Housework with a baby? How do you do it?

[Arabella36]

How do you tidy and do housework with a 9 month old baby in tow? She gets bored while I'm trying to get things done.
Advice welcome!

[LadyViper]

i would love to find this out!! At the moment I wait until I am at witsend then my mum comes to watch DS while I blitz it, but my house is only at best "not too bad", never lovely :-(

[sethstarkaddersmum]

put him down for a nap and run round like a blue-arsed fly for an hour!

or sometimes strap him in the highchair and feed him snacks

[Arabella36]

ha ha! laughing at the feeding him snacks idea!! I'd say that would work alright

[Cies]

Ds is 11mo. I've found that I can hoover, mop, and dust high up tings with him in a sling on my back.

When I'm hanging out the washing he sits at my feet or hangs onto my legs playing with the pegs, transferring them from one basket to another.

I only iron about once a week, and choose a time when he's generally chirpy, which for him is after a nap. I plonk him in the playpen and iron in front of him, singing silly songs.

Cooking gets done with him playing on the floor, in his highchair or asleep.

[SuperSoph73]

Hey Arabella - tbh I did very very little housework when mine were babies. I did have a motorised swingseat with DS2 and I could quite easily leave him in there while I pottered around. It was also quite portable so could always take it upstairs with me when I went.

However, like I say, I did very little and the big stuff was mainly left until the weekend when both DH and I were around so that one could entertain the children while the other tidied up.

We still do very little during most weeks and usually do a big blitz once a month.

Don't stress over it your baby is only little for a very short time and she's not going to care one way or the other whether your house looks like something out of Good Housekeeping magazine. Enjoy her, the housework's not going anywhere, but she'll grow up blinkin' quickly and you'll regret it if you don't enjoy it now.

Congrats btw, Soph xxx

[Cies]

That makes me sound like a super-cleaner. My flat would show you what a lie that is

[LadyViper]

mine doesn't nap :-( grrrrrrr

[sethstarkaddersmum]

sometimes he is occupied doing something that you know is wrong, like scavenging on the floor for food dropped by his siblings at the previous meal, or emptying out one of my kitchen cupboards, and you just think, sod it, I will get on with what I'm doing now and sort out the consequences later!

[LadyViper]

yes! btw i LOVE your name Seths :-) although i'd rather be his girlfriend, lol

[Ragwort]

Playpen or is that hopelessly old-fashioned these days ? - I can't really remember - and I've never been one for much housework anyway but we had a 'babyproof' room with a stairgate across the door and I used to leave him in there with some toys whilst I mumsnet did the housework.

[Arabella36]

Thanks to all for the tips, that's helpful.

[sethstarkaddersmum]

LadyViper - you can't have him, he's MIIIIINE

[WowOoo]

Small jobs when ds is around. More time consuming / dangerous stuff later.

N.B. If you think mopping the floor might be 'fun', you are wrong and your child will end up as a wet mess on the floor.!!

[Fourleaf]

I found it v hard to do housework when DS was that age. Just a few months later (he's 12 months) and it's much easier. He can potter around (crawl) and create more mess whilst I tidy up :) But seriously, he is generally quite happy playing if I am mobile. He only really objects if I sit at the computer...
But like others have said, my standards are fairly low and I just do the basics (to me this means enough washing to keep us going, basic cleaning and tidying etc) during the week.
On Saturdays DH takes DS out for a couple of hours in the morning and I have a blitz. I got this idea from another Mum and we find it works really well - then you can chill in a nice clean house for the rest of the weekend. Sometimes I take DS out and DH will clean instead.

[SquirrelonmyHead]

Use lots of disposable cleaning stuff so you can do 5mins here and there, and babywipes are great for dusting!

I always did any cleaning once a week pre kids but now it's a bit each day so if the carpets are vacumed chances are the bathroom is a mess but at least it all gets done regularly.

Definately use meal times to do th boring stuff in the kitchen, if you're not doing blw you can still give finger food while you wash up etc and at this age my DS took ages to eat.

