How do you moms with very small babies get housework done? Since Hannah was born, I've relaxed my standard of housekeeping a lot, but eventually I'd like a very clean house again. I've tried wearing her in a frontpack and I can get a little done that way until she gets sick of the pack and starts screaming.

So far the only time that seems to work very well for cleaning is her naptime and during half of those I sleep too! LOL. Oh, well, I guess that the housework can always get done when she's grown. [rofl]

Don't be too hard on yourself at the beginning when they are just young. Take care of yourself, and let others help and do the housework. I felt the same way, I wanted a really clean house too. I had to relax my standards as well. We eventually got to schedule where we didn't sleep as much during the day and thus when the baby went for a nap we tidied up. It built up for what seemed forever but eventually it did get clean and it felt great.

What about putting her in her infant carseat near you or do you have a bouncinette? I used to put Abby in her carseat and have her next to me while doing housework. Or under the playgym ;) Even at a very young age she loved lying there looking at the toys. I was lucky though because she did sleep ALOT. My mum even told me to ask my midwife about it because she was concerned she slept too much :lol: I wasn't complaining LOL

That's a good suggestion. Another one is to put them in an exersaucer. That keeps them entertained and in one spot too.

for the first three months...my idea of keeping things clean was making sure there weren't any piles and doing the laundry....hubby and I would vaccum once on the weekend when there were two of us! No real hard scrubbing until my son got a little older and didn't have to be held quite so much! I'm soooo anal, so this was hard for me, but it works and takes the guilt away if you set this as your ideal....then we would make a weekend morning every two weeks or so to do a big cleaning thing together to keep up.....definatly sleep when they do! You need it!

What was that...a Phyllis Diller quote that says "Cleaning with children in the house is like shoveling while it's still snowing" or something along those lines hehehe
That's my motto! But then, I've never been a 'neat freak' I like a clean, tidy house, sure, but I'm not crazy about it. I hate putting the work into it. And then by now, with the ages of my kids..oh geesh, it seems my efforts are hardly worth it, I'd kill myself keeping on top of it all. So, my house meets all health codes and not much more LMHO ;)

Seriously though, cleaning with little ones...don't sweat it. You still need to be resting when bebe rests. Do what you can when you feel up to it. Carry her around and do clutter control, dusting, vacuuming. THose can all be done while wearing a baby. Even loading/unloading the dishwasher. Hand washing dishes isn't as easy with one on the front, but it *can* be done. Really, all I do not feel comfortable doing with one strapped on is mopping, sweeping, scrubbing anything and ironing. Oh and packing loads of laundry. I can swap from machine to machine, but not carry the basket while wearing a baby.

Just work at it like you would any other time..setting small goals, focus on one area at a time. Tending to it whenever you have 10 minutes. A lot can be done in 10 minutes and those little 10 minute spurts DO add up during the day...unless you have a full house like me hehehe

Oh, goodness, I remember the first time... My sleeping was so off any schedule, that sometimes I'd be scrubbing the house in the middle of the night. I know we need our rest when baby sleeps, but life still goes on. :lol: But, seriously, you do have to worry less about the house and make you and your family the main priority.

Hey!

Honestly, the swing was my lifesaver. Whenever I needed to do anything, like clean, or even just a break from holding Kylah I would put her in there and she'd be as happy as anything. I found that she needed her own time sometimes to just swing away and often she ended up falling asleep! She's now almost 6 months old and we still put her in there when we need our hands free of baby!

I found this one to be amazing because it swings back and forth or front and back. Plus it plays music and stuff. It was the best money we spent for sure.
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2001&e=detail&site=us&selcat=bgsw&pid=31332

hope this helps!

I used to put sam in her bouner or in her swing. That swing worked some serious miracles--praise God!

LOL, my baby has a very limited tolerance to anything not human. She can handle a little swing and then she doesn't like it anymore. I guess all babies are different!

Okay...if TARA can do it...ANY of us can do it! 'Cause let's face it 5 COMPLETELY outranks most of us!! [hug] [highfive] But I digress, I usually put Rebekah in either her highchair or Excersaucer and Daniel is usually eating his meals when I clean up the kitchen. Other stuff I usually wait until everyone is in bed (like now). I agree though, spotless cleaning can be left. Aim for "neat" chaos. :lol: Best of luck to ya! ~Kerri

Okay, with that said, Tara, hold on, let me catch up, I'm 3 down two to go, LOL. Seriously, would love to have five or six, but dh and I have decided to let God have control over that.

