There’s nothing more wonderful than planning the nursery for your new baby. If you’ve decided to find out the gender of your baby, you can have the room all ready for him or her when you come home from the hospital.

What kinds of things do you need to create a safe haven and optimal sleep environment?
The trend for awhile was to have bright, stimulating colors in the nursery or mobiles in black and white to help the baby’s eyes develop. This faded from popularity pretty quickly as parents found out all that trendy stuff wasn’t conducive to sleep!

Make sure your crib conforms to all the guidelines for safety and that you have a good, firm mattress. Keep to softer pastel colors – blues, greens, pinks and yellows. Any color you like is good, although some, like blues and greens, are more restful.

Make sure the bedding and the entire room is clean and fresh. Until your baby is at least a year old, a quilt or comforter should be for decoration only. You can buy specially made quilt clips to hang it on a wall. Your baby’s bed needs to be unobstructed by blankets, pillows or sheets, so that her face is clear at all times and there’s no danger of obstructing her breathing. You might want to have a small foam wedge that’s positioned to keep the baby from rolling on her stomach. You should also keep stuffed animals or other toys out of the crib until the baby’s older. In addition, you may want to purchase a baby monitor to hear your baby throughout the night. These days, some monitors actually show your baby on a screen or video, amazing!

Make the room a pleasant one. If you use a scent, like lavender, keep it light. Nothing overpowering. Keep it as dust-free as possible to avoid sneezing and stuffy noses. The nursery should feel like a safe and cozy place that your baby associates with restfulness and security.

When you bring your new baby home, you probably will have the urge to keep him near you at all times, especially when you (try to!) go to sleep for the night. It makes sense to have a crib or cradle in your bedroom at first, since it will minimize the distance you have to walk to handle nighttime feedings. (more…)

There are three types of baby bottles are available: glass, plastic and plastic with disposable plastic liners. Glass bottles are very durable but they are a little heavier to use and they are breakable. Plastic bottles are also very sturdy and are more lightweight. Bottles with liners are convenient since the liners don’t need to be sterilized but they can also be expensive to use. Some plastic bottles are shaped at an angle to minimize the amount of air the baby takes in her stomach when feeding. (more…)

If you’re a new mother, you already know that breastfeeding is best for your baby. But not everyone can successfully breastfeed. What’s important is that your baby gets the nourishment he needs to develop and thrive. If your baby isn’t thriving on breast milk, then you need to switch to formula. There are many different options to choose from. (more…)

While western culture discourages it, studies have shown that co-sleeping with a breastfeeding infant promotes bonding, regulates the mother and baby’s sleep patterns, plays a role in helping the mother to become more responsive to her baby’s cues, and gives both the mother and baby needed rest. The co-sleeping environment also assists mothers in the continuation of breastfeeding on demand, an important step in maintaining the mother’s milk supply. (more…)

Besides being the optimal source of nutrition for your baby in her first year, nursing has obvious psychological benefits for both mother and baby. At birth, infants see only 12 to 15 inches, the distance between a nursing baby and its mother’s face. Studies have found that infants as young as 1 week prefer the smell of their own mother’s milk. (more…)

New parents want to give their babies the very best. When it comes to nutrition, the best first food for babies is breast milk. Experts recommend that babies be breast-fed for six to 12 months. The only acceptable alternative to breast milk is infant formula. Solid foods can be introduced when the baby is 4 to 6 months old, but a baby should drink breast milk or formula, not cow’s milk, for a full year. (more…)

It’s the most frightening, bewildering and heartbreaking thing that can happen with a newborn. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). It’s defined as when as when a baby dies in the first year of life from no apparent cause. The causes still aren’t fully known, but in SIDS deaths, the baby’s recovery mechanisms, if deprived of oxygen aren’t developed and he’s not able to rouse himself if his breathing becomes obstructed, such as when he ’s sleeping face down. (more…)

There will be days after you bring the new baby home that you think you’ll never get to sleep again. In the meantime, try to get some rest and sleep whenever you can. The baby won’t be sleeping through the night for several weeks, perhaps months. While she’s adjusting to the schedule of night and day, you won’t be able to sleep through the night until she does.

Until she’s sleeping through the night, try to sleep when she sleeps. Many new mothers try to do everything at once, and start cleaning or doing the laundry once the baby goes down for a nap. You’ll only make yourself more tired if you try to be supermom. (more…)

Bringing home a new baby brings with it an exhausting array of new responsibilities and challenges. Is there such a thing as a typical day and night for new parents? Probably not! Remember, the baby has just gone through an enormous change too, so part of the process when you first bring him home is his transition from the womb to the outside world. Keep the baby close to you, keep him wrapped and warm. If you’re breastfeeding, this will take some time for both of you to adjust to as well.

If you’re new baby is formula fed, he’ll need to feed every 3 to 5 hours. If you’re breastfeeding, he’ll need to feed more frequently. Sometimes you will feel that all you do all day and night is breastfeed. You will probably feel much more empathy with cows! And there will be a lot of diapers to change, especially until you get familiar with his schedule. His diaper will probably need to be changed shortly after feeding, about once an hour in the very beginning. Be sure to check frequently. (more…)