Preparing for Your New Baby

Preparing for the arrival of a new baby in your family is one of the most exciting and special times in life. If you are the mommy-to-be, you know how exhausting pregnancy is. You probably have a long list of things you would like to get done before the baby arrives. Unfortunately, things don't usually settle down after the birth of the baby. If you take a little time during the pregnancy to get your home prepared for the new baby, it will be one less task to worry about after the baby is born.

Getting ready for a baby isn't just getting the nursery ready; it can mean reorganizing the entire layout of your house. Before you know it, your baby will be crawling, so you'll have to insure that potential problems are secured. This means placing bumpers on sharp edges, putting locks on cupboards that contain medication, cleaning products or other potentially harmful materials, fixing broken furniture that a child might pull over and making sure everything small enough to fit in her mouth is at least three feet off the ground. It's also a good idea to raise the height of electronic equipment, which your baby might destroy by pushing buttons or pulling cords. Insure that all cables are out of sight and, ideally, secured to the wall with strong clips.

If you live in a home with radiators that get too warm, you will need to block these off so that the new baby can't get to the radiators at all. Remove rugs from slick surfaces, because they are another source of accidents. The next thing to do is to give your entire house a careful cleaning. Babies are known for putting everything in their mouths, including furniture, so it is a good idea to get everything as clean as possible.

Fixing the Baby's Room
Even if you intend to keep your baby in your own bedroom for the initial months of her life, it's worth taking the time to get her bedroom ready. Older brothers and sisters don't like having to share space with a baby and put up with an infant's fussing, so it's best if you can give the baby her own bedroom. Traditionally, parents have decorated nurseries in pastel colors, but more recently, research has shown that strong contrasts can help the development of babies' eyes and visual processing. Geometric shapes can help with mental development and images of friendly looking faces, human or animal, can help a baby feel more safe and sound. So, you may want to be aware of this as you decorate the baby's room.

It's good to make sure the nursery is lighted well, but darkness is also important to developing eyes. For this reason, you may want to avoid glowing decorations, such as stars, during the first few months of her life.

Things You Will Most Likely Need
The usual gifts for new babies include clothes and toys. Other things you will need are a crib for the baby, a dresser for the baby's clothes, a toy chest or box to help keep toys organized, and a relaxing chair for feeding, comforting, and rocking your baby. You may also need a surface that is high enough and safe enough to change a baby on, as it can be painful to bend over immediately after childbirth. Changing tables are great because they also give you a great place to keep all of the materials you need to change a diaper.

Although there is much to be done before the new baby arrives, taking these steps will save you time and trouble after the baby arrives when you are ready to focus on the child!

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