Develop a Design Plan
The newest trend in nurseries is to use neutral colors and simple decor that harmonizes with the rest of the house. Take a walk through your house and consider it with fresh eyes. How might you incorporate elements of your design style into the nursery? Once you’ve picked complementary colors and decor you’ll have a clean, simple canvas to which you can add some fun elements like mobiles and stuffed animals. The main benefit of this approach is the versatility. It is much easier to change details- swapping a mobile or painting, for instance- than it is to repaint a room.

Don’t Crowd Your Nursery With Too Much Furniture.
The last thing you need at four in the morning is to stumble through a crowded nursery. Invest in quality pieces that will last. A convertible wooden crib that can later become a toddler bed, a comfortable glider chair, a sturdy changing table and a small dresser are essential. If you can find a bed or changing table that includes built-in storage you can skip the dresser and save yourself even more space.

Choose a Paint With Low or No VOCs
(volatile organic compounds). These types of paints are now readily available at home improvement stores, and can be custom mixed to suit your design. A chemical-free nursery ensures that your baby (and you) will have a healthy environment that’s free of toxic fumes. Painting the lower half of the wall a different color than the top is a current trend for nurseries, and can be quite elegant when the colors are divided by a chair rail. Be sure to paint the nursery well in advance of your due date, so that any fumes that do exist will have dissipated before baby comes home.

Don’t Buy a Cheap Chair
Quality baby glider rockers can be found at all price levels, but remember that you will be spending many, many hours in this chair. When you’re feeding the baby at four in the morning, after many weeks of inadequate sleep, you will not be patting yourself on the back for saving money by getting the cheapest chair. You will be lamenting the poor support, barely-there cushioning and lack of useful features. Do yourself a favor and invest in a quality glider rocker that will continue to be comfortable for years to come, whether in your living room or in your next baby’s nursery.

Invest in Organic Linens
Your baby deserves a healthy, non-toxic environment, and you can start them off on the right foot by purchasing unbleached cotton bedding that has been produced without chemical pesticides. You (and your baby) will breathe a little easier knowing you’ve done the right thing not only for your baby’s environment, but for everyone else’s as well.

Don’t Forget the Basics
Those first few days and weeks can be overwhelming. Having all of the necessary supplies on hand will ensure that the transition from hospital to home goes as smoothly as possible, and that you won’t have to make any emergency trips. Here are some items you will want to have on hand before baby comes home.

• Diapers
• Rash cream
• Baby wipes
• Lotion
• Powder
• Hand sanitizer
• Rubbing alcohol – One essential nursery item that is often forgotten. The baby’s umbilical cord may need swabbing each time you change a diaper.

Ask a Friend or Family Member for Advice
Your sister, the new grandma, or a good friend can give the finished nursery a final check for potential hazards you might have missed. Your safety audit should include: removing blinds or curtains with cords, covering electric outlets and ensuring that lamp cords are inaccessible. Consider the room from a babies-eye-view and take steps to remove those things that will pose a risk once baby begins to crawl and reach for things. It may seem a long way off, but your baby will be mobile before you know it and you’ll be better prepared if you check for these things now. Go here for more baby-proofing tips.

The Most Important Tip for Creating a Great Nursery
Get started now. Pregnancy can be exhausting, and your regular life doesn’t stop while you’re preparing for a new baby. It can be hard to get all of the things done that need to be done with so few hours in the day. Start planning early and take time to work on your nursery- even if it’s only half an hour per day- and when it comes time to bring baby home you’ll glad you put in the effort to create a space you can feel good about.

About the Author: Kimberly Aardal writes about rocker gliders for nurseries and swivel glider chairs for EveryDayRockingChairs.com. She spends her free time exploring the mountains in Southwest Colorado with her husband and her yellow lab, Ginger.

Safety first. That is the key rule when having a baby. Once they start crawling and walking, there are so many hazardous places that the little child can get into. Here are some helpful tips to focus on when baby proofing a house.

Babies are very curious and love to get into any place that they can. It is important to make sure cupboards are locked and unable for the child to get into. Not only are chemical containers with toxic materials a very important thing to be careful of, but there are many other everyday items that can provide serious injury to the child through choking or and suffocation. Such items could include small pieces of plastic, cloth, writing utensils, bags, and practically anything and everything.

Once the child becomes really active and starts climbing things, you will have to make sure higher places are not full of dangerous items too. Such places could be draws or racks with shop objects like in the kitchen, bookshelves and desks with heavy objects, and an assortment of places like this.

Electricity is another important thing to keep an eye on. You want to make sure the child can’t get to electric chords and sockets. It is also important to be aware of what buttons on certain devices a child may be able to reach. Some could be harmless like a TV, but a few devices might pose a serious risk to a child once turned on or put on certain settings.

Keep an eye on items that have strings and chords. Make sure they are not in reach of the child and make sure no toys have dangerous strings. They could be swallowed or get stuck in the throat, or even more dangerous of a possibility is getting wrapped around the child’s neck and strangling them.

Another key item is safety gates to prevent a child from accessing dangerous areas. These areas might be rooms that have too many hazards to the child and can’t be properly child proofed otherwise or stairways. Make sure they are installed correctly, firm, and don’t have large holes for the child to get stuck in.