[PurpleCrazyHorse]

We bought surface cleaning wipes & floor wipes. Brilliant for a quick clean especially under the high chair!

DD didn't nap either so playpen, highchair + snacks or cleaning in the evening when she's in bed. DH & I do all the washing up every night and I try to wipe the kitchen sides down too. Our kitchen is tiny though. Toys also put away every night helps as at least we start a new day relatively tidy

[Tweetinat]

Phew - reading this thread has reassured me that I'm not the only one who's found this a struggle! DS has been getting into trouble crawling since 8 months and walking since 10 (12 months now) so cleaning has been nigh on impossible as he would just eat the bleach, empty the bins, put his hands down the toilet etc. In fact, I've given up and hired a local girl to do a couple of hours in the week for the hoovering/bathrooms/floor mopping etc. and then I just tidy as I go doing the kitchen daily.

I still struggle with cooking as DS will just not stay in his playroom (off the kitchen with a gate) and so wanders in and out of the kitchen, study and playroom dragging round his toys (pot/pans and anything he can grab out of the cupboards) while I try to keep him away from the oven. I now try to batch cook a load of meals and just re-heat at dinner time.

Off to persuade DH that this inability to keep on top of things is perfectly normal!

[Tweetinat]

Oh, just to hijack for a second - do any of you feel guilty when you're doing chores and not playing with DC? I know he needs to grow up entertaining himself and that he's not the center of the universe, but I can't help feel guilty all the time that I should do all of this when he's napping (instead of sitting down for 5 mins to myself and MNetting)...

[SkyBluePearl]

sling.

[AngelDog]

I struggle too & am not supposed to use a sling due to back problems. We don't clean much, don't bother putting away half the toys and generally have Very Low Standards.

A treasure basket is great - search on here / google for more details.

A playpen or travel cot sometimes works (my DS doesn't like them much though). I do what I can during naps, or shut the kitchen door and let him maraud around, distracting him in a corner if I need to go in the oven (although he's not that fast yet).

Things like hanging up washing get done while he's around, and he marauds around the house while I wash up / tidy as necessary. If I really need to keep him out of the way I use the high chair for a short while.

Tweet, I spend most of my time at home doing chores and not playing with him, which does make me feel bad sometimes, but I do think it's important to share everyday life with them. I hang clothes / nappies on those small 'delicates' washing airers, and as a result they are one of DS's favourite toys, as he loves to copy what I'm doing. :)

Someone on a thread on here once said the worst is crawling up to age 2.5. So just a short while before it improves.

[Arabella36]

Thanks angel dog, have looked up the treasure basket and I will make one up as it looks good.

[Katee93]

I came on here looking answers because I have a 6 month old very busy little girl that's crawling since 5 months and trying to climb on everything. . I'm struggling to clean the house half because I feel like I can't watch her and she just doesn't sleep ans has because I think I've just got used to being overwhelmed and given up. My biggest thing is my husband makes out that I'm I'm bad mother because the house isn't super clean. He says' home come other mothers can do it '
I don't know., it reassures me that it's not just me that struggles with getting things done but hes changed a lot with me since the baby is born as if he's lost respect for me because I'm not super mum with everything perfect 24/7. I don't know what to do or how to make it better

[Chelyanne]

Travel cot with toys if I need to do stuff out of room, they must learn to amuse themselves. I also do a lot of stuff when all the kids are sleeping.

[Danikm151]

Mostly clean he’s asleep. Try to sing the tidy up song to encourage him to help put toys away( pointless haha)
He’ll potter around in his room whilst I put the clothes away. He used to love the vacuum so that was easy but now he’s scared of it.
He loves the broom so I am able to sweep but got him a mini size one so he can copy.

Single parent working full time so it’s all down to me but somehow I manage to muddle on through with a big clean when he’s out with Dad. He’s 17 months now and I only just feel like i’m in the swing of it so don’t feel downhearted.