Avoiding putting baby on the floor because of dog hair!

[Firsttimemummy19]

My baby is 5 months old and unless we are upstairs in the nursery then I never put him on the floor because we have a Labrador and the amount of crap she brings in plus all the hair she looses is immense!
Baby has all of a sudden decided he hates the vacuum so I'm limited to when I can use it now (he never minded it until one day).

What's the answer?

What do others do with babies & dogs?

Put a blanket down? Get a playpen the dog can’t get inside?

Playpen? Exclude dog from living room?

Yes playpen could work. There’s no way I could survive without putting my almost 8 month old down. He wants to explore constantly.

You grin and bear it!!
Allowing your 2 precious 'babies' to forge a relationship is amazing op!! 100% supervision and you may start to relax about the hair!

We use a furminator to remove excess hair and that drastically improves shedding.

Any loose hair that doesn’t come up with a hoover can easily be picked up using a damp washing up sponge on the green side, use gently and it removes all hairs.

You just have to hoover more and the baby will get used to it - it's just the way it is I'm afraid!

I was forever hoovering when mine were tiny.

The baby will have to get used to the vacuum cleaner.

I am possibly a bit lax but i would just put the baby on the hairy carpet. In a few months she will be mobile and will be climbing on the dog. She won't come to any harm. Vacuum at night once she has gone to bed.

Er, vacuum more?

I have to vacuum my downstairs twice a day as I've got a toddler who makes a holy mess and a crawling baby who picks up everything and puts it in her mouth.

If you're running the vacuum round once in the morning and once in the afternoon then there shouldn't be that much hair?

He/him not she/her - sorry!

I’d suggest a manual floor sweeper and a nice big play mat that you can stick in the washing machine (we’ve got a Close Pop-In one that is great as it also doubles as a picnic blanket). We have a dog and it’s not something I’ve ever particularly worried about. Don’t forget pets are good for immunity!

Yes, you definitely need to hoover more.

Put a blanket down for the baby, and keep the dog out of the living room during the day.

Initially you hoover more and panic.

Then one day you forget and nothing terrible happens and you sort of take it up from there...

Furminating does help as well.

And keep a towel by the door, one outside, one in, so you can wipe the paws before the hairy bugger comes in, and then a towel the dog walk on to get in.

As I said, the baby has taken a dislike to the vacuum cleaner. He used to be fine but one day just screamed in terror. I keep trying but he's getting no better so I refuse to terrify him anymore until he's decided himself it's harmless. I'm trying weekly in front of him, he will get there one day.

The rug is a shaggy type one that you can't easily wipe, I'd get rid if it but my dog is elderly and slips a lot on our wooden flooring.

I might try a play mat actually.

You can't only hoover once a week because your baby doesn't like it

Your baby isn't going to benefit from a filthy floor or being unable to develop normal physical skills because he's never put down.

He's not going to suddenly decide it's harmless if you stop doing it and he doesn't get an opportunity to get used to it.

I wash dog weekly and brush her a lot, towel her down before coming in (if wet/muddy) and baby has a playmat and blanket that dog knows not to go on.

My dog hates the hoover but even so I do it must day, often whilst cuddling the baby.

The baby will get used to it! Is this your first baby, by any chance?

My son was terrified of the vacuum cleaner at that age so when I put it on I used to laugh hysterically and dance. Probably looked like a twit but within a month he loved it and would get ridiculously excited whenever it came on. We ended up buying him a toy Dyson

Have your tried holding baby whilst hoovering and trying to joke and play?

Also second a playpen/travel cot

I just pop a big blanket on the floor, then chuck it in the washing machine after

change to hard flooring so you can damp wipe?

@motheroftinydragons Tad patronising!

If my baby screams then I'm not going to carry on regardless!!! I'm no monster.

@lazylinguist I've just said I'm trying him weekly to see if he's ok with it.

Yes tried making it a fun thing but he's not having any of it at the moment.

Thanks for the helpful posts. Definitely going to get a large playmat for the living room.

We've got two hairy hounds and 4 kids. Best purchase ever was a robot Hoover which peacefully tootles around several times a day to keep my whitewashed Scandi wooden floors reasonably clean. Certainly quieter than a normal Hoover. I don't have fluffy rugs down though, they'd be gross... You know that the gut flora of dog owners is loads healthier than people with sparkly clean houses? You're doing your baby a favour!