Are rugs safe for babies? What every parent needs to know

By Nestaground · June 2025

When our son was born, we did not go looking for a rug. We went looking for a safe surface. There is a difference. A rug is a decorative object. A safe surface is something you trust.

After more than twenty years working with floor coverings, we could not find what we were looking for. So we made it. This article is not a product pitch. It is a summary of what we have learned about what makes a floor covering safe, or not, for the earliest months of a child's life.

Why the floor matters so much in the first years

In the first year of life, a baby spends an extraordinary proportion of their time on the floor. They crawl on it, press their faces into it, put their hands in their mouths immediately after touching it. Their breathing zone is within centimetres of the surface. Any chemical present in the pile (residual solvents, flame retardants, VOCs from synthetic fibres or adhesive backings) enters their environment far more directly than it would an adult's.

This is not a reason for alarm. Most children are perfectly fine. But when choosing a floor covering for a room where a baby will spend their first months, it is worth asking questions that most rug shopping does not invite you to ask.

What to avoid

Synthetic fibres. Polypropylene, nylon and polyester are petroleum-derived plastics. They may off-gas volatile organic compounds, particularly when new. They do not breathe and can harbour bacteria more readily than natural fibres. They are also not biodegradable.

Chemical treatments. Many rugs, including some marketed as "natural", receive stain-repellent, antimicrobial or fire-retardant treatments during manufacturing. Some of these use per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a family of compounds that are persistent in both the environment and the human body. These treatments do not wash out.

Latex and chemical adhesive backings. Many machine-made rugs use a latex or synthetic adhesive backing to hold the pile in place. The quality and composition of these backings varies enormously. In their cheaper forms, they can be a significant source of off-gassing and can deteriorate over time, releasing particles into the room.

"The simplest construction is the easiest to trust."

What to look for

A word on "washable" rugs

Washable rugs have become popular with parents, and the appeal is obvious. But many washable rugs achieve their washability through chemical treatments or synthetic fibre construction that bring their own concerns. A hand-knotted natural wool rug can be professionally washed, and the washing process itself removes any accumulated dust and particles without introducing new ones.

What we do

Every Nestaground piece is hand-knotted in pure natural wool using plant-based dyes. There is no synthetic backing, no stain-repellent coating and no chemical treatment at any stage of production. The rugs are made the way rugs were made before the chemistry industry intervened, and they are safe for the first moments of a child's life on the floor.