My baby is 5 1/2 months old and looks like she's about to start attempting crawling and she's already trying to pull up on me. I know practice on the floor is next. We rent a home that has really old warn carpet with no padding beneath so it's the same as a wood floor (just as h*** o* the knees and head). I'm starting to baby proof but what about the floor? Shouldn't I be concerned about her bumping her head and hurting her knees on a hard floor? I was thinking about buying a plush area rug (boy are they expensive!) for the living room and her bedroom since those will probably be her designated play areas.
What did other moms do who have wood floors? Am I concerned about nothing?
we just let the kiddo crawl on them. When she was first learning, we put down a blanket, but she didnt hit her head as much as we thought she would, so we took it away and she was fine.
Most babies are cautious with their early walking attempts, and really don't fall that much. When they do, they are built so low to the ground that the occasional head-bump from walking is rarely hard enough to cause a bruise.
Knees will just toughen up, maybe even develop callouses for awhile. Rugs are actually more likely to cause the skin to thicken than bare wood. These go away when the child is no longer crawling.
Falling off furniture or down stairs is scarier, or bumping the edges of coffee tables, or pulling down a bookcase. Take precautions against those, and let your little girl have an occasional learning bump. It's part of the normal process.
My sister had terracotta tile floors in her house when her son was pulling up. Yikes- I would have been a basket case!
Babies bump their heads, you can't really help that. What my sister did was get one of those foam interlocking mats that you put down in a garage or work area, just for the area around her coffee table and she also put his little standup toy on it. It was one of those toys that they pull up on and push buttons, etc. I can't remember for the life of me what it is called.
Anyway, the things he would want to pull up on went on that mat, otherwise he was on his own. The head bumps that occur while crawling aren't as big a deal as the ones from first pulling up on furniture. You can't prevent them all. When I took my son to the doc at about 8 or 9 months, they took one look at the variety of bruises on his head and said "Oh Good! Someone is pulling up!" :)
As for his knees, I used those legging things on my son, BabyLegs, and NotSox. I loved them, and his knees stayed much nicer than they would have without them. I just put those and a tshirt on him, he lived in those things.
Ive had 2 kids go on hard wood floors and they did fine. Now my son who is lighter skinned then my daughter had some bluish tint almost like bruises on his knees but they didnt seem to bother him. My daughter had to have them to but where she took after her father and got his darker skin tone (son took after me) I couldnt see hers or maybe she didnt get it IDK. I just wanted to give you a heads up about that just in case you have a lighter child. Another thing, they will bonk their heads on the floor and it sometimes sounds worse then it is cause the floors are hollow and the head hitting can make a really bad sound and it can just barly hit. Dont jump up and freak out let your child be the guide on how bad it hurt. It took me a while to learn this cause most of the time it was me that made them cry not the bonk.
We were in the same situation as you when our boys began crawling and walking. Our carpet was thin carpeting that hurt my legs when I got down to play with the boys, but they never had a problem with it. Our oldest seemed to like the firmness of concrete or wood floors and would crawl more often when on a hard surface. He hated thick carpeting and grass and would even crawl on the sidewalk outside. Sure his knees were rough for awhile, but he never minded. And ever baby will bump their head just take precautions with corners and enjoy the new stage.
We have hardwood... I never worried about it. I put my daughter in leggings or cotton pants most of the time. The knees got worn out, but she outgrew them so quickly it didn't matter much anyway! I wouldn't worry about it. If it bothers her, she'll let you know. :)
I have tile floors and I had a huge concern about this. But it didn't phase my daughter at all. I kept her in pants while she was crawling that maybe helped a bit. She did end up with bruises on her knees but this is totally normal so don't freak out if this happens to yours. They eventually went away after she became an active crawler.
shes so low to the ground dont worry about it. yes she will roll over and bump her head but she will be fine..(momma of 2 girls with hard wood floors)
We have stained concrete flooring...with just a small area rug. I couldn't contain either of my early walkers if I wanted to, so I just didn't worry about it. We never had any problems with either of our children when they were crawling/learning to walk. Now the climbing stage is a bit more nerve wracking, so we just watched our son carefully and now we keep our eyes on my daughter as well.
It will surprise you how much they can handle! She will inevitably bump her head, a bruised forehead seems the norm in toddlers. Make sure there's padding on any sharp corners, even walls, my toddler fell and hit the corner of a wall (it was the only non-padded surface in our house, of course!). For knees buy baby legs legwarmers! It's either babylegs.net or babylegs.com, they work under pants for extra warmth and padding, or are really cute and easier than tights under skirts and dresses. Or just around the house with a diaper, will protect her little baby knees!
Hello D.! If it were me, I'd buy a few baby sweat pants for her. I believe they make reinforced knees now, so that should add the extra padding she needs to venture around the house. Have fun! This is a great stage!
It may take her a little longer to learn to crawl -- my kids wouldn't crawl on the wood floor parts of our house for awhile after they started crawling on the carpet. But her little head is not that far from the floor, so bonking it shouldn't do any serious harm. And I've seen baby pants with padded knees -- maybe start looking around for those.
We have hardwoods and a really harsh sisal rug. When she started out I put a blanked on the rug, but of course she didn't stay on it very long.
My daughter was an avid crawler and I just put pants/leggins on her. She wore though a bunch, but oh well...
I was never to worried about her bumping her head on the floor, she bumped her head plenty of times on a lot of things as an early walker (oh yes, there were even black eyes). But that's what most kids do...
I did put the little foam cushions on sharp corners and edges of furniture. And make sure to secure your TV, bookshelves and anything that can be pulled over/down.
Good luck!
You are concerned about nothing : ) She'll be fine. When she falls, she'll mostly fall on her tush, which is padded by both what g-d gave her and her diaper : ) Have fun with this new phase.
