Dirty hands!!!?

Question

My 9 month old is trying to crawl. I keep him on the living room floor most of the day to encourage him to move around. The only problem with this is, no matter how often I vacuum, he always ends up with his hands covered in every tiny little piece of lint or hair imaginable!
It really grosses me out and I am having to wipe his hands every 5-10 minutes!
So this brings up several questions....
Do I have resign myself to vacuuming 3 times a day?
Should I just chill out and not obsess?
Should I rip out the carpet and insist on wood floors?
Should I never be without a damp rag in my hand to wipe his?

Argh this is just driving me nuts. Any experienced moms, please advise me!! =)

Wow I'm very glad the consensus is to chill...I've never been the best housekeeper, and I only clean when my son is asleep, I don't waste precious time with him for something like that.

I have only been vacuuming once a day, I have cats so that's absolutely necessary. I guess I'm just paranoid someone might visit and say "Oh my your son's hands are filthy! You suck at being a mom!" LOL

Thanks everyone for putting me a little more at ease. This is our first baby, my husband and I are older parents (he's 42, I'm 37) kind of "aging rocker" types, and I guess I just want to make sure I'm not screwing it up!

Niknud ~~~

Ha ha very funny!!! Do NOT expect a best answer on this one!

Love you sweetie! (he is the father of previously mentioned baby. oh and my husband, who will be vacuuming at least twice a day when he gets home.)

Answer 1

I would vote for 'chill out and not obsess' :-)

I know what you mean - since my 5 month old can roll over she loves tummy time... but gets my hair and the cat hair and all sorts of little 'bits' on her hands...

I have just decided it's all part of life and will help build up her immunity! My 3 year old is as healthy as anything and she's eaten cat biscuits and woodlice....

Answer 2

I'll play devil's advocate. You should probably vacuum 7 or 8 times a day if you want that ol' rug REALLY clean. Next , you probably should obsess as much as possible, after all, hypertension and ulcers are tons o' fun! As for wood floors, yeah, go ahead and rip out that carpet and put in wood floors because you probably don't have enough to do as it is, plus sweeping and mopping 7 or 8 times a day is WAY more fun than vacuuming that often. Lastly, your best bet is to just keep little mittens on his hands at all times. Sure, he'll still put crud in his mouth, but at least his hands will stay clean! I KNOW this helps infinitely.

Answer 3

being a mom you always wonder if you are doing the right thing.. Kids will get dirty no matter how much you try to keep them clean.. If you are worried that the vacuum isnt picking up enough try a new one.. either that or give it a really good cleaning.. Either that or take a broom to the carpet after you vacuum..

but dont stress to much over it.. I am sure you are a wonderful mom.. and this is only the begining of the dirtyness.. Good luck..

Answer 4

You must Must MUST
Chill out. You will drive yourself, and your baby insane. Not to mention that babies' skin is sensitive, you can't be wiping those pinkies every five minutes. He's a baby, chill out. Babies have been putting forign matter in their mouths for centuries! It very well could be part of the process of getting their immune systems up and running. Pediatricians are beginning to say that keeping your child in a germ free envoironment can be detrimental, because when they leave that envoironment and go into the world their immune systems aren't ready for it. Vacuuming that much probably isn't a great idea either because no matter how good the machine is, vacuuming causes dust to fly around.
The fact is that germs are everywhere, and if you don't chill out and let your kid be a kid, you're going to turn into one of those helicopter parents that annoy the crap out of their kids. Are you going to be there wiping his hands every 10 minutes when he's 5 and wanting to play in the mud with his friends and eat bugs?
Let him enjoy life, and while you're at it, enjoy yours for a change and chill.

Answer 5

Everyone is right... You can't obsess about everything being clean.... However, if you vacuum in the morning and you find that your child is still getting "filthy" you may want to take your vacuum in for a clean and check to make sure it's working properly.. That might help get pet hair and little bits off the floor.... Good luck

Answer 6

Just chill out about it. He is going to get dirty. As long as your floors aren't covered with kitty litter or animal feces or old food and things like that...which if you vacuum it won't be, then it should be fine. If you are worried about him picking up germs then once again chill out, by being exposed to some germs, he is building his immune system and will be better able to handle germs later on. If he isn't crawling yet, put a blanket down to keep the grimy lintyness off of him. I did that with my daughter and if I wanted her to go commando I got some of them foam letter pads so I could clean up any accidents she left on the pad and not have to worry about the carpeting. Wood floors attract just as much lint as carpeting and they get some pretty bad dust bunnies too.

Answer 7

you can vacuum 3 times a day but it wont help i remember being grossed out by it also but then gave up the dirt will not hurt baby i knew my house was clean i cleaned every day but nothing can be 100% sterile and really you dont want everything that clean being exposed to some stuff is good helps build immunity try to relax

Answer 8

My mother used to freak out over anything and everything I touched when I was an infant. She used to boil my bottles alllll the time because she was afraid I would get germs, she wouldn't let me crawl on the floor because she was afraid of me getting a little dirt on myself, she was paranoid! One day she had to rush me to the hospital Ihad some type of mites in my stomach. My immune system was jacked up and weak because she was trying to keep me too clean all the time. The doctor told her I needed to be able to crawl around and play and that a little dirt wouldn't hurt it would actually help strengthen my system...

Answer 9

Its normal, it happens, so try to relax. Consider buying a large blanket and throw it down on the floor in the AM...then when baby takes a nap, throw it in the washer and its clean and ready again for when baby wants to crawl.

Answer 10

you are obsessing but that's your job! lol i have twins and when they were in that stage i bought these puzzle mats that are made out of foam you can get them dirt cheap at target or walmart and when it was play time i layed down the puzzle mat they were color full fun to play with and easy to clean! (my favorite part!) no need to vacuum 100 times a day! its OK they are kids its gonna happen!