Parenting is nothing short of a great responsibility, maybe the biggest responsibility you will ever have in your entire life. This is why planning for a new baby is crucial to get a good start of the life together with your newborn.
There are a couple of important points to look through comprised in a check list, and you should go through each one by one and make sure that you have everything organized the proper way.
- Have you set up the baby nursery room? It should have things like a bassinet, a changing pad, baby toys, the crib and many other useful things. Also the walls should be painted in bright and fun colors for the baby to enjoy their time in the nursery while growing up.
- Will you be breastfeeding or you are going directly to bottle feeding?
- Do you know enough about SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and can you do everything in your power to avoid this from happening? For example did you know that babies should be put to sleep on their backs as opposed to side or stomach? This greatly reduces the dangers of SIDS from happening.
- Will you be the main caregiver or your partner? Who will be home mostly for the first few month and who is the major earner in the family to continue earning the bigger bucks to support you all?
- If you are a regular smoker, have you thought that it’s time to stop? You can practice from now by smoking everyday one cigarette less until you completely give up. One way SIDS can also happen is through second hand smoking.
- Have you started modifying your home to be completely baby safe? As the child grows up it will start crawling, moving around, eating everything in sight, touching everything that can be touched, so there are some things that need to be changed (such as using baby safe wall sockets, putting things that can cause harm to small children out of their reach, etc).
These are just a few things you need to consider when you are planning for a new baby. You should start well in advance with preparing the nursery and your home, along with a shift in your mental state to allow for a new child to be part of your family.
