Bringing your new baby home is nothing if not a wonderful, humbling experience. You’ve gone through pregnancy, through labour, and now you get to continue the process and care for your new bundle of joy.
That said, before you get to this point, it’s important to make sure you’ve prepared your household for your infant and everything you may need in advance. It’s important to remember that after you’ve had a child, you’ll be so overcome with emotions and the need for rest that resolving household improvements or making large purchases is hardly going to be at the top of your priority list, especially not when you’re following the tips for one month old baby.
So, considering you’re expecting a child, it’s important to consider some essential household preparations for your wonderful new baby. Never fear, for in this post we’ve considered and decided to explain five of them, all achievable for most families without costing an arm or leg to set up.
With that in mind, please consider some of the following advice:
- Baby-Proofing Your Home
Baby-proofing your home might not seem like a huge priority right now (after all, your little infant won’t learn to walk for quite some time, nor crawl for a little while). However, it can be worth figuring out how to prepare your household appropriately, and also how to protect them from the household.
For example, making sure their bedroom door has an automatic closer when you leave not only protects them for longer in the event of a fire, but can prevent your cat from coming in and sitting on them for warmth, which, unfortunately, does happen.
As they grow, placing foam shields at the corners of your dinner and coffee tables can prevent a just-walking toddler from hurting their heads. Placing catches on your cupboards and drawers will prevent them from opening up and accessing your plates or anything else you have stored. Baby-gates at the bottom or top of the staircase can prevent dogs from going up and down when they’re infants (useful if you need them out of the way for a second), while also keeping them secured when they’ve learned to crawl.
- A Baby Storage & Laundry Area
It’s good to have access to what you need, when you need it. That’s why we’d recommend making a logical, easy-to-access laundry organization routine. This might mean using laundry baskets with several different “categories,” be that laundry for whites, colors, and baby items so you can wash each set of linens and clothes as and when you need them, as opposed to waiting for the next time around.
Having one storage area with linens, clothes, and also the baby items you need like diapers, talcum powder, wet wipes and baby lotions or creams can ensure you don’t have to climb around the house or several floors to have access to everything, you’ll have everything to hand and can use that as and when you need it.
Then, it’s important to ensure everyone knows to pull their weight, from asking your eldest children to clean the bathroom from time to time, to ensuring your partner stocks up the resources for you to use.
- Gather All The Contact Information You Need
It’s important to gather everything you need should you require help. Save all the contact information for pediatricians, neighbors, relatives, midwives, doctors, specialists, cleaning services, or anything else you feel is necessary.
This can help you ask for help as and when you need it. Make sure to write down this contact information and also save it to your phone and synchronize these contact numbers with your cloud-based address book. It will make a significant difference to your peace of mind, knowing you have emergency numbers to hand.
- Install & Test Baby Monitors
Baby monitors help you keep watch over your child while they’re sleeping or playing in another room. This may include video or just audio. If you can install them in areas your child is most likely to occupy, be that their bed or playpen, you can ensure that resting for a mid-day nap alongside them won’t be “too indulgent,” because you’ll know if they wake up and need you.
Of course, baby monitors are relatively simple devices, but it’s good to set them up and test them in advance. Also become familiar with their settings, such as battery-saver functionalities, or set the volume accordingly.
It can also be worth making preparations in your household to prepare you for constantly getting up at night. If you have a creaky door in your property, it can be good to lubricate or fix the hinge in advance so you don’t wake the whole house up when attending to your child. It’s little things like this that make the most difference.
- Preparing Your Pets
It’s important to prepare those furry creatures in the household for your new baby. Of course, it’s not like you can give your dogs or cats instructions, but you can allow them to sniff areas they may have been in so they become more familiar with the idea of a baby being present before you introduce them fully. Also knowing their temperament is key, as is observing like a hawk when you do introduce them. Sometimes, even a loving and enthusiastic pet can be a little much for a baby.
It may be that for now, you decide to move where your dogs and cats eat so the area your child is remains a little more hygienic, and you keep the door closed to them in certain rooms when they’re crawling and playing around. Little measures like this can be helpful. If you’re thinking of bringing a pet in, it’s also good to consider what breed would be best around your little baby. Smaller dogs like Cavalier King Charles Spaniels have the perfect temperament around pets and can be wonderful to introduce to a family unit, for example.
With this advice, you’re sure to make some essential household preparations for your wonderful new baby and move forward with the joy of parenthood from there.
