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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

When do you Hoover if you have a baby?

70 replies

Hercy · 20/05/2013 09:27

Pretty trivial, but I am just wondering when those with babies get the chance to Hoover?

I don't have any children (yet), but have an 8 month old Labrador which can make it a pain. If he's asleep I don't want to Hoover and wake him, if he's awake he's usually trying to use the Hoover as a chew toy. It's manageable enough for me because I can just shut him in the garden while I get on with it.

But how do you do it with a baby?? Can hardly shut them outside and if you did it while they were sleeping, surely you'd wake them. Do you have to wait for your partner to take the baby out for a walk, or is this just pointless to ask because you wouldn't have the time to Hoover when you have a baby?

OP posts:

BrianCoxandTheTempleofDOOM · 20/05/2013 09:51

OP, I did smile at the idea of a baby trying to chew the vacuum

As others have said, most babies like the sound. The other day I left it switched on while I made a cuppa so that DS (7 weeks) would give me a minute!

saycheese I had the same with DD when she was a similar age, she only had to see the vacuum cleaner and would freak out.

We took her to Toys R Us and showed her the toy Dyson, she wasn't convinced but as it was her height it was more approachable.

I bought it and made a game of vacuuming, it didn't work over night but it definitely helped.

She is 9 now and happily vacuums for me

McPie · 20/05/2013 09:52

My DM always told my keep the tv at the volume you always had it at, talk at the volume you always do and hoover when ever you need to as they need to fit into your life not you around them. I now have 3 kids that you could sit drumming in their room and they still wouldnt wake up. We even put up a curtain pole and blind in ds1s room when he was 3 (just had new windows fitted) with lights on drill going and he asked in the morning where the curtains came from!

MrsMelons · 20/05/2013 09:52

Make sure you hoover from early on so they are not scared of the noise. My friend was very PFB and never hoovered when the baby were in the house, at 2 years old the little one was so terrified of the noise if I turned the hoover on at my house he would scream and shake.

Most babies IME don't actually wake up when you hoover as long as you start in a different room then continue into where they are sleeping like someone else said.

Weegiemum · 20/05/2013 09:53

My dh used to do he hoovering with baby dd1 in the sling. The sound and he rocking movement sent her off to sleep.

MrsMelons · 20/05/2013 09:55

Agree with McPie, we have never been any quieter in the evenings than we were before DCs and the DCs do sleep through anything. Also we have always flushed the chain in the toilet which has never woke them up at night.

We had friends who made you whisper and have the tv really low down all evening, you couldn't laugh or anything without them telling you to be quiet. This was before I had DCs so I thought maybe thats what everyone did

BrianCoxandTheTempleofDOOM · 20/05/2013 09:57

my elderly great aunt and uncle always whispered around their 3 children. My nan told me they would go and visit and have to sit and whisper conversations in case they woke the babies!

In our family if you can't shout louder than the next person you've no hope of being heard! Add to that the dogs barking, well DS would sleep on a washing line in a thunderstorm and not flinch

mummytime · 20/05/2013 10:26

Some babies love the noise.

Others (all of mine) hate it! In that case you Hoover less, and try to do it when they are shut up asleep in another room or out etc.

Twinklestarstwinklestars · 20/05/2013 10:31

Whenever it needs doing, ds2 was used to ds1 running around screaming so was used to noise. I used to cm a boy who was terrified so I used to do it on purpose (in a nice way!) when he was here and he was fine after a few weeks til his dad blew a hair dryer in his face playing and we had to start all over again!

Squitten · 20/05/2013 10:36

I always hoovered whenever I wanted to. My kids were very good nappers as babies and would have slept through a bomb. My eldest got a bit fearful of it when he was a toddler but he just had to get on with it!

CuppaSarah · 20/05/2013 11:30

I just hoover when people are coming round . But my 13wo isn't exactly mobile yet, I promise I'll be a better hooverer when she starts carpet grazing.

2rebecca · 20/05/2013 13:21

I wore a baby carrier on my front (sling type thing but not sling shaped) and did it wearing that, washed up etc wearing that too.

emstats · 20/05/2013 13:36

I bring out the hoover whenever my 3 month old is fussing and needs to have a nap, the noise sends her straight off :)

TaurielTest · 20/05/2013 13:44

I have not hoovered in 5 years :) - DP does it.
but yes to sling (www.slingguide.co.uk), yes to white noise, yes to letting housework slide and getting some rest, and yes to toy hoovers for the children - this one is way better than the ELC one.

