Creating a Haven for Your Baby
Whether it's your first or your last, this is such an exciting time but daunting too as there is so much choice. After all, there's so much to do and less than 9 months to get it all done!
In designing your baby’s nursery the main things to consider are safety first then theme, colours, furniture and bedding.
The perfect scenario would be to start off with a blank canvas, i.e. empty room with plain walls. Of course that isn’t always the case.
Furniture
If you are converting an existing room into your nursery, begin by deciding what furniture is staying behind and then you can complement it with your new baby furniture. Safety is paramount when choosing baby furniture so any furniture chosen should have met safety standards for materials and construction quality. Cribs can be finished in natural wood, plastic or painted. Paints used must be lead free and non toxic. This is especially important to note if you have been given a pre-owned crib. A nursery needs basically a crib, changing table, and clothes storage in the form of a wardrobe or an armoire.
A comfortable place to feed and coo at your baby completes the nursery. Upholstered Gliders come as swivelling, stationary or reclining. You can get some swivel gliders, and even reclining-swivel gliders. Many can be customized with your own or other fabric, sometimes for an additional cost. Wicker gliders also look great with the cushions made in a coordinating nursery fabric. A reclining glider eliminates the need for an ottoman.
Changing dressers are preferable to open changers as the later loses its use in the nursery once your child is out of diapers. A Changing Dresser on the other hand is more like a chest of drawers with a changing tray on top of it. Sometimes the changing tray is removable and in some cases can be used as a wall shelf. Many nursery furniture lines have children’s furniture that coordinate with them so all you need to do is add a few pieces when you do your big kid room.
Armoires
These heavy pieces of furniture must be sturdy and safely attached to the wall to prevent tipping. The best pieces come already assembled for the most part leaving only the doors to be hung. Some manufacturers use a mix of MDF and wood; clarify before buying to know which parts are used. It goes without saying that an all wood furniture piece will last longer. Sometimes the main part is real wood and the back panel alone is MDF.
Theme and Colours
Boy or Girl? Or perhaps you don’t know and would like to decorate in a gender neutral scheme. There are many delightful themes to choose from. Transportation (trains, planes and cars) as well as Safari or Jungle themes are popular for baby boys while typical girl themes include fairies, butterflies and floral. Gender neutral themes include Teddy Bears and Noah’s Ark. Your theme can come from the wall in the form of stencils, wall paper border or wall murals. It can also come from the soft furnishings or wall décor.
Nowadays you can reflect your personal style in your nursery and you don’t have to have a theme that is obviously “baby”. Create a room that is seamless with the rest of your home and accessorise with beautiful soft furnishings and wall art.
The colours can be defined on the walls or on the furnishings. Lead based paints are no longer widely used as lead has been replaced with less toxic substances. The safest option however is environmentally friendly paints or eco paints.
Bedding
The best fabric for your baby’s bedding is machine washable cotton, essential for comfort and practicability as it will be washed frequently. Cotton fabrics allow baby’s skin to breathe which helps if she has sensitive skin. Make sure bumper ties are not too long or left hanging inside the cot. The bumper must be attached securely. The bedding is one area you can define the nursery theme as the cot is the focal point of the room. Beautiful baby bedding made from contemporary designs like stripes and checks are easy to blend into your personal taste. You can purchase bedding that is ready made or have one customised to suit.
Blankets
Your baby has been in a warm cocoon for the past 9 or so months and is about to brave our world. Baby blankets are an absolute must, even if you live in the tropics. A baby’s blanket should be warm and soft, and ideally made from cotton or wool. You can have it monogrammed with baby’s name or initials for a personalized touch.
Flooring
Rugs have an amazing way of infusing color and personality into a room. If your child’s room is angular you can soften it with a round or oval rug. The same can be used to complement a room with arches and round bay windows. A square or rectangular rug looks good also in a regular shaped room with either curves or corners. Chenille braided rugs are luxurious as they are soft under feet yet hardwearing. They come in a range of solid or mixed colors. Frame rugs have a main color with a contrasting frame around the edge. They can be a combination of 2 or 3 colors. Character rugs like Kelly Rightsell rugs or printed rugs are fun and exciting and will be loved for years to come.
Looking for information like this about babies or finding great furniture for your baby? Have the latest news come to you by signing up with the Punkin Patch Newsletter. This is a great one that will be emailed to you with practical and fun information on everything baby.
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Filed under: Baby Cribs
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Suggestions for ways to not baby my toddler?
