5 Tips for New Moms: Set Up Your Nursery

I struggled a lot with how we were going to set up the nursery for Baby Doc. Once I found this farm animal stencil kit, I had the design idea. But what would I really need in there? What was “extra stuff” that would be nice but not really necessary? And what was just plain fluff that we didn’t need and would get in my way?

Well, almost 11 months after Baby Doc joined us, I think I have a few of the answers. Here are my 5 top tips to set up your nursery.

1. Turn up the volume (or, at least don’t turn it down). Background noise has been great for us. Baby Doc went through a period where he didn’t want to take naps (to tell the truth, he’s getting that way about his afternoon naps now, too). A little white noise in the background helped him fall asleep, and helped him put himself back to sleep. And it meant that Farmer Doc and I didn’t need to be so worried about making too much noise while he was sleeping. We just used an old clock radio tuned to a station that didn’t come in (instant static). But there are plenty of white noise machines available, too.
2. Double-wrap the mattress. Actually, I’ve got 4 layers on Baby Doc’s crib mattress. It’s layered with a waterproof mattress pad, a crib sheet, another waterproof pad, and another crib sheet. Why in the world would I do this? (It was a great tip from my good friend Dani, for one thing.) But for another thing, it makes those middle-of-the-night accidents less of a big deal. Baby leaked through his diaper and pajamas onto the sheet? Just pop off the top set, and you still have sheets on the bed! No need to rummage in the closet for an extra set and struggle to make the bed again, all while dealing with a sleepy/fussy baby. Ta da!
3. Don’t wrap the changing pad. At least for the first few months. Yes, a soft fuzzy cover is great. But you’ll be doing laundry all. the. time. Get a changing pad with a plasticy waterproof cover, and leave off the soft cover. This makes for such easy clean up – just wipe down any messes, spray down with a cleaner when you need to, and you’re good to go. You’ll be doing plenty of laundry, you don’t need to add this to the pile right now! If you’re concerned about just using the plasticy cover on baby’s skin, lay a towel or a receiving blanket on the pad instead. Chances are, you got plenty of these as shower gifts and can let them pile up a bit before you absolutely need to do laundry. If you do decide to use a soft cover for the pad, double-wrap it just like the crib mattress.
4. Get extra sheets. You’ll want at least 3 sets of waterproof mattress pad and a sheet. And probably 4. Three sets means that you can have one as the bottom layer on the mattress, one as the top layer, and one in the laundry. So when you need to, you can have two sets in the laundry and one that the baby is sleeping on. But you probably want 4 sets. Especially if you have a leaky baby like I did for a while.
5. Put a Febreze Stick and Refresh inside the diaper pail. Yep, inside. Stick it right to the lid. It won’t completely get rid of that diaper pail smell (I’m not convinced that anything really will), but it will help. And every time you pop open the lid you’ll get a whiff of Fresh Meadows scent. Bonus tip, if the lid on your diaper pail is curved (like mine is), the regular 3M Command Strip that comes with the Febreze Stick and Refresh might not work. Try a 3M Command Picture Hanging Strip instead. These are two pieces that stick together, sort of like Velcro. It gives you a little extra bulk, which is just what you need for a curved lid.

What other tips did you use to set up your nursery?? Leave a comment and share your best tips here!

More in the “5 Tips for New Moms” series:

• Choosing a chair for your nursery

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