Welcoming a new baby is an exciting time in life. You’ve come together with the person you love most in the world and created a new life, and now you’re starting a new chapter of your lives together. You’re about to have a little person who’s a little bit of the both of you to take home and care for, and you’re ready to make sure your world revolves around them!
But of course, this doesn’t just happen overnight. If there’s going to be a new baby in the house soon, you’ve got a lot of work to do! Of course, if you’re pregnant yourself, make sure you take it easy during this period, but take advantage of all the free time you have right now too!
And if you’re not too sure where to start with your baby proofing efforts, we’ve got a quick and nifty list for you to look through. Why not check all of the points off as you go through them?
Get Down to Baby Height
Your baby is going to be at a different height to you, obviously, for quite a while. They’re going to be a lot smaller, and it’s going to take quite a few years for them to see eye to eye with you. And that’s why it’s important to get down to their eye level, for the time being, and take a look around your house. Get down on your hands on knees and crawl around like a baby would - what do you see?
Do you see a bunch of wires on the floor? Do you see a whole load of uncovered plug sockets, the perfect size for little fingers to poke their way in? Do you see sharp table corners, or splinters coming out of the chair legs? Because if you do, now’s your chance to put some safety measures in place!
Babies explore their environments; they’re naturally curious, and like to get to know the world around them. Of course they’re going to be touching things they shouldn’t, and they’ll go through a phase where they want to put everything they can pick up into their mouths!
So get some corner covers, to protect their eyes and soft heads from bumping into sharp and hard surfaces. Get plug protectors to stop any potential electrical accidents or fire hazards from occurring. Get a cable tidy box to store all those wires in, and try to store the box itself somewhere higher than the floor. All it takes is a bit of preparation now, from your baby’s point of view, to make sure your home is as safe and sound as it should be.
Research the Best Baby Products (and then stock up!)
Before the baby is born, you’re going to need to have a whole stockroom’s worth of diapers and infant milk, as well as plenty of cute little clothes and accessories to keep your baby warm and insulated. After all, the better stocked you are, the less your chances of needing to find a 24 hour supermarket at 3 in the morning when your child has woken up for a nightly feed.
It might take some time, seeing as there are a lot of them on the market, but not every single product is going to be made to the same standard or quality you want them to be. You might want to start with a list like this, just to kick things off, and see what’s been popular so far this year. It could act as a great hint for what will work well, and be good value for money, in the new year coming.
And when your baby is actually born, you’ll find that your little one is going to have a preference for certain baby products other overs! So don’t worry too much now about buying just the right products, but be sure to do your research ahead of time, and find out which ones have the best reviews and most goodwill behind them.
Get the Nursery All Dolled Up!
And of course, now’s the best time to get the nursery out of the way. Being able to decorate an entire room for your new little one is a creative and exciting venture all on its own, and you deserve to revel in that for the time being! After all, a baby will appreciate whatever interior design you come up with for them, and they’re going to develop through the next few months learning just how hard their mommy or daddy worked for them.
You could go neutral here with your design choices; a lot of parents these days like to leave color schemes out of it, and go with more neutral toned or fun design schemes for their little one to lay their eyes on every day. Something like zoo or farmyard animals painted on the wall, or forest scenes with fairies and goblins to add a touch of magic to the space!
But you could always subscribe to more traditional design schemes for your little girl or boy. Indeed, the internet is filled with baby girl nursery ideas, with hints of pink and white on the walls, and a lot of fluffy blankets and cuddly toys in the cot for the baby to get used to. Or if you’re having a boy, streaks of reds and blues on the walls might prove popular to you? It’s up to you!
Ready to Bring a Baby into the House?
Often enough, new parents never feel quite as thought they’re ready to do that. You can feel like there’s always something more to do, or there’s a hazard somewhere that you’ve forgotten about.
But this post is here to tell you to relax! You’ve done a lot of leg work, and the nursery is all finished, and now’s the time to live in the moment with your little miracle in your arms. And you’re a new parent, you’re allowed to make mistakes.