I have been thinking lately that I baby my 19 month old and it is starting to bother me. I think part of it is that he was a very mellow baby and then a late walker – so when he abruptly decided to walk around 15 months we just ran around creating a little baby-proof haven for him. Now that he’s 19 months old he’s showing constant signs of frustration (which is normal, I know) but I think part of it is that he’s developed a LOT over the last few months and we haven’t adapted.
I hear about things that other toddlers do his age (help cook, for example) and I get this stab of guilt – I should be encouraging him to engage more with our day to day life, not just as a passive observer or a baby surrounded by toys. I’ve started trying to encourage him to help dress himself (when he’s interested) but I’m looking for more things to do with him -specific things. So if you have or had a child around that age, what sorts of "bigger kid" things did they do and help with? If you cook with your toddler, how do they help? Just looking for thoughts about what is age appropriate and safe, but still a tiny stretch to help him and me get past this not-a-baby-anymore slump we’re in.
When we had my daughter’s half-sister "help us cook" at around age 2, she’d mostly just get things out of the fridge or stir the ingredients up. Occassionally we’d let her try to dump a premeasured ingredient into the mixing bowl; might not go well at just 19 months, though.
My daughter’s younger than your son but she helps with the laundry. She loves to take it from the dryer and put it on our bed, to put the dirty clothes she takes off into the hamper, and to take what I’ve folded to the appropriate places (like to her room or putting kitchen towels into the drawer they go in).
Oh and she likes to try to put away the groceries, too.
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My daughter is nearly two and we don’t really cook with her but she does go to her toddler-sized kitchen and cooks while we cook. If anything hot is involved I don’t see how he could help, maybe with prep? Make a pizza and let him put the toppings on? My daughter just started learning to dress herself and had gone through a frustrated phase prior to this as she didn’t want us to help but she couldn’t do it herself either. We spent a lot of time getting dressed and undressed. I’ve also started giving her choices. Would you like this or that for lunch, do you want to wear this or that. If you give a choice you’ll get a lot less "no’s".
Also, always talk through every single thing you are doing, he understands more then he says so maybe that will help with the frustration as you are explaining things and not just doing them, he’ll feel more involved.
As soon as she was walking well we stopped using a sling or a stroller and let her walk herself. She holds our hand and walks nicely. Of course if you have a full day planned you’ll still need a stroller or sling. But a trip to the mall just to let him lead you around wherever he wants to go is great fun for a toddler. Plus a lot of the malls have soft play centers. We also go to the library at least twice a week and have a membership to the local children’s museum.
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We didn’t have our oldest son help cook until he was three, but it is usually something simple such as stirring something (dad had him stir up eggs for scrambled eggs one morning). Find things like blocks you can stack with him, play pretend with him with his stuffed animals, get some paper and some crayons and let him play with that. You can start with play doh, as long as he isn’t putting things in his mouth a lot, my little guy really liked it, you can even use little cookie cutters and have him make "cookies" after you flatten the play doh for him. Having him help with getting dressed by himself is a good step, you might also let him brush his teeth a little bit (or even yours a little bit).
Giving choices is good as well, you do want to keep it limited to 2 things, and only offer a choice you are comfortable with (if you like their clothes to match, make sure all items you are offering go with each other). My older boy always wants to sleep someplace other than his room, so I give options of where he can sleep in his room (sometimes he wants to sleep on his floor, and since he got a little toddler foldout couch thing for Christmas, he wants to sleep on that most of the time) by giving him choices that are acceptable to me, we both win, he’s sleeping in the room I want him to sleep in, and he had some say in where he’s sleeping). If you have him watching a show, give him a choice of what channel (some days my son wants to watch one preschool friendly channel, on other days, he will cry if you turn it to that channel, and I love having an On Demand feature through our cable company). Choices give the toddler a little bit of power, and they will be happier, and less babied.
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I think they all get frustrated at this age so don’t feel guilty. My 22 month old likes to help me top pizzas…I have to set everything up before I let her try….I put grated cheese in a bowl, tomato paste in another, and an assortment of vegetables in others….then she can spread the tomato paste on the pizza base (or we use a pitta bread) with a spoon, sprinkle the cheese, and add the veg. Then she stands back while I put it in the oven.
I ask her through the day to help me…so she puts odd bits of rubbish in the bin for me…just paper or whatnot… she puts her own plate in the sink and she has a duster when I clean and she "dusts" with me.
She also understand about putting toys away and will put them in if I talk to her about what she is doing.
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I think you are being really hard on yourself, frustration is pretty normal at this age. But some things you can try, reading books together and talking about what’s in the pictures, put some music on and let him dance, he can do some very, very simple puzzles, the kind with a few cut outs and knobs. You could try crayons and paper though my 2 year old is just now getting the hang of it.
