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AIBU?

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Original poster

Do you let babies crawl on carpets?!

129 replies

Jimmyjammymammy · 23/11/2024 10:40

I've just been scolded for being irresponsible for letting my baby crawl on a polypropylene rug. Apparently full of PFAS and most likely flame retardants and i should be using a baby mat.

My mind is blown by this. I'm a very anxious person and take precautions (probably too many) but I feel this is a bit extreme. Surely most babies crawl on a carpet? Do people actually just buy wool rugs or put baby mats down specifically to avoid a baby being exposed to potential toxins?

So, I'm very curious, AIBU to let a baby crawl on a carpet?!

OP posts:
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Wantitalltogoaway · 24/11/2024 16:58

Carpets, dirty floors, grass, mud, concrete… they ate cat food, woodlice and who knows what else.

Expose your baby to as much as possible. No wonder there are so many allergies.

Zimunya · 24/11/2024 16:37

MillyMichaelson · 24/11/2024 14:21

@Zimunya funny but benignly neglectful, I'll take it 👌👌

If I had to choose between benign neglect and helicopter parent I’d choose the benign neglect any time! When we lived in Hong Kong we lived in a rural village. We were taking the dogs for a walk and DD asked if she could run ahead. I said yes, and then remembered the resident snake that lived under the bridge she would run across. “Just look out for the cobra!” I yelled at her fast moving back. Not my finest parenting moment!

NeverDropYourMooncup · 24/11/2024 16:34

mrstumbler · 24/11/2024 14:37

I think if carpet fibres were so bad there would surely be warnings up in hospitals etc not to let your babies roll/crawl on carpets ?

One man spending 40-odd years cutting up old carpet to remove it, installing new stuff and cutting it, releasing all those billions of fibres and bits of asbestos and lead paint from old housing stock along with aerosol solvent adhesive into his lungs 10 hours a day, is somewhat different to a kid spending about 150 hours in total for the period from about 9 to about 14 months (by which time most are likely to be walking).

Stormyjane · 24/11/2024 14:46

This is just nuts. I grew up in an objectively unhygienic farmhouse and we crawled everywhere, fingers in mouth etc. It’s how you build an immune system! And yes mine crawled on carpets, and onto the stone floor, where the pets also walk. And they’re fine.

mrstumbler · 24/11/2024 14:37

I think if carpet fibres were so bad there would surely be warnings up in hospitals etc not to let your babies roll/crawl on carpets ?

MillyMichaelson · 24/11/2024 14:21

@Zimunya funny but benignly neglectful, I'll take it 👌👌

Zimunya · 24/11/2024 13:55

MillyMichaelson · 23/11/2024 13:41

My kids are teenagers now and I believe this is the first time in my life I've given the phrase 'carpet fibres' any thought whatsoever.

Then again, my daughter ate a scab off of the floor of a hospital waiting room so I'm not a brilliant barometer of good parenting.

But you do have a brilliant sense of humour! That really made me laugh.

MillyMichaelson · 23/11/2024 19:15

@Vitriolinsanity 😁😁😁

Vitriolinsanity · 23/11/2024 18:14

MillyMichaelson · 23/11/2024 13:41

My kids are teenagers now and I believe this is the first time in my life I've given the phrase 'carpet fibres' any thought whatsoever.

Then again, my daughter ate a scab off of the floor of a hospital waiting room so I'm not a brilliant barometer of good parenting.

I believe we could be great friends in real life.

Vitriolinsanity · 23/11/2024 18:11

I have lived too long.

How, in the name of trifle, does anyone live with the anxiety proliferation that exists in grown humans these days?

AlpacaMittens · 23/11/2024 18:03

Of course not, the carpets are lava.

HIVpos · 23/11/2024 18:01

VegTrug · 23/11/2024 12:03

Now this I definitely wouldn't do! People's shoes have stood in everything outside, including excrement and spit from people with all sorts (potentially things like HIV) then walked into the coffee shop. Baby crawls then put hands in mouth. Becomes infected. That's quite literally how viruses spread 🦠 so your mum was right to be horrified, Eugh. If you wouldn't allow your child to crawl along a wet pavement outdoors then definitely don't allow them to crawl on PUBLIC flooring as that is potentially even worse as if it's carpet (say in a coffee shop) then it absorbs all the crap.

