I would think if anything you'd want to hurry and Get new carpet, not delay it. You will definitely want clean carpet or flooring for the baby to crawl on/ be down on.
We had nasty carpet that was already here in our fixer upper house. I have a grandson who will be crawling soon. At least in the living room (where we just put new carpet) the baby will have a place to be down on the floor :)
Congratulations on your pregnancy.. that's FANTASTIC!!

New carpet off gasses chemicals which may be harmful to a new baby or a pregnant mom.
If you do get new carpet, make sure they open it up to allow it to get the majority of the fumes gone before you install it.
Yeah....babies are filthy!! they urp and spill and other things too awful to mention....but you really don't want your little darling on icky old dirty stuff, do you?
Linda C

Any chance that you can swing putting down a wood floor or even laminate flooring. It would be easier to clean up messes that a baby makes, and it won't hold dust and dirt. A well maintained floor that is cleaned regularly is cleaner for baby to sit and crawl on. Carpeting always seems so dirty to me and I always feel it never comes clean, and then there is the nasty off-gassing to worry about too.

Yes, get new carpet before the baby. Why would you wait? What is a baby going to do to the carpet? lol.

Mostly the problem with kids and carpet has to do with food. If your child will eat over the carpet (say, in the dining room or walking around with a tippy cup or a cracker in the LR or family room), the new carpet is likely to suffer.

We had a very light carpet all the time when my kids were young and it wasn't a problem because (1) there was tile or wood under the kitchen/DR eating areas and (2) we had a "no leaving the kitchen or DR table with food or drink" rule. Our carpet would have stayed even nicer if we had a "no shoes inside the house rule," but that approach isn't comfortable for us.

Overall, the likely carpet damage associated with young hildren depends on your lifestyle and where in your home the carpet is located.

Most of all, congrats on the pregnancy!

Get the carpet and then get lots of rest. You will have no time to worry about a little spit up on carpet once the baby is born, you will only want to sleep. Sleeping on new carpet would be better than sleeping on dirty carpet!

Congratulations!

Thanks for all the congrats! As much as I would prefer laminate or HW, we have an aging dog who didn't take too well to the laminate we installed a couple of years ago in the kitchen/DR. Even at a slow walk, her feet just sometimes give way under her and she hates going in there. Also, my husband hates the idea (he is not a fan of solid flooring either :-P) So carpet it is...

I also would like a clean, new carpet on which to have the baby laying, crawling, "urping" LOL. I'm worried about off-gassing and the fact that we are currently a shoes on, eat every other meal on the couch kind of couple. Seeing what my 4 nephews did to my brother's poor carpet is another thing that makes me rethink... I don't want to feel like I need to replace the carpet in another 5 years.

It sounds like if we do it, sooner (well before baby is here) is better than later?...

IMO, if you wait, you should wait *years* - because kids are messier than babies. ;-) My 4 and 6 year olds still spill cups, crumbs, etc and DD recently 'lip-glossed' her carpet in her room.

I'd probably do it now. But off-gassing would be a concern of mine too and I would take any precautions possible in that regard.

Get the carpet now, you (and your baby) deserve a nice environment.

Here's a bit of advice that I was given that I will be ever thankful for.

Hope you don't mind if I pass it along.

After the nursing stage -- ALL kid's snacks and meals should be given to them when they are in their highchairs or sitting at a table. If you start that habit from the beginning, your clean-up will be contained to one area (hopefully in an easy clean place.)

Congratulations!

ML

After the nursing stage -- ALL kid's snacks and meals should be given to them when they are in their highchairs or sitting at a table. If you start that habit from the beginning, your clean-up will be contained to one area (hopefully in an easy clean place.)

Not to mention that you will be teaching your child healthy eating habits - that meals should be consumed sitting down at the table.

We carpeted for our new baby and would certainly do it again. Think of it as a loving welcoming gift for your new baby. Just wish I knew back then what I know how--and had the improved carpets of today available. I would definitely choose for low-irritant, low-allergy construction, though. Children are very close to the fibers and especially affected by carpet content and soils. If we adults had to sit and crawl all day on our floors, though, and crash and burn on them literally hundreds of times, they'd all be wall-to-wall over the best padding technology could provide.

