Dog dirtied floors, crawling baby...

[Sugah]

I haven't been on here for a while but I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice.

I have a baby who is just starting to crawl everywhere. It's awesome. The problem is, we have a Newf, Irish Setter and three cats. As you can imagine, our tile floors aren't always perfectly clean and every time the dogs come in from outside, I'm worried about what they'll track in. Right now the babe has a playroom but I'm hoping to let her explore more.

So, what do I do about the floors? Anyone with babies/dogs, what do you do?
The only thing I can think of is maybe wiping their paws down whenever they come inside?

I feel like maybe I'm looking for an easy solution to a situation that requires more work.

Also, maybe I'm being to crazy about the clean floors?? ugh

Thoughts?

 

[MC Sullivan]

Not having a mudroom (my house is a very open floor plan) I bought the biggest water hog type floor mat I could find and put it in front of the door to the back yard. It helps but still does not stop all muddy footprints. When they are really muddy, I'll rinse their feet in a shallow bucket and then then dry them with a towel.

Good luck and enjoy that baby! It's a great age.

 

[Jager's Mom]

We wipe feet every time they come inside...probably your easiest solution.

 

[Puppypeoplenj]

I'd wipe their feet when they come in, but I also wouldn't stress too much about the floors. You can't protect the baby from everything, and exposure to germs now is good for the immune system they say. So, I wouldn't drive myself too crazy with worry.

 

[blphome]

When I was a baby mom washed all my toys meticulously. I promptly shared them with the dog. Two chews for the dogs, two for me, and so forth. I rarely get sick and I LOVE dogs.

I think it was the early slobber sharing which inocculated me, resulting in good health and a profound love of dogs.

Don't worry about the dirt.

 

[Popcorn]

We live in the country and have had newfs through my babies' infancy/crawling/fingers in the mouth stage.

With Newfs and other animals, it is pretty much impossible to keep floors spotless, even when you, like I do, vac and wash floors daily. By the next day, it's pretty muddy, tracked, etc.

There is a lot of evidence that exposing your children to the outdoors "dirt" and animal dander is a great thing for their immune system and prevents allergies as adults. So we never worried at all. Hopefully you are going to let your babes in the summer play in the grass, sand, dirt -- that is what the dogs are tracking in. So no worries.

We also obviously let our pets lick our babies/children. I spoke to the vet about it and he said dog spit has a mild anti-microbal so not to worry. The only thing he said was important to YEAR ROUND keep up the heartworm/whipworm/round worm preventative if you have kids. Apparently that is the one thing that can be passed via the dirt from dogs, and that can be very damaging to a child. So that was the precaution we took, other than basic vaccuming once and day/mopping.

So don't stress and let them mix and mingle. We never had any issues, and my kids have avoided the allergies that have plagued my side of the family. Of course, we are a small sample size, but most of my friends with kids let the fur/dirt/kids fly and I have never heard of a problem.

 

[Popcorn]

Forgot to mention, that I as a child would share my popsicles with my dog (best friend). He'd take one lick, I'd take the next

 

[laney]

we have 2 kids now aged 4 and 6 and had 2 dogs when they were babies. i found it easiest to have a baby gate between the kitchen and rest of the house. i tried all different combinations and found this worked bestfor us. i found it handy to have somwhere to shut the dogs if people with other babies were coming over and it means their feet are dry before they track through the house. as i say my kids are older now and we still have that gate as it makes life easier for us we find. i do totally agree on the kids and dogs buliding up immunity thing though, my little boy had quite nasty eczema when he was a newborn and it disappeared pretty quick. i did struggle with the whole dog germs and baby situation so i totally know where you ar coming from. just keep right on top of the wormers. a super clean house is worse than a dirty one . they have proven a link between children starting nursery in their early years and lower incidences of leukemia due to early exposure to germs. dont worry your little one will be fine xxx

 

[ajcooksey]

I don't know what your yard is like but we planted grass three times this summer as well as putting in a brick patio off of our deck where growing grass was impossible. We also repainted our deck with rescue it which is a gritty paint. All three of these things have made tracking mud into our house practically nonexistent. Only on very rainy days will they track in mud and it is nothing like it used to be.

 

[NinaA]

When mine were little I made sure there was no bare dirt in the back yard, as stated above. Used to sod and plant seed constantly. Also, since I had no place for the dogs to go (the back door opened onto carpet), I frankly didn't worry too much about it. Wipe the feet with a towel (keep a basket of dog towels by the back door) and get on with life. As state above, it is good for a baby to have a pet in the house, just not necessarily on the bed. I have allergy kids and 30 years ago my allergist said it was okay to have dogs in the house, might help, but don't let them sleep with the kids. Worked for me.

 

[Brandie&Maggie]

I'd say don't worry about it too much. We keep wet wipes and a dog towel by the door to wipe feet when she's muddy or wet.

Obviously you probably don't want all the babies clothes to be covered in dirt, so I might suggest just getting a wet swiffer mop that you can keep handy and just run over the floors once a day or as needed just to keep things tidy. It's quick and easy.

 

[Whybu1]

My first thought was "Spray the baby's clothes with pledge and let it dust". Seriously, no experience with babies so no advice. I agree with the exposure to some germs is important theory. Many studies blame our over sanitization for increased allergies.

 

[AngusMcDubhsMom]

When my girls were small they used to sit on the floor with their cousins and the dog and they ALL shared milk bones! Nobody died. LOL

 

[Shel]

Personally, I would forgo the futile effort to maintain clean floors. Don "Those Eyes" (Miss A) in some camo togs, grab your camera, and snap away.

 

[Henrys Mom]

I would just wet swifer or mop the floors each night. That way at least you start out the day with clean floors. Unless it's raining the doggy paws should stay relatively clean. You will probably have to keep an eye out if the dog brings in leaves or sticks on their fur. Maybe the baby will walk quickly and hopefully stay a little cleaner!!

 

[Sound Bay Newfs]

Home Depot has inexpensive runners that you can put by the door the dogs come in. Also on messy rainy days, old large bath towels on the floor help to get a lot of mud off the dog's feet before they come in.

 

[Sugah]

Thanks everyone, I'm trying not to be a helicopter parent so you're right, a wash every day should be good.

The area they go in the backyard is stone and rock so no grass and minimal sand being tracked in which is nice. We learned our lesson last year when the backyard turned into a muddy swamp.

Also, good point about the hearworm/parasite treatments. I never thought about that!

Thanks again.