How to adapt your small home for your new baby

When a new baby arrives it changes so many things back at home.  A new baby changes your sleeping patterns, your diet, any activities that you may have done before have to put on hold and the biggest challenge, in my opinion, is getting the home ready for a new baby.

Many children are rushed into hospital each year because they are injured at home.  In this blog post, I am going to give you some tips to make your home a little safer.

Making the sleeping area safe.

Parents have their own thoughts on the best way to allow a baby to sleep, some parents co-sleep while others are against it.  Whatever choice you make you should make sure that your baby is safe at all times.

To avoid the risk of suffocation, babies should be placed on their backs to sleep.  In the past, babies were allowed to sleep on their stomachs but research has shown that babies that lay on their backs are far less likely to suffocate.

You should also make sure there are no loose sheets or pillows that could go onto the babies face.  It is recommended that babies don’t have a pillow at all.

Baby sleeping bags are a great option for keeping your baby warm in the cooler months rather than a blanket.  A sleeping bag fastens around the baby making it very unlikely that it can go on your babies face and suffocate them.

Minimise trips and falls.

Your baby will have so many items and toys that your home will get crowded.  Before my first child was born my home had 2 spare bedrooms, however when my child came along those bedrooms filled up with baby accessories and cots and prams and everything else that a baby needs, my home was crowded and there was a genuine worry for tripping over stuff.

My options were to either move home into something bigger, in my area that could mean spending an extra £40,000 to get some more rooms or throw my items out.  I didn’t want to get rid of my furniture because I knew that in a few months my baby wouldn’t need all of the items they currently had.

Instead of moving home or throwing items out I rented a storage unit to temporarily hold my personal belongings.  So out went one of my chairs, my kitchen table and a coffee table.  The new space gave me enough room for the baby items while lowering the chance of trips and falls.

I hadn’t considered self storage until a friend of mine told me that they come in all different sizes.  I thought they were mainly for big businesses looking to store their stock but I was wrong and it saved me a tonne of money.

Reduce the chance of burns.

Newborns and small children should be kept away from open fires and hot radiators.   If you have either in your home you are going to need to cover them up, just make sure to fix them to the wall, otherwise, this could cause another problem with the guard falling onto your child as most small children will try to pull on items in your home.

If you smoke you will need to hide or store matches and lighters out of the way from your children.  Children can burn themselves playing with these items and they can also start fires around the home.

If you are worried about fires in your home you should install a fire alarm and test it every week.  Now may also be a good time to give up smoking. Smoking is bad for your children’s health and if you don’t smoke you won’t be likely to leave matches or lighters around the home.

Conclusion

Bringing a baby home for the first time is an enjoyable and wonderful experience.  With the tips above you should now be able to make your home safe for your child.  

If you have any tips on how to adapt your home for a new baby please be sure to leave them in the comment section below.