Hardwood floors

stephrodgers07 · September 2013

I realized the other day I don't put baby on the floor as much because of the hardwood floors. I put him on the floor in his carpeted bedroom but we're usually in the living room.

What does everyone else do with their crawling /walking babies on hardwood? Do you have a mat that you put down? I just feel like he's going to keep getting hurt falling on the floors but can't imagine how to avoid it!

ebp913 · September 2013

There's really nothing you can do. They will fall and there may be some tears but this time period is short and before you know it, they will get the hang of it and there will be less falling. They most likely aren't really getting hurt anyways, I'd bet it's more shock than pain for a lot of kids.

spring_time · September 2013

Our old house was all hardwood floors, and this is something I was worried about when DS started to crawl. I was worried until my coworkers, who grew up in South American countries, informed me that they grew up crawling on dirt and concrete floors. It gave me some perspective.

DS never got hurt crawling in the wood floors and they never seemed to bother him. I just tried to make sure he had either pants or baby legs on.

tiffwedd · September 2013

We have hardwood in our family room and while we do have a rug and a matt down for them they seem to prefer to be on the hardwood. I think it gives them a little traction since they are still figuring crawling out. They don't complain about any ouchies from rolling around or crawling across the floor.

Crequito · September 2013

We have a mat but DD crawls off of it very quickly so we keep pants on her now. So far she hasn't minded the wood underneath her knees but I'm super careful when she sits up that there's a pillow behind her in case she tries to look at something behind her and falls back.

My mom got our mat at Ikea and my MIL has a foam mat she got at Costco I think.

MrsWindyCity · September 2013

We have all hardwood and we wanted to get a mat or something with DS1 but we never got around to it. He survived, so I think DS2 will be okay. lol. Unless you are going to cover your whole house in foam, there is not a whole lot you can do once their mobile, we discovered.

We had more "falling" instances in the learning-to-sit process than in the crawling/walking - he hardly tumbled at that point.

singingsea · September 2013

We went out and got a couple large area rugs and put padding underneath. Now he has lots of room for moving around and taking tumbles.

ashbee0223 · September 2013

Hard wood floors and I just let him go as he pleases. He has only hit his head once when He was standing and let go and was fine after a couple of minutes. He wouldn't stay on a mat if I tried. The only time I worry is when he pulls up in the kitchen. We have travertine floors in there and I worry he will bust his head. But hardwood floors have been fine for him.

HML5382 · September 2013

We have one of those foam mats that looks like hardwood that we gated off for DD1 when she was tiny, it was sort of like a large playpen for her and I didn't have to worry about her bonking herself when she was in there. And we got a puppy when she was 5 months old and it kept the puppy from chewing all her toys. She did fall on the hardwood plenty of times in her life and never got seriously hurt, I think it made her a bit more cautious which isn't a bad thing. But I did notice that she seemed to have a hard time learning to crawl because her knees & sock feet would slip on the hardwood or the foam mat because she couldn't get any traction! Eventually she learned though, no harm done

jafiorino · September 2013

we bought these for her playroom: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EJPGG4/ref=oh_details_o03_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Playroom is hardwood, as is our living room. Kitchen and dining room are tile, eek. She's still only sitting and pivoting on her belly, so just taking care of the playroom works for now. When in living room on belly I put her on a quilt, when sitting i scatter pillows behind her in case she falls. I used to put boppy around her but she started thinking it would always be there, so she was throwing herself backwards to lay down whenever she didn't want to sit anymore even if the boppy wasn't there, led to a few tears but I think she has learned (thankfully she did that in the playroom on the padded foam mats).

PipSqueak0313 · September 2013

We have hardwood floors and I was/have been more concerned with trying to keep them clean enough to have ds2 on. I haven't given a thought to him falling on them since to some extent all floors are hard, though some carpeting does provide cushioning. Then again, it is my almost 17 year old that has tried to get a concussion 2-3 times in the past year including once from falling down the basement stairs and hitting his head on either the concrete floor or the concrete wall, I haven't determined which. I don't need to babyproof my house, I need to teenager proof it.

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