Be careful of furniture placement. This is to prevent your child from getting stuck. Children are very curious. Don’t put it past your son or daughter to try to squeeze themselves between two pieces of furniture, or even stick their head into the gap to look for something. It doesn’t always have to be between two pieces of furniture. It can be between furniture and the wall, furniture and a radiator, furniture and any other large object.

Above all, it is important to keep an eye on the child. Even the best child proofed room can still hold many hazards that are just temporary. In other words, objects that are left behind by other people that can’t be child proofed but still dangerous to the young child. Children should be watched at all times. You can’t possibly know or remember every single way they can get hurt in each room. But keeping an eye on them not only assures that you will be there to prevent serious injury, but you will also be able to notice places that were overlooked and need childproofing.

Children are very curious and constantly on the go. They are a great responsibility but a joy to the world. Don’t overlook anything when it comes to child proofing a house. When it comes to a child’s safety, it is better to be too safe than sorry later on.

About the Author
Jake Rose is an artist and an author from Massachusetts. This article has been submitted in affiliation with http://www.BabyNameVote.Com which is a site for Baby Names.

After all the baby furniture is purchased, you’ll have to start thinking of baby safety supplies. Once your baby becomes mobile (and that’s in a few short months), battening down the hatches is extremely important.

If you have stairs or open doorways leading to areas that you don’t want your baby to wander into, you’ll need to purchase some baby gates. Most are adjustable to fit a variety of openings and come in a variety of styles such as wooden, plastic and mesh.

Don’t forget those electrical outlets! For some bizarre reason children love to stick metal objects in those little slits so get your outlets covered, including any powerbars you may be using. Another favorite “play toy” with toddlers is the toilet. A good toilet lid latch should help keep the plumbing working.

Electrical appliances, TV’s, VCR’s and household items will also need to be secured. It’s amazing what children can find to pull down or get into. Plus, don’t forget to pick up safety supplies for when you’re traveling, even if it’s just a short distance. Baby harnesses are a good thing to use once your toddler is walking. And don’t forget to protect them from harmful UV rays with some sort of car window shade.

Keeping your precious child safe is very important. There are so many little things in the household that, as adults, we take for granted. But to a child, they’re new and exciting areas to explore… which can be very dangerous to them. As a new parent or even grandparent, get down on your knees and crawl around your house looking for all the temptations found at your baby’s level. You’ll be amazed at what potential hazards you will find. Secure your new baby’s safety before it’s too late.

About The Author:
Rose Smith is the author and publisher of Baby-Care-4u.com an online shopping and information resource for essential baby care products. For more information on baby care, visit: www.baby-care-4u.com.

Cooking
Never hold your baby in your arms when making a meal. Boiling water and oil from the foods you cook can quickly splash onto them. Use your back burners when possible and turn handles away from the front of the stove.

Pulling Up
Be prepared that before your baby starts walking he will start pulling himself up on your furniture. Be sure to have all heavy furniture, including the changing table, secured to the wall so it can not fall down on them.

Crib Safety
Double check that the crib is a safe place for your baby to lay. Slats should be no more than 2 3/8″ apart and bumpers should be removed by the age of five months or when your baby begins pulling herself up — whichever comes first. Never keep stuffed animals or loose bedding in the crib. If it is cold, put footed pajamas on your baby or put him in a wearable blanket.

Outlet Covers
Make sure all outlets are properly covered. Some believe that individual outlet covers come out easily and are a choking hazard, so you can now replace all electrical outlets with sliding outlet covers for added safety.

Bath Time
Never leave a child unattended in a bathtub. A baby can drown easily and quickly. If you are expecting a call that is that important, bring a cordless phone to the bathroom with you. In most cases the caller can leave a message. Prepare the towels, clothing, pajamas, diaper and lotions that you will need when your baby is done with his bath ahead of time so that you can stay by his side and keep him safe the entire time he is in water.

Windows
Do not place furniture that can be climbed on near windows. This is especially true in rooms that are not in your direct view, like your baby’s room, and during the summer when you might have your window open.

Medicines
Just because it is child resistant doesn’t mean that your baby can’t get it open. Remember to keep all medicines high up and out of your baby’s reach. For added security buy a lock to put on the cabinet.

Cleaners, etc.
Not only can medicines hurt your baby, but so can other products such as hair spray, mouthwash and your cleaning products. They should all be locked up or put up out of reach of your baby so that he does not accidentally get sick.

Car Seat
Your car seat is the one thing keeping your baby safe during an accident. Be sure to have a car seat inspection done by a member of the police department or someone certified in installing car seats. In a study completed by National Safe Kids Council, over 87 percent of car seats were installed improperly. Your child should always be in the back seat and rear-facing for an infant under one year and less than 20 pounds.

Infant Carrier’s
When your baby is in a carrier, never place it on a counter or high surface. She could easily wiggle and topple over, much faster than you will be able to react and catch it.

Clothing
Check baby’s clothing regularly for loose buttons, snaps, etc. Never use strings to attach the pacifier to baby’s crib or clothes and check that it is not getting old. If you sense there is something harmful in your baby’s clothing and you can not fix it, just throw it away. It is better safe than sorry.