My husband and I are stationed at Incirlik, Turkey and we live in a house of cement, like I'm sure most of you do as well. I have a 3 month old daughter and my question is how am I supposed to protect her from these floors? When my first child started pulling herself up to stand on the furniture and would fall over, she didn't know to sit down to catch herself. She would just stiffen up and fall straight over and inevitably hit her head on the floor. But this was back in the states where we had soft carpeted floors. So if a carpeted floor hurts, I can imagine how bad it would be to hit your delicate little head on these floors. I really don't think we can afford to buy a huge carpet to cover the living room, and the little carpet we have in the hallway doesn't seem like it would be much of a cushion anyway.
I can't just leave the baby in a swing or bouncy seat her whole life, but I'm scared to let her just be on this floor when she becomes mobile cause I don't want her to get badly hurt. Anyway, I know other people have had little babies over here, so I want to know what other people have done to protect their babies from injury. Thanx in advance!!
My daughter was learning to walk when we moved to Germany and boy was I nervous...but she learned really quick to fall on the tushie. But I can say for the first 3 or 4 months she was getting alternating bumps on the forehead...i felt horrible but she seemed to learn to walk faster then her other 2 siblings...
We live in Germany and our floors are cement in some rooms. We went on ebay and bought him some knee pads. He really likes them and they protect his knees from getting cuts and rough. He is 8 months we bought them when he was 7 months and use them almost everyday
I live in Ankara Turkey. We live off the economy. We tried the foam squares but my daughters toes would always hit the letters and she would fall. She is 14 months old now and just started walking all over. She was walking on her knees for the longest time because she had fallen and gotten hurt so she was slow to walk. We went on vacation and the room had carpet and she just took off walking. She just needed a little padding to start, she is walking all over. I have been down to Incirlik if you get away from the alley you can get some good deals as long as you stay away from IPEK (silk). The foam squares are good for a play area but not for learning to walk.
J.,
I can't tell you anything new really. My second was born in Italy with downstairs tiles, upstairs hard wood floors upstairs and marble stairs. I had an area carpet in the living room in the couch area with enough space for baby to paly on the floor and I was glad that I had the area rug for two reasons: it was more cozy for us to sit in that area and the reason I put the area rug down in the first place was that baby did not have to sit on the cold tiles to play--that was my big concern. I don't remember him falling down on his head ever. And once he was navigation the stairs (I used gates for the longest time though) he just slid down on the stairs that everybody who was not used to him doing it grasped in shock. What I'm trying to say is: don't worry kids adapt so well to whatever situation they are in.
ok, this might sound terrible, but after having two boys who both learned to walk in army housing where we have always had hard floors, you just have to let them go. stay close, keep an eye on them. remember, they're short, it's not as far to fall, and babies bounce well. ;) honestly though, mine seemed to know that the floor is hard, and they never got hurt badly. the only time either have really hurt themselves has been after they're older and decided to emulate evil kenivel. (but hey, we're talking about 2 and 4 year old boys. girls are supposed to be easier, right?)
In stores like Walmart, toy stores, and even in the BX at times you can buy large rubber/foam squares that attach together, like a puzzle, creating a soft tumble area. You could put them where ever you wanted to have some extra cushion for your daughter. These mats are usually found in the toy areas of the store. The ones we have are squares of bright green, blue, red, and yellow. Not extremely decorative but they will work.
Hi J.! We're in Gerany and had a similar problem with hard tile floors and a little one. Here was my soloution, I arranged the furniture so I could gate off a large area and then I covered that area with large foam tiles, the ones that connect like puzzle pieces. We got our at the BX for about $20 for a pack of 4 that were about 2'x 2'. If you want to do this but, can't find them at your BX/PX let me know I'd be happy to be the middle man and MPS them to you! :0) Good luck!
I, too, was thinking of the foam squares at least for their bedroom or play area so you don't have to fret too much when they are playing. My youngest learned to walk over here in Germany and we pretty much have the same type of floor linoleum hard tough and not a bit of softness. We had carpet, but no padding as well. She survived. I honestly think that she figured out that falling on her tushie was her best bet and did that most of the time. It'll be okay. She will probably work to get stable a lot quicker than you want her to because of it! :)
J.,
We live in England and even though we have carpet there is no padding over the cement or hard wood floors. Our daughter has done just fine. You really don't have to worry about a fall causing a head injury if she topples over.
C.
When we live in Florida our little girl learned to walk. We had the hard tile floors. We brought her a walker and let her walk around the living room. She strengthed her legs and learned to stand we kept it short enough that she could completly stand and walk around and still be safe. She had a few falls once she got out of the walker and started walking but she had already learned to fall back on her bottom. She was walking by the time she was 9 months. She was able to safely get around the house and it was great because I knew I could clean while she was in it and she would be safe. I was always in the room. Also if you have stairs in your house you may want to make sure that your little one can not get to the stairs or put her on the bottom floor.
Hi J.. I had two small babies while stationed at Turkey and basically all I did was buy a bunch of area rugs, the ones that are pretty thick. I didn't want to carpet the whole house because it was too expensive and didn't make much of a difference anyway from what I had seen in other people's houses. But basically that's all I did because before I knew it they were both walking! Sorry if this wasn't much help :)...
Hi J.! I am stationed close to Tokyo Japan, and our housing has the same kind of flooring. I have a 10 month old and I have the foam mats in her bedroom that are really great. However, we spend a lot of our time in the living room and all I have is a thin carpet rug on the floor (that we got from housing) and she has done just fine! She takes a little fall from time to time, but she has never hurt herself. She pulls up on the coffee table, and couch and has fallen on her tooshie...but got right back up. When she first started pulling up, I would stay close to her (to catch her if she fell) until she got better balance. If I was not there I would also put her in her Pak N Play. We got her play mats at egiggle.com and they have a cute design in pink and brown if you are looking for something that might match the decor of her room. S.
When my grandbaby came to live with me here in Germany she was only 6 months. We ended up getting thin carpet to lay over the floor and just watched her. The carpet we got is not real expensive we paid about $45 to cover the whole living room. Nothing to extravagant. She now she is walking great even with a few bumps now and then. Dont go out a purchase the big hugh carpet rugs because they can be pretty spendy. But off post there are alot better prices!!
I raised 2 little girls also, and I always used play pens or a pack and play if I was not in the room to supervise them (my girls are 6 & 10 now). They were able to practice getting up and moving around inside the pack and play. Otherwise, you'll have to get some soft/sponge like play mats - maybe you could order from Walmart or Toys R Us?
I live in Grafenwoher, Germany and we have cement floors down stairs in the basement but i you wouldn't want to buy a huge carpet but it's worth it and if you don't your baby could get injured really bad and upstairs in our house we have wooden floors in the living room or you should ask if you could move to a different home with wooden floors.