BTW, we're also messy livers and as empty nesters ended up eating most of the time on the couch (I like the news with my breakfast). Placing a TV for viewing from where I wanted us to eat and buying comfy upholstered dining chairs for the two of us made the table inviting once again.

I agree with those who have said to eat meals at the dining table only (TV off). It starts a good habit and will protect your furniture and carpeted area around the sofa. If the dining room is carpeted, put down a plastic table cloth under baby's high chair.

Don't allow eating on the sofa. What about when baby grows up and has friends over and they all sit there and eat? What a mess. You need to start good habits from the beginning.

We have always had carpet from when the kids were babies. We had carpet cleaners come in about every year or so and do a thorough, professional cleaning job. It has worked well. Spills clean up pretty well if you have them Scotch Guard.

I would not use Scotch Guard or any similar chemicals like that around a baby. I would not use them at all for any reason. 3M has discontinued using those fluorinated compounds after the finding that they show up in the blood of people. I have no idea what they use as a substitute in Scotch Guard, but covering everything in my house with a spray-on plastic chemical does not appeal to me. Just some food for thought. I'm sure that some people do not think it is a danger to breath plastic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scotch Guard Danger?

Get the carpet, plan on a family friendly color, and buy a bissel carpet cleaner for the oops. Not that my darling baby daughter cracked eggs on the carpet or anything! I had put the baby down on the floor- bag of groceries next to her and went to get the rest- when I came back in she had gotten out the eggs and was happily smashing them one by one into the carpet.She had gone through half of the eggs. Yes it was summer and thank goodness for the bissell! That carpet lasted much longer than it should have.I can't tell you how many times we used the bissel- either for spills or for all over cleaning.I recommend it or one similar!

Another thought about carpets is use FLOR . . .It is not that soft underfoot, but is very very very easy to clean/replace. We have it in our LR.

If you haven't purchased w-w lately, the products on the market are quite resilient. I have some w-w in my home and my late kitty was sick the last two years of his life and every one of his accidents cleaned up perfectly.

I second what cooperbailey said...have a spot cleaning machine on hand and a bottle of enzyme based stain remover, and you should be fine with everyday spills and such.

Wow. I don't have kids, so maybe I'm really off on this, but my immediate reaction was "Wait for a new carpet". I'm surprised everyone else thinks windsorbecks should replace the carpet now. I would try having the existing carpet professionally cleaned and see if I could live with it for another 2 or more years.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Having a baby is a wonderful thing and there is something special about having your first.
I thought I had posted but I don't see my post and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. I have 5 children. If you can live with what you have, I REALLY don't think you should replace it, especially if you allow eating outside the kitchen, but even if you don't, kids are just plain hard on carpet. They ruin it with their art supplies, running in and out, spitting up, and in all kinds of other ways you probably can't imagine until it happens.

Personally, I would clean it, maybe even invest in a steam cleaner, and keep it for as long as you can stand it. As far as having a young baby on the carpet itself, I don't think that's a good idea if it's new or old. Even when carpet looks clean it's usually not. If you could see underneath it, you'd be shocked at how much dirt, etc. is under there. Our pediatrician actually suggested we take up ours due to my son's asthma. When we took ours up and put down wood and tile his asthma improved, as did his allergies. Plus little ones can pull off fuzz, fibers, debris, etc. and put it in their mouths- and believe me, anything that within their reach that can fit in their mouths will end up there at some point! ;)

You could use a blanket or what I did for my twins (they're 7 months now) might work for you. I bought interlocking foam tiles- not the kind w/ letters because babies will take them out and chew on them and because they stretch and start to come out easily and then you'll have to keep putting them back. Later when they're a little more mobile you can get a play yard if you want. I like my play yard because it keeps the babies from getting into things they shouldn't and because I know the area the boys in is always clean since nobody walks on it. The foam tiles are easily sanitized w/ 409 and a rag or a steam mop if you have one.

I agree w/ the poster that said if you teach them to eat only in the kitchen you'll save yourself lots of headache in the long run by the way. And one more idea: Have you considered a tile that isn't slick? A slightly textured tile work for your dog and they're just as easy to clean.

Congrats again on your upcoming addition.

Your better off with the old carpet that has already off-gassed for years. New carpet is going to emit lots of toxic fumes from the glues and polymers. Why introduce a bunch of new toxins when your baby will be in it's early development. I wouldn't risk it.

