Many parents feel excitement, confusion, and even worry when it comes to preparing for the needs of their newborn. This is a common scenario especially for those who are going to become parents for the first time. Often, families would transform a certain room in the home into a nursery to give their child a comfortable and safe space to stay in.
However, many find it challenging to design the room in a way that’s safe, comfortable, and secure for the child. To add to that, it may also be difficult to decide which essential items should be provided in it to make it easy to care for the child.
If you’d like to find out what essential items should be included in a nursery, you can consider the following suggestions:
1. Diaper Change Items
It’s important to allocate an area specific for diaper changing to keep the nursery hygienic and safe. For this corner, you’ll need a baby changing table, an organizer to keep the diapers and wipes, as well as an enclosed bin for the trash. You may also want to have hand towels, liquid soap, and sanitizers, so handwashing will be more convenient.
For sanitary purposes, it may be helpful to put sufficient distance between the feeding area, the playpen, and the diaper changing area, especially if the child has started to crawl or walk. This way, the risk of cross-contamination is minimized and it’ll be easier to maintain cleanliness inside the nursery.
2. Sleeping Provisions
Nurseries commonly have a crib or a bassinet where the child can comfortably sleep and spend time, especially in the first few months after birth. According to the current US Consumer Product Safety Standards, the following sleeping provisions are strongly recommended to help ensure the safety of infants under 12 months of age:
- The crib should have a firm and tightly covered mattress with no loose ends.
- Avoid placing pillows or stuffed animals as well as comforters or quilts as they increase the risk of suffocation in small children. Additionally, wearing sleepers is recommended as opposed to using blankets to provide warmth and comfort to the infant.
- The top rails of a crib should be at least 26 inches above the mattress, and corner posts should be 1/16 of an inch above the frame at most. In addition, a safe crib shouldn’t have any loose, missing, or broken parts. Also, the space between slats should be as thick as a soda can and not more to avoid any body parts being trapped in between.
Apart from these, it may also be useful to have up to three washable mattress pads so any leaks can be cleaned up easily.
3. Clothing Organizers
You can organize your child’s clothing items according to how frequently they’re used. For instance, you can keep the comfortable, everyday clothes in a small storage box that you can easily access from the crib or the changing table. Then, you can keep clothes for going out such as jackets, dresses, socks, and shoes in the dresser.
For the designated feeding corner, you can place a small table beside a high chair where you can keep the bottles, plates, and utensils in an enclosed storage box to keep them away from dust and other contaminants. Before putting them away, however, it’s important to sanitize each feeding item to make them safe to use. Also, the feeding area should be well-lit, regularly cleaned, and sanitized as well.
5. Toys And Learning Materials
You can add mobile in your baby crib for infants between one to three months. However, this may need to be removed as a safety precaution once the child starts to become more mobile. To provide a safe space for movement, you can layout a non toxic playmat where age-appropriate and sanitized toys are within reach provided that the nursery has been babyproofed. You can also allocate a corner for baby books and audio equipment that you could use to foster learning as well as aid relaxation and sleep for your child.
Conclusion
Preparing a safe and healthy living space for your newborn is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling tasks you’ll do as a new parent. As exciting as this experience might be, many families often prioritize design and quantity over safety, function, and comfort.
In this case, it may be helpful to note if an item will be a practical addition to your child’s space based on its purposefulness and longevity. This is because as parents often would say, children grow up too fast and their needs would change as well. As such, it may be wise to invest in items that they could use for a longer period and be more flexible when it comes to choosing toys, clothing, and other items that the child may outgrow quickly.