Now, to topic, sorry, when you put her in the swing, and she starts crying, wait a few minutes before you get her, if you can stand it. Over time, those not crying times will increase. I'm very ferber-ized with my kids, so this my not tickle your parenting style, and if not, don't worry about it. but the main thing is this, don't worry about the house either. It'll still be there in the morning, whenever that comes, LOL.

take care

I agree with what's been said. I love to have my house clean, but I've only got so much energy. My husband's great about that, too. He doesn't mind if the stuff piles up around the house. He says that my job isn't housework, it's caring for our kids.

One thing that worked for me when my first daughter was born was to divide the chores into days of the week. i.e., Monday is for the bedrooms, Tuesday for bathrooms, etc. That kept me feeling on top of things. Now, the house is in total disarray. I have a toddler who seems to take exception to me cleaning the house, and she takes great pains to fix my cleaning, so that the house is back to her standards. I'm giving her another year before I start getting on to her about picking up after herself all the time.

The important thing is to take care of your baby. Your house will never be perfectly to your standards until they're out of the house for good, anyway, so try to learn to live with a little clutter. Less stress that way.

Ruth - they're only babies for a year and being a 'neat freak' myself I totally understand where you are coming from.

When I had the twins I was still trying to maintain everything to the pre-kid pristine environment and my child health nurse told me off :shock:

I was told if I made the beds, stacked the dishwasher and kept the floor vaccumed that was more than sufficient. I probably didn't even make DH and my bed for about 6 months (except for when I changed sheets), but I had other priorities then and DH knew that and never said a word.

Do you have anyone to help you do that extra bit?

Would Hannah enjoy just having you tag her along in her pram?

how about a mommy's helper from church or a neighbor?
Baby Einstein? :lol:

really the mess will be there tomorrow. If I can do a load of dishes, 2 loads of laundry and sweep the floors every day I am completely happy. Usually I can do all of that in an hour. If no one naps, it takes all day :P

When mine comes, I'm going to try a Maya Pouch, which is a kind of sling. (Anybody had any experience with one of those? A couple different customers commented on the website that they were able to get lots of housekeeping done wearing their babes in a sling.)

Ruth, you might remember something my NFP instructor said in class one day RE moms with little time to do housework for taking care of a baby: "The dust will still be there when they get older." :lol:

I've had a pouch style sling...didn't use it for a newborn though. For an older, sitting up baby in a hip carry.
I've not been too satisfied with any of my slings thus far for a newborn carry. My kids don't like lying down in the things. ANd I could never get them in a more upright, kangaroo style carry well enough with those one shoulder ring slings (or non adjustable pouch) I'd opt for a wrap. I know many manage just fine with ring slings, but it never worked for me with the wee ones.
Then now I have this pinched nerve thing and can't use the one shoulder carries. Looooovin' my Mai Tei and long for a good wrap. That uses both shoulders and they are very versatile. You can snuggle a newborn in a wrap quite well :)

Thanks for the advice, Tara. I'll keep it in mind. :)

Ha! I still haven't figured it out with a two year old, 9 month old and one on the way... I should probably read up on the responses!

My house isn't perfect. It was REALLY BAD the first two months, because I was tired, and our baby screamed when she would not be carried around (She wanted to look at EVERYTHING.) So we sat her in her swing and let her watch veggie tales!! It worked, because she had something to watch. She is doing better now that she can grab toys and bring them to her mouth ,and roll over, etc. She doesn't cry much anymore, so it's easier to pick up stuff.

Also I use flylady's routines. http://www.flylady.com/
Does anyone else use flylady? It gives me motivation to clean out areas since i know thousands of other women are also doing the same thing!! (she sends you email reminders. It works well if you are an internet junkie like I am.) Flylady has helped me a lot, and it's not so overwhelming anymore, since most of the routines you do in less than 15 minutes. I usually put Katherine down for a nap and do 15 minutes of cleaning, then I have up to 45 minutes of 'me' time... she takes about 5 naps per day, so that's like an hour and fifteen minutes of cleaning. works for me!!

My aunt gave me a minature aquarium swing from Fisher Price for my daughter. Hannah loves it! That's amazing! She doesn't like her other swing and likes this one! Go figure!