Almost Crawling Baby

I bet the minute you start letting her spend most of her time on the floor she will be crawling - once I put my son on the playmats and left him there he started crwaling in circles. He still stays on the matts (I have a pretty good size mat area) and I have harwood floors as well. So I bet I'll be mopping all the time for him very soon. All the advice is great. Just get her on the floor - harwdwood or not. The point is to let her out and experience her body. I ordered mats from "one step ahead" Its better than a rug you wont need later and wont collect dust mites etc.

Do you want to confine her for safety reasons, or
because you want her confined to an area with the rug.
There is not problem is she rolls on the hardwood floor.
Once she really starts crawling she will be all over
wanting to explore. Just make sure she is safe i.e.
gates for stairs, locks on "Mr. Yuk" cabinets, etc.
Every little one gets their share of bumps and bruises
when learning to crawl and walk. Just enjoy her new
sense of adventure.

I would seriously consider NOT confining her to one space, since she needs to be able to move and explore to develop both her muscles and her mind properly! She should absolutely not be spending much time at all in a playpen or exersaucer - maybe 20 minutes at a time, 2 - 3 times a day max. Let her move around. Just block off the dangerous areas like the kitchen and bathrooms. If you are worried about her banging her head on the hardwood, you can get a larger carpet, but I don't think rolling onto a hardwood floor hurts in any way, and like you said, she'll be crawling soon anyway.

Are you worried about splinters or having a dirty floor? If there is nothing unsafe about your room, let her explore. Wood floors are not going to hurt her just because they are hard. I contained my second child a little longer in the pack-n-play just because his older brother sometimes forgot to be careful playing around him, but I would suggest just making sure any areas she could roll to are safe and baby-proofed and let her go. :)

We also live in a house with all hardwood floors and only a very small area rug in front of the TV. I would let your daughter roll off the rug and onto the wood floor to play. I would not try to confine her because you could be holding her back her development.

Funny story- when my MIL had her 3rd child she always kept her in a pack n play to keep the other kids away from her. She said one day she realized that her daughter was over 1 y/o and not walking. She thought that was odd since her other kids walked long b/f 1y/o. She realized that since she had kept her in the pack n play she was unable to walk. She let her out of the pack n play to play and within a few days she was walking.

My son started the army crawl very early on the wood floor because it was easy for him to pull forward. The wood floor never seemed to bother him once he started real crawling too. I would just make sure that everything in your room is childproof because once they start moving they get into everything.

A., I read couple of posts and I agree that you don't and shouldn't confine her to one little area. Crawling is best for babies, not just for body movements and etc., but it's good for strengthening neck muscles.
IF you're worried about her hurting herself, no matter what you do, she will hurt herself and that is part of a learning process for her and she will eventually learn if she does this or not this will hurt, but if she's anything like my third child, she will keep doing it until she perfects that thing ;) Again, you can put on thicker clothes and since it's cold outside she'd be okay, but I don't know if it will prevent redness on the knees. You may want to get a gate or something, or close the doors to rooms so she doesn't get into things. You'll want to babyproof and eventually toddler-proof the house. My house has been baby and toddler proof for 5 years now and will be probably a few more years. Get on the floor and see what she can get into, put in her mouth, etc. That way you are getting from her point of view what she can get into. My third child is smart. He wanted to get on the top of the dresser and he was pulling out the drawers to use as a step to get up there!! YIKES!!! so I took care of that by telling him that is a no-no and kept saying so and he hasn't done it again since. I told him he's going to get a boo-boo and it will hurt. But, your daughter will get hurt NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO to prevent that. Enjoy her now and always because it's one way in life, going forward. She will not return to her young years again. Congrats!!! To Mommy and daughter!!! I'll pfay for Wisdom for you.

I think I would just let her crawl on the floor. I know you are worried about the hard floor, but for crawling I might not worry so much. It won't be as h*** o* her knees as you think.... yes, it's h*** o* you, but your baby can handle it. I myself would be worried when she's pulling herself up on things. I think if you are really concerned about it, then you could get a big enough area rug to cover the room in one room and then put up a gate to confine her in that room. Good luck.

Hi A.,

I would just let her crawl/play on the floors. It is actually healthier for the baby - even new carpets are filled with dust mites, etc. Dress her warmly and make sure she has on long pants to protect her knees the best way possible. It is easier for them to move around on the slippery surface. My daughter crawled on rugs and floors, and nothing seems to prevent the redness on the knees, especially when they are expert crawlers.

As far as the exersaucer, I would eliminate that as soon as possible. They are great to keep a baby contained, but they are not able to strengthen the muscless/joints necessary for crawling and walking. It also prevents them from developing proper balancing skills.

Good luck,
L.

We went throught the same thing. We initially put a huge towel over our rug until we got a better rug. And now we have a baby gate at one door and we bought one of those plastic enclosures that are supposed to be configured into a pen (they sell them online at One Step Ahead), but instead of closing it we cornered it into an L shape, to close up another door area and cover up the TV hutch. We keep the pack and play against one end and her exersaucer (which she no longer uses) on the other end. She's standing and pulling on it, without a problem so far. Also, on the hard wood areas we bought those foam squares for when she falls. They sometimes have them at Homegoods, probably at Target, and we bought the 26 squares with the alphabet from One Step Ahead. That way she has the whole room to explore. Good luck.