Cleaning floors??

[BabymamaOct]

We have a crawler!! And my hubby and I battle over how we shld keep the floors clean, he thks using too many chemical cleaners is not good and I like to use disinfect wipes and the like... Just wondering wht other moms do to tackle the dust. Thanks!

 

[southside852]

We used the baking soda/vinegar combination to wipe our floors when our son was crawling:

http://www.natural-healthy-home-cleaning-tips.com/vinegar_baking_soda_cleaning_recipes.htm

 

[howardcoombs]

Keep in mind that many experts say "Dirt is good". Try to control urge to overclean and over sanitize.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Dirt-Good-Germs-Friends/dp/1427798044

In our household, we cleaned floors with vinegar&water. When outside, we encouraged the kids to play with dirt. As a household, we firmly believe a little dirt is good for the young.

 

[Liquorice]

We vacuum and mop the downstairs floors with Dettol each morning, as we have dogs who are inside overnight, but upstairs we just vacuum the floors and maybe mop them every other day or every three days.

To be honest, I always make sure the downstairs floor is disinfected because of the dogs, but I had never really worried about floors in general with respect to my son crawling...

 

[Frenchy]

We just vacuum everyday and clean with water/white vinegar every 2 days. We are no big fans of wipes and chemical products, even our insecticide is organic...

 

[elle]

we use water, baking soda and vinegar on a daily basis and may disinfect with a chemical cleaner once a week, when baby is in playgroup. have dogs and a just walking kid. wouldn't want baby crawling around on a floor covered in commercial cleaning chemicals all the time, regardless of their disinfecting capabilities.

 

[2010-NewDad]

We just vacuum and wipe with water a couple of times a week.

 

[Liquorice]

Are disinfectants really that bad? I guess I always saw them as cleaning/removing germs/bacteria etc. but not necessarily adhering to the floor surface, or making the floor toxic. Can someone explain? I'm sure I come across as rather ignorant on this matter but have never really thought about it until today.

 

[howardcoombs]

Its bad in 2 ways :
Whatever you use will leave traces - when your baby licks hands, whatever trace was around will be ingested. Ingesting vinegar and most soaps are harmless. Ingesting most disinfectants can be toxic and/or poisonous.

Too clean is not good. Having some amount of dirt is good for your child. Here is another article to read on the topic:
http://www.anapsid.org/tooclean.html
There are many many more similar articles and studies.

 

[Biggie]

I am not that concerned with the floor. Just let helper does the job. I think she vacuum almost every day, and mop floor with detol or dilute bleach. If it were up to me, I would clean it even less... Just wash baby's hands before eating/napping(when he sucks his fingers). We have a dog too but the play area and kids room are dog-free.

 

[lesliefu]

like Biggie, my focus is on cleaning babies hands often since my LO sucked her finger alot and to make sure hands were washed before meals. didn't use anything specific to clean floors - well, diluted bleach to mop a couple times a week and vacuum also a couple times a week. we have a dog (small one) but when our baby was small they were never in the same area at the same time. think being too clean is more harmful to the baby - not that i want my kid to grow up in a dirty environment, but some dirt is good for kids

 

[charade]

Never thought about this before. My helper uses some cleaning liquid in the water to mop everyday and I'm not too concerned about it or a bit of dirt either. My son puts everything in his mouth, but hasn't had any serious illnesses so far. I guess if one is concerned about residue and still wants to mop, vinegar/water might be a better choice.