You probably remember bringing your little one home from the hospital. You vowed to feed them organic baby food, use cloth diapers and dye free laundry detergent. You were determined to do only the best for your baby. Generally we don’t think about the floors where your baby will sit, roll over, and eventually crawl on.

Some cleaners are made with harsh chemicals that are dangerous to expose to small children. We also drag in dirt, germs and bacteria from our shoes into the home. As adults, we really don’t think about it as we generally just walk on the floor. All of these chemicals, dirt and germs would just be on our feet and we will wash them off in the shower. Now think about your baby’s exposure to the floor. They will spend most of their day near it. They drop toys and then pick them up and stick them in their mouths. They will roll around and sometimes bury their face in the rugs. It’s important to clean and sanitize your floors safely and with cleaners that won’t expose your baby to unnecessary toxins

So how can I clean the carpet safely for my baby? For a deep clean, you may look into hiring a company that specifically deals with green cleaning methods. They will use child and pet safe materials and leave your carpets looking like brand new. This is the best way to get a clean carpet, however, many people can’t afford to have their carpets professionally cleaned more than once or twice a year. For your weekly cleaning routine, you will want to shop in the natural section of your grocery store. There are many floor cleaners for hard and soft surfaces that use ingredients that are safe for baby. Some of those ingredients may even be in your refrigerator (oranges) or your pantry (baking soda). If you would like to try the DIY approach to making safe natural cleaners, you can make your own cleaners for your hard floors and carpets.

A tip to keeping your carpets safe for baby is to take your shoes off when entering your home. This will reduce the amount of dirt and germs that will stick to the carpet. Also, making sure that you are maintaining your vacuum cleaner properly, changing the filters and cleaning the brushes are important. The best vacuum cleaners will have a HEPA filter or a closed system to avoid excessive dust and dander to enter the air of your home.

You can’t take every germ or piece of dirt out of your home, but using these tips will make it safer for your baby.