House cleaning tips please...

[Illustrationaddict]

When you have a young baby who doesn't sleep in the day (unless they sleep on me) how do you do housework? DC is at the age where they are starting to get mobile and I can't seem to get the hang of cleaning and entertaining at the same time and its starting to build. Without hiring somebody, any tips?!

Hi there.
I understand completely - my 6 month old dd likes to be carried while she's awake. She isn't one for lying on her playmat and playing with her toys while I get on with jobs around the house. How old is your baby?
We've just bought a jumperoo and she's quite happy in there. As long as I'm in the same room I can vacuum, tidy etc, usually for about 10-15 mins. It seems she prefers to be upright, rather than lying down. I think you can use them from about 4 or 5 months onwards. The only downside to them is they're pretty big, and expensive.
DD will also sit in her bouncer in the garden while I put the washing out.
I can fully relate to the 'napping on mommy' thing too. My dd was just like that. However I started lying down with her in our bed for her breastfeeds and found she gradually got used to sleeping there. I would either nap too alongside her or just creep away quietly when I was sure she was asleep. Ideally I would transfer her to her cot, for safety but we're only just working on that - one step at a time!
I know you've probably heard it a million times before but, as much as you're longing for her to nap independently, you WILL miss it when it stops. I still remember the last time dd fell asleep in my arms, on the boob.
Hope that's some use anyway.

My DD is 11 months, and you are gonna curse me for saying this, but we got her a jumperoo at around 4 months, which she loved, and was the original answer of how to get stuff done, but now she's starting to bore with it :( maybe we overused it? Thinking of getting a ball pool for her birthday, but any toy suggestions which amuse for a good 10 minutes of cleaning time for a 1 year old would be gratefully received! I can't seem to be able to do any housework until she goes to bed which usually ranges between 7-8pm

Oh no, I guess I've got that still to come then :s Didn't realise you're ahead of me :)

Jumperoo was great from 4 months, but same here, ds grew bored of it after he started to crawl around 8.5 months. I used to carry him around in the baby carrier (big baby too) to do the vacuuming, he loved it.

I just did very little housework so my answer would be do the bare minimum, sorry not helpful at all!

Now DD is a bit older and I'm less sleep deprived I just do 1 min here and there, e. g. Have a j cloth in each room so I can dust/ wipe down a windowsill or surface, e cloth in the bathroom so I can wipe the sink down, DustBuster in the kitchen to do the floor

It means I'm just doing enough to stop the flat being a complete pigsty but every so often me or dH will take DD out and the other will blitz the flat.