How To Get Your Home Ready For a New Baby!
How To Get Your Home Ready For a New Baby!
Create a nursery.
The obvious first step. The first step would be to figure out which room would be the best for the nursery. If you already have a toddler or an older child, then you have to think of whether or not you want to move them to a new and upgraded room while turning their old room into a nursery. The other option is to turn another room into a nursery.
Paint the walls.
When you have a new baby, the first thing they are going to be looking at is your face, so keeping those walls as bright and colourful as possible is key! If those fun colours give you a headache then consider using wallpaper.
Check the number of outlets and their placement.
If you're remodelling a room into a nursery, it's important to have access to electrical outlets in key places. You don't want to have long electrical cords hanging anywhere in the home and, obviously, in the baby's nursery. Parents should have easy access to the sockets while making it hard for the baby - when they begin to crawl - to reach them. Outlet covers are essential, but judicious placement can help a lot too.
Fix dressers and other heavy furniture to the walls.
New furniture or existing furniture has to be adapted for use in a baby's room. Beyond the usual corner guards for sharp corners, it is a good idea to lock furniture in place by screwing the to a wall. It will make it impossible for your newborn baby to destabilize or topple it and will give you some peace of mind when leaving the room.
Restrict access to pets
If you have pets, you will have to let them socialize and get used to the baby but it's important to set boundaries - especially in the early days of the baby's arrival. Restricting access can mean adding baby gates but will also require a lot of training.
Pets tend to be incredibly gentle when a baby arrives and as the baby grows but it's best to create strict boundaries to prevent any accident.
Get a crib, changing table, and other necessary furniture.
There are many ways in which parents get things like a baby's crib - from building it to using one given by the new grandparents. Regardless of the method of acquisition, it's important that it's both safe and fits neatly in the nursery.
When we mentioned affixing furniture to walls, it will also make changing time a lot easier for both parents and babies. A stable surface and easy access to the cleaning products made specifically for the baby's skin will make diaper changes quick and efficient.
If this is not your first baby, and kept the furniture, then you will probably have all the things that you need stored somewhere but before you start to use the old furniture triple-check it to make sure that it's still perfectly safe.
Baby-proofing the home.
To baby-proof a home means more than just protecting outlets and making sharp objects hard to reach.
Babies are little hazard machines. Older kids know how to keep themselves alive - except when it comes to how much ice cream is reasonable - but a curious baby will need an array of precautions.
Here's some practical advice on how to keep even the most curious babies safe in your home.
Small objects: move
Small objects, anything that a baby can put in their mouth, should be kept out of reach. If your baby is sitting by a countertop, make sure that they can't reach anything with their tiny little hands.
Choking hazards, like watch batteries and pieces of solid food, can obstruct a baby's airways. Legos, if you have other children, should be stored properly and far from the ground once the baby starts crawling.
Storage spaces: lock
When your baby crawls around and starts grabbing everything within reach they might try to open things like kitchen cabinets. Your top priority, even before they start to move on their own, is to keep what's in the cabinet out of the baby's reach. Magnetic safety locks can prevent them from getting into storage spaces with things like laundry pods whereas drawer locks can keep utensil drawers closed securely.
If you are using magnetic locks, keep the keys in hard-to-reach areas, babies and small children learn very fast.
Cleaning supplies, cookware, and plastic bags are all things that you will feel better about once you place locks on their storage areas. Child-proof locks come in many different types to keep kids away from a potential chemical or strangulation hazard. A child unattended for a few seconds can do a lot but with a locket cabinet in the way, the most they could do is develop their tiny biceps from all the pulling.
Sharp furniture: blunt
You can add blunt corners to things like a coffee table or chair to prevent bumbling kids from injuring themselves. Sharp edges are some of the things you don't notice until you start reading babyproofing tips. Even then, new parents should buy more edge and corner guards than what they think they'll need.
Electrical outlets: covered
You should have child-proof plugs on all your electrical outlets since they're one of the most common ways for something to go wrong. Dolls, stuffed animals, though they look cute now, need to be kept away from electrical outlets as well because if they're left unattended then you could have a small fire on your hands fast. Some people put up covers for their outlets but it's also possible to get plastic outlet guards too. They will keep your outlets clear of any debris like toy parts, dust, or food.
Other things to keep safe: vents
Kids tend to crawl into small spaces that their parents never would've imagined them to go into; cover your air conditioner and heating vents with grates if you don't want your toddler crawling in there. Kids will use anything they can get their little hands on to climb, stand up, or get around. Hinges are also dangerous; make sure any potential hazard is secured with a childproof lock so that your baby doesn't fall down the stairs.
Make sure there's plenty of space for the baby to play in your home.
Though it's great to have a baby-proof kitchen, it's important to have certain rooms dedicated to playtime.
Babies have more energy than you think and might make you go for a nap instead. To tire them out, ensure they have a lot of space to crawl, bumble, and stubble around. A safe play area should have a lot of space for them to roll around which is why so many parents opt to keep the playpen as a must-have item in the baby's room as well as their living space.
Babies grow so fast that you will want to have flat spaces for your little ones instead of having them crawl up and down the stairs constantly. An obstacle-free area will lead to a calmer baby too, just make sure that it's from their play area and near you so that you can always see them.
Put down some soft mats in the areas delineated by the baby gates. Though you will be living in your own home, absolutely nothing will be yours for a while, even the floors. Family life with the new arrival will mean constant small changes as they grow.
Thinking forward.
Whether it's the start of your family or a new chapter, taking the time to babyproof your house is something that will pay off a thousand-fold. Raising children is stressful, so having some peace of mind when it comes to the edges of the dining room table or the cabinet with the cleaning products will be a welcome reprieve.
Soon enough the only locked cabinet will be the liquor cabinet and they'll be able to step right over a baby gate. All the worry you dealt with when thinking about a potential choking hazard or if the shelving units in their rooms were safe enough will be worth it.
Take your time planning out where to place smoke detectors, reading more and more baby-proofing tips, and figuring out how to install the safety gates because doing all of that will pay off when they eventually ask you to help with their kids in their future family.
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