VisualiseAHorse · 20/05/2013 13:50

I hoover when I need to. If LO is being a pain and won't stop climbing on the hoover, I either carry him in his baby carrier (on my back) or stick him in his cot or playpen for 10 minutes. If he cries, he cries. Hoovering gotta get done in this house.

In fact, he quite likes being carried on my back while I hoover - often rests his little head on my shoulder and sings to himself.

Wibblypiglikesbananas · 20/05/2013 13:52

My 21 mo used to be frightened of the Hoover, as above, shaking and screaming. Now she finds it a novelty! In fact, hilariously, she managed to turn it on with the foot switch thingy on Saturday when I was cleaning and shot backwards with fright at the noise - but did find it hilarious at the same time.

We tend to Hoover just after dinner and before bedtime, part of clearing up toys etc at the end of the day and helps with stray dinner crumbs. DD now calls the Hoover 'zoom zoom'.

loofet · 20/05/2013 14:05

You do it when it needs doing, you should make all the usual noises rather than tiptoeing around them otherwise they'll get used to silence and wake at the slightest noise. They're used to the sound anyway from within the womb. My third DC has always fallen asleep to the hoover, we even had to put hoover noises on youtube on a night to get her to sleep for the first few months .

peeriebear · 20/05/2013 14:07

8mo DS will stop what he's doing to watch me hoover. It sometimes sends him to sleep too. :)

Ethlinn · 20/05/2013 14:09

My LO (now 17 weeks) loves the hoover! Hoover, hair dryer etc - all white noise, it doesn't send him off to sleep but helps him calm down before his nap. I used to hoover when he was sleeping (he only catnaps during the day, so not much point to try and sleep at the same time) and as long as I started hoovering in another room and then moved to the bedroom he wouldn't even stir. We lead a normal life when DS is asleep. He will sleep through anything (including the loudest sound of our baby monitor when I forgot to switch off the movement alarm and went into the room :D)

xylem8 · 20/05/2013 14:30

switching the hoover on was the only way I could get my eldest to sleep when they were a baby.I even made a tape (showing my age) of hoover 'music' to avoid having the hoover going all night !!

Ragwort · 20/05/2013 14:33

Totally agree with loofet, never understood people who insisted on absolute silence ........... just get on with whatever you have to do .

SusanneLinder · 20/05/2013 14:35

I never worried about babies and hoovering, I jsut did it, asleep or not.

I would never stop hoovering for a bloody dog asleep, that has made me pmsl :o And I have two mutts.

If he is attacking the hoover, you need to tell him NO.

PostBellumBugsy · 20/05/2013 14:46

Love threads like this. Reminds me how much you over think things before you have a baby.

DS hated the hoover and was terrified of it, but I just thought constant exposure would win him round. I didn't have the time or patience to be doing the whole get someone else to take him out and I'm a clean freak, so he just had to work through his terror!

DD on the other hand loved it and would fall asleep almost instantly when she was tiny. Sometimes when she was bawling her eyes out in the car seat before we were going out (she hated the car seat), I'd switch the hoover on & a minute later, she'd be asleep. Bliss.

CoffeeChocolateWine · 20/05/2013 14:46

Love this

Both my DC HATE the hoover...my DS would scream but also follow me around while doing it. But I used to try and avoid doing it at all costs unless my DH could take him out because I hated upsetting my pfb.

My DD (10 months) hates it too and screams and follows me around...but I do it anyway. She's got to get used to it basically otherwise we'll end up living in a pig sty! And it's not hurting her just upsetting her a bit.

I wouldn't do it when she's asleep though...that time is sacred, no way am I taking the risk of waking her up!

glamstretchmarks · 20/05/2013 14:49

BEST advice I ever got:

Hoover while your baby sleeps.

My DS sleeps through any normal house noises now... I listen to music at night and it never wakes him. :o

TheCalvert · 20/05/2013 14:49

You don't Hoover until they're at least 12 months. In time for their first birthday.

helpful

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