7 Tips to Prepare Your Home for the Arrival of Your Newborn

Bringing your newborn home for the first time is perhaps one of the most exciting things about giving birth. It’s the first time you can begin to feel like a real family. It’s normal for you to feel anxious about how to prepare your home for the arrival of your newborn and so here are some top tips to help.

Managing food

Chances are, once you’ve brought your newborn home, both parents are going to feel suitably exhausted and in no mood for cooking. This is fairly easy to combat to begin with; you can cook a lot of food and then freeze it, ready for when you need it, or stock up on restaurant gift cards and frozen ready meals.

Dealing with clothes

When you come to prepare your home for the arrival of your newborn, it’s easy to get carried away with the urge to wash, fold and put away all the lovely new clothes you have. Babies grow so fast and so you may actually find that a lot of them don’t fit, at least not for very long – and if you’ve already removed the tags, there’s no way to take them back to the store.

The baby’s room

Choosing where the baby’s room is can have a knock-on effect. Knowing that you will need to be getting up in the middle of the night to feed means that you’re more likely to have baby’s room closer to your bedroom, but having baby’s room further away means that dad can feel more rested for work.

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Find a good baby care book

Becoming a parent for the first time is particularly scary. No newborn comes with a manual or instructions so it’s important to have a good baby care book to hand to help reassure and offer advice when you feel you need it. This is a great tip to prepare your home for the arrival of your newborn and you’ll find yourself referring to it more often than you might think.

Feeding your baby

Whether you’ve decided to breastfeed or use a formula, make sure you have everything you need at home. Your baby is going to want its meals on time just like you would. For those who want to use a formula, make sure you have the right feeding equipment and for those who want to breastfeed, invest in a breast pump.

Safety first

Baby proofing your home can seem like an overwhelming task and one that I’m sure will provide a constant worry. Don’t let this get the better of you though and start with baby proofing your house for a newborn – you can re-evaluate things when they start crawling and walking.

Invest in a baby monitor

It can be difficult to prepare your home for the arrival of your newborn and impossible to watch your baby at all times. Invest in a good quality baby monitor so you can hear when your baby is crying at night. With modern technology, you could even get a video monitor and be able to keep a watchful eye when you’re in another room.

Resources:
http://www.sheknows.com/home-and-gardening/articles/807365/ways-to-prepare-your-home-for-your-new-baby
http://www.mom365.com/pregnancy/preparing-for-baby/10-ways-to-prepare-your-home-for-baby/