom of the year awards for this one, but here goes :

We have about half tile and half carpet floors. We also have four indoor cats. The girls LOVE to race down the tile entryway and in the dining room (pergo). As far as being clean goes... well... I err sweep often. The only room the girls aren't allowed to go in is the kitchen/laundry room where we keep litter boxes and cat food. I wouldn't worry too much about grime. The carpet is actually probably filthier than the tile (stuff gets trapped in it, but you can't see it.) The girls have taken a couple of spills on the tile, and are none the worse for wear, but I make sure I'm behind them if they're trying to pull up and stand on it.

P.S. My mom said to clean tile floors with alcohol to get rid of grime (I haven't tried it yet). I do know that stuff like Swiffer just creates more grime and film. Usually I use Mr. Clean for the floors, but next time I'm going to go with the alcohol idea.

 

We have all hardwood except for a small area rug in the foyer. We just sweep often and mop when possible (though not nearly as often as we should). I HATE swiffer. It leaves an icky film.

Our girls have hit their heads, but babies are tougher than they look. I pick them up to comfort them after a spill and they just want to get right back down to their toys!

 

We have all hardwood and tile too except a throw rug we replace yearly in the LR all due to dh's and now Josh's allergies. I have a swiffer dry and wet that I try to keep the floors clean. BUT it is not a bad thing for kids to get some dirt and germs on them! It helps them built immunities to other illnesses. And sure they have fallen on the hardwood (tile is in kitch and bathroom which they do not have open access) and done some head banging during tantrums. It worries me too but so far nothing serious. The big thing is when wet the hardwood and tile are slippery! So I make sure to totally dry their feet when they come in from pool or out of tub. Dd took some pretty good spills running in from pool to go to the bathrom when younger. Again nothing serious but whoa what a sight. HTH

 

We have hardwood downstairs which is where we are most of the day. My babies have callouses on their knees from crawling! I feel so bad for them, so lately I have just been putting on little cotton stretch pants, hoping that will give them some relief. Although, it doesn't really seem to bother them! I have heard that BabyLegs are good for this too. Maybe try a little vinegar and hot water to get rid of the film? I had that problem too with tile floors, everything left a film!

 

I have a friend with twin girl walkers, and all tile floors. She puts Crocs on them, and they don't seem to fall off. I plan to do that as well. My husband and I both wear them when we're home, because all of our floors are wood, and we find out feet and other joints aching when we're on our feet alot. Not sure what we'll do when they're crawling except maybe invest in some more area rugs. Kids are resilient, right?

 

You guys have got to get a scooba floor washing robot. I got one for Mother's Day but had to trade it out for a better Roomba (love mine!) since Scooba doesn't work on laminate (the bulk of our hard flooring). You can use a special cleaning solution or a vinegar/water solution. THe vinegar should keep the filmy feeling down, plus it is really cheap. I have seen really good reviews on the scooba and the roomba is WONDERFUL so I am inclined to believe it. The roomba is my favorite thing EVER! You could mop your floors every day with the scooba and know your babies are crawling on a clean floor. If you have ever pulled up carpet, you will know that it may feel nice under your feet, but there is never any way to get it truly clean.

 

Try babylegs. I just got some for Alex & Gabby this weekend and they are super cute! They're nowhere near crawling but I put them on when they're weraing their onesies so they don't get cold with the AC. DD is 4 and I wish I would have heard about it when she started crawling because our house then had all tile on the first floor. We always kept her on the rug/carpet because I was also scared she would hurt herself on the hard floor. HTH

xox
Mariel

 

We have all hardwood in our house, no carpet at all. My two are just crawling, but don't seem to have a problem with it. BabyLegs are great, I use them a lot & if they don't have bare feet, they have on Robeez which are great for not slipping. As for cleaning, I'm a bit of a fanatic & I vacuum every day pretty much but I'm also a firm believer in a little dirt & grime not hurting them. I clean more for my own sanity than for them.

 

I guess it's not as big a deal as I thought it would be. I think I'm going to try the alcohol trick and the vinegar one if that doesn't work. Thanks for the great advice girls!

 

Have you thought about buying a Hoover Floormate? We borrowed a friend's this weekend (dad was coming to visit) and it's terrific! It vacuums, wet scrubs and sucks up the water on all hard floors. It even got stuff up that I thought were permanent stains! It's about $120-$150, but if you have all hard floors, it's definitely worth the investment. My floors have never been so clean...though it is a little scary to see what it sucks up.

Oh and I second the Robeez! You can get the Target knock-offs or check eBay and they're just as good.