If you have wooden floors...

[LaMadrilena]

and a toddling baby, how often do you mop? Settle a domestic dispute for me!

DD 13m has just learned to walk and now never stops. She doesn't bother crawling any more, but obviously still splats quite a lot, Maggie Simpson style.

How clean does my floor need to be, bearing in mind that both parents work 40h/week?

Show him this thread, tell him he’s welcome to do it as often as he likes but mustn’t stop a baby playing either inside or outside. Seriously how does he cope at the park?

No shoes past the front hall here. Hoover nearly every day in main high traffic bits like kitchen - quickly with stick hoover. Mop once a week or more if it's too sticky / grim to look at!! We have a dog and I did the same routine when my DD was learning to crawl / walk.

I mopped thoroughly (with cleaning fluid) once a week when my DCs were toddling around.

If there were spills I spot cleaned.

I hoovered or damp mopped daily. Damp mopping was just a Swiffer type of gizmo run around high traffic areas. I did this more frequently than hoovering as it was quicker.

We had a cat and the damp mopping prevented a buildup of fur under chairs and the couch.

Just get a flat mop and a spray and wipe it over every day. It will take no time at all. Don’t wear shoes in the house. Teach the baby to wash her hands before and after food. Tell dh to stop keeping her in a playpen/on the sofa that’s horrid.

Having read your description of how your H handles parenting your DD, I really urge you to make him see his doctor and address the anxiety that is very clearly a huge problem.

What he's doing when taking care of DD is completely unreasonable and irrational.

Something is really wrong with him.

And what's with not wanting a 'stranger' in the house?

There is a problem here

Please get him to seek help.

I'm also concerned. It sounds controlling. You shouldn't have to restrict normal life/behaviour. It can be very isolating being a mum, are you "allowed" to have friends over for a coffee for example?

Over reaction as usual.

lots of people don't want a cleaner/stranger in their home & I can see his point for a flat,

@LaMadrilena I love my steam mop & lack of chemicals!!

How on Earth did he cope with her crawling?

You have to make him see he cannot keep her on the sofa/in the playpen, how can he not see how bad that is for her.

Do you have any family/friends he would listen to?

crawling baby I steam mopped daily as it's so easy and they put their hands in their mouths all the time. Toddling baby several times a day near high chair!! 1-2 times pw everywhere, but as you are all out all day, 1pw should be fine.

Not wanting a cleaner because you don't want a stranger in the house is perfectly normal and rational.

Nothing else about him is, but that bits fine

Why should she? She doesn't want to

Sorry, I had to laugh at the suggestions that DH is ill/controlling/an anxious wreck, or that I might not be "allowed" to have friends round! He's perfectly fine, loving and kind, and just a bit ott about the floors because he knows next to nothing about babies! He's learning as we go along. I mean, so am I, but at least I've looked after cousins, friends' kids, nieces/nephews... He's always run a mile from that!

I'll look into something like a flat mop and see if I can meet him halfway. And maybe a Roomba or similar.

He’s not really doing a great job of “learning as we go” if he’s confining your poor DD to baby jail or the sofa though. I can’t even imagine keeping my 10 month old on the sofa for longer than 5 minutes as she will try to fling herself off anyway which is much more dangerous than a bit of dust on her hands. It will also start to stunt her development.

If he’s so worried about germs he needs to look at the actual studies about sterile environments and the negative impacts they have on children’s immune systems. Here’s an article www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/why-its-important-to-expose-kids-to-germs-scientist-explains-jack-gilbert-children-babies-immune-systems-a7845031.html?amp

@girlmom21 well mostly because that’s what I do so obviously it’s the best solution. 😇. @LaMadrilena will do what she wants to anyway, but that might include compromise from both parents as they raise their shared child. Most marriages that work involve a certain amount of give and take.

Ha can't argue with that logic

@5zeds but why does it not occur to him to run a mop over the floor if he feels it needs doing?

Well I don’t know @MeridianGrey maybe he’d like to but he’s at work most of the time? Maybe he thinks everyone corals there child on the sofa and is discussing ways round that? I expect @LaMadrilena suggests he mops he won’t explode.

Not wanting a cleaner because you don't want a stranger in the house is perfectly normal and rational.

It really isn't.

And on top of the other quirks, I would be concerned that this man has a problem.

So is he doing this increased mopping or does "meeting him halfway" mean you are doing it all?

@mathanxiety it is quite normal to not want a cleaner due to privacy, it’s totally different to hosting friends. Cleaners offen let themselves in and clean when people are out or if in they will be cleaning in another room. I am very private and wouldn’t want that. Each to their own.

I don’t mop my wooden floors at all, it ruins them

I clean up spills and splats immediately but otherwise I just sweep every week (or two… 😌)

Mopping won’t ruin a wooden floor unless you’re soaking it any more than wiping will ruin a kitchen table. People have been sweeping mopping and waxing wooden floors for hundreds of years.

I have the same argument with my husband. He thinks that the floor should be mopped twice a day. I think that.the floor should be mopped once a month. We have a crawling baby who spends most of his time chewing on shoes, playing with dirty laundry and picking up bird poo in the garden.