And no, it does not 'build their immune systems' 🙄

Show quote history

It’s absolutely not possible to contract HIV through spit or saliva - even if a baby were to drink a bucket-full of it from someone who has been diagnosed with HIV (although that would clearly be pretty disgusting)

World AIDS Day is coming up soon so here’s a reminder how HIV can/cannot be passed on and other information.

https://www.tht.org.uk/hiv/myths-about-hiv#:~:text=A%20person%20living%20with%20HIV,urine%20or%20faeces%20(poo)

Myths about HIV | Terrence Higgins Trust

Common misconceptions about HIV that can stop people from getting tested, from accessing treatment and from living well with HIV. 

https://www.tht.org.uk/hiv/myths-about-hiv#:~:text=A%20person%20living%20with%20HIV,urine%20or%20faeces%20(poo)

thatsawhopperthatlemon · 23/11/2024 17:34

Scolded? Who by?

They need to learn to mind their own bloody business and keep their ludicrous ideas to themselves. They have no right to be scolding a fully-functioning adult.

JTRSOP · 23/11/2024 17:31

Devilsmommy · 23/11/2024 10:43

When mine was little and crawling I'd just pop a throw on the floor, mostly because I didn't want him breathing carpet fibres all day.

Absolutely ridiculous.

MrsNotquiteAverage · 23/11/2024 17:22

And something else I read recently that would have been so much more useful 20 years ago.
Crawling promotes co-ordination, it is better that one doesn't hurry them to walk. I am glad no one suggested one of those bounce devices for a doorway.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 23/11/2024 16:23

sweeneytoddsrazor · 23/11/2024 11:19

Well you can put them in the kitchen and watch them crawl across the fibre free tiles on their way to eat the cat food

That's the second stage of crawling after the carpet. Only in DD's case, it was the dog kibble - much to the horror of the dog who sat watching her and whimpering softly instead of alerting me to this terrible crime.

mollyfolk · 23/11/2024 16:22

Jesus my babies crawled everywhere . I couldn't keep them to the confines of a mat. Restricting movement would be much worse than whatever is on the carpets.

Ejvd · 23/11/2024 16:18

What are you supposed to do when they crawl off the special rug? Are they only allowed to exist in a rug-sized prison with someone on 24/7 duty to put them back on the rug every time they crawl off it?

ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea · 23/11/2024 15:39

A long time back now but yes my baby crawled on the carpet and on the hard kitchen floor. Plus we sometimes wear outdoor shoes in the house. He's grown up just fine.

Zimunya · 23/11/2024 15:29

Bigearringsbigsmile · 23/11/2024 12:02

Where on earth was that?

Show quote history

Africa, Zimbabwe to be specific :)

MrsNotquiteAverage · 23/11/2024 15:15

One respected doctor who is concerned about the increase in people with allergies suggested that spicy or 'risky' foods should be introduced earlier. The risk averse parenting which introduces a wider variety of foods at a deliberately later age may not be helping children to get used to spices and new vegetables.
He did reject the idea of deliberately introducing a lower standard of hygiene.

Our children have always been crawling on carpet, floorboards or grass were just normal.

Beekeepingmum · 23/11/2024 14:58

I think some people must spend their day thinking of new ways to worry about everyday things

Fireworknight · 23/11/2024 14:52

olderbutwiser · 23/11/2024 10:51

Don’t you watch people walking down the street and shake your head and say “well there goes another poor person whose inadequate parent let them crawl on polypropylene carpets”. No? Me neither.

Made me be chuckle!

SugarandSpiceandAllThingsNaice · 23/11/2024 14:29

I have always bought nylon carpets because the propylene carpets do constantly put off microplastic particles that you breathe in and can never excrete from your body. Years later you can get COPD or cancer from the long term exposure.

I compare it to when I was a child breathing in the fumes of leaded petrol. It’s something that very very slowly poisons you so the effects don’t show up until adulthood.

Echobelly · 23/11/2024 14:29

Bjorkdidit · 23/11/2024 10:42

No, I make my fictional baby levitate in a sterile bubble because you just can't be too careful. It's the only way.

Totally LOL'd at that. I do wonder what world some people live in, I really do...