Here is a link that might be useful: wall covering

Congrats on the good news! I agree with the others who recommend getting the carpet now. When you think of the upheaval that new carpet can make, you might want to get the headache over with now and enjoy your new family when the time comes. While I always had my kids eat meals at the table, I was never one to limit their eating to the kitchen. There will be times when you might want to let them have a snack on the floor in front of the TV or while playing a quiet game or listening to a book. For those times I always put down a "safe zone" (yes, that's actually what we called it) which was an old comforter that could be easily washed. Since I started this when my kids were small it became a steadfast rule and as they grew, they would make sure the "safe zone" was in place for them to sit on before they brought anything to eat or drink into the family room. I found this cut down on a lot of unnecessary worry or commotion if a spill occurred.

I have 4 children and I vote for new carpet. My husband has a theory about children, its never the PERFECT time for anything if you have them , so you just have to do it(whatever it is). I always said to myself - it will be a better time later, well life is too short, you will have lots of visitors, little ones need clean carpet to play on and if you try to wait until this little one is the right age it may be in college!

I would say that it could go either way. I have 4 kids, 11, 8, 5, 2 1/2. We built our house 3 years ago and we have carpet in parts and we went with a pretty inexpensive carpet because we know what kids do and we knew that we would want to replace it in the future.

When my 5 yo spilled smoothie on the carpet, I really did not care too much. One thing to remember is what type of carpet and how that will feel to a crawling baby (as yours will likely be crawling in the summertime when the normal attire is a diaper and nothing else). My baby did not care much for the berber carpet and they way it roughed up his legs but he developed a crawl to accommodate it. If you like to eat at the couch, just get some type of cheapo rug to have under the coffee table for when the baby is eating with you. And if it helps with decision making, you may want to consider that potty training can have an affect on carpet as well.

Congrats on the baby.

Get the best carpet you can afford. But leave money for a natural pad verses the compressed foam (they stink). Get your carpet in a varrigated color verses a solid, and don't get a super tight weave. The mixed loop and pile and really nice on feet and knees.

If you're going to wait until it's safe...I'd recomend learning to love the existing carpet because it will be 12 to 20 years before your kids won't be messing the floors up one way or another.

I personally don't get the idea of waiting for decent things as your kids grow. Kids should experience nice things and learn to respect them as they grow, verses being in a padded room all of the time. We have antiques, art, carpets, wood, and a 3 year old. He is allowed to eat in more than the kitchen and dining room, though I don't send peanut butter down into his room :) Crackers vacuumm up easily :)

We've had formula, barf, poop, pee, wine (because we need it with all of the former in our life) all get to the carpets. It all washes up :) A good cleaner and a quick response does remove all sins. Our only lasting stain is a wine stain developed when no children were in the room heh heh

As someone on the same path (and hoping to be as lucky as you) I'd suggest you enjoy the luxury of this pregnancy and the new baby to the utmost. Don't stress about the carpet :) They'll make that stress seem silly in a few years heh heh But for now, enjoy a nice home, including a home that isn't fully of icky old carpet (I had it and hated it...even cleaned it was still yucky looking). Get a high quality vacuumm (I can't spell that LOL) like a Dyson so your carpet is clean, and then relax.

In the future your child will put a lot worse in their mouth than a few strands of carpet....I promise ;P Congrats!!!

I agree with igloochic! Get the best carpet you can afford now and enjoy. Good carpet cleans up easily, and from my experience you and your friends and family will be spending a lot of time on the floor with the baby and toys.

There are some helpful threads on the flooring forum about new carpet fibers.

I think the toughest years on our carpets were when the kids were pre-teens. My daughter would spill nailpolish and paints and my son would spill juice boxes. The carpets in the main living areas were usually fine. I'd get to the spill right away. It's those bedroom carpets that really suffered!

Congratulations!

We had a baby that spit up all the time - until about 9 months. Before she started crawling, we had it all cleaned - they will spend the next years on the floor - now 3 years on the floor playing all day. I agree with teaching them about snacks in the kitchen where you can wipe up. A friend of mine let her daughter go around with juice and milk in a sippy cup and it totally trashed the carpet. Ours still looks good