I ask my son to put his diaper in the diaper champ, Also if you can get him a little basketball ball goal he can make baskets. I haven’t tried any cooking with him, he really isn’t into food-he’s a picky eater. But remember some frustration is normal for toddlers.
ETA: Whenever the weather’s warm enough we go to the zoo, he loves that, also the play areas at the mall or fast food restuarants (assuming that won’t prompt him to beg for food)
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mom of 2 y/o
Logan is 23 months old and i try to let him "help" with almost everything i do… you mention cooking, i let him stand on a chair in front of the sink and he washes the vegetables and fruit. i let him help me but away groceries, he likes to unload the dryer, and put the clothes away, feed the fish, and i bought him a child size broom to help sweep..
whit-in the next few months he will be at your feet with every thing you do, since he has mastered his walking, so you will have to "invent" things for him to do to keep him occupied so you can get them done.. and him helping you in any way is better then a tantrum because you won’t let him help. don’t rush it though.. your doing great.
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What kind of toddler/preschooler do you want him to be? If you can pick out a few things, find opportunities to let him develop those things now. For everything else, just follow his lead as much as you can and be empathetic when you can’t. See where he’s at and put yourself a step or so higher than his current abilities, then help guide him up to where you’re reaching down from.
We started letting him help "cook" when he started being interested around 15 months. He kept pushing a chair across the kitchen to climb up and look, so we figured we’d just go with it. I’m not very worried about him getting hurt or burned or cut or anything like that. I try to keep him on the safer side of me (in front of the range/oven if we’re using the electric skillet on the other side, or by the sink if we’re using the oven/range). He’s just always known that certain things are hot and sharp and spinning, and since he’s been able to see proof (the food gets hot, the knives cut, the blender blends), he hasn’t needed to experiment. He has really enjoyed helping roll out dough, dump in ingredients, stir, and more recently cut with a blunt knife.
He also has really enjoyed helping with other chores around the house, which has been a great way for him to transition into being more involved, and now into being more preschooler-ish. He likes sitting on the dryer while I load the washer and fold laundry, pulling clothes out of the dryer and hampers (a pain for me, but fun for him), grabbing a rag and helping me mop the floor, using lime slices and baking soda and vinegar-water in a spray bottle to clean kitchen and bathroom surfaces, walking down the lane to check the mail, stopping half way down to play with rocks or look at the neighbor’s house instead of going all the way to the mailbox… He turned two at the beginning of the summer and, as silly as it sounds, loved just standing out on our porch and playing with the hose.
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Please don’t feel bad about what you’re doing, all of this will eventually come naturally. I know I go crazy reading responses like my 15 month old washes the car and holds conversations in french etc..lol, but there are some of us like you out there!
My son is usually surrounded by toys and I always felt like I babied him too. I’m trying to adjust to him being a little person now and giving him the opportunity to "help" wherever he can – and if he doesn’t want to, I don’t push it. As far as cooking, my son is still just 15 mos old so whenever I’m in the kitchen though, I’ll say like "Can you open the fridge for mommy? Can you close the fridge for mommy? Can you hand mommy the cup?" to get him involved. Most of the time, he’ll do it other times hes more interested in slamming my cabinets. It’s a lil harder for me cuz he’s not a mellow baby by any means though so cooking is more stressful for me than for others, it always seems
I’ve also been trying to let him brush his teeth, brush his hair, he takes off his socks when I’m getting him ready for his bath, he tries to take off his pants, lol. I also let him walk up the stairs (me behind him of course), try to help put his toys away. I can’t really expect more lol
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both my 15 month old and my 3 year old "help" me cook. Really that means that they get a bunch of pots and pans out, fill them up with toys and stir the toys around with a wisk. They don’t care that they aren’t REALLY cooking. It’s still fun and engaging for them! Same goes for helping "fix" things. They have their own little tools and when daddy is fixing something they drag out all of their tools and pretend that they are doing what he does.
They do actually help me with the laundry though! My three year old separates lights from darks, and my 15 month old carries clothes from the dryer to the bedroom to be folded
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At that age, "helping" cook was a lot of spilling, stirring, licking spoons, and general mess-making. We have a step stool that my daughter (33 months) stands on now to help, but at that age I think I just let her sit on the counter with me right there. I started teaching kitchen safety then, though, and now I don’t have to worry much at all about her helping me in the kitchen. I taught her to put her hands on her head and stand still whenever I was dealing with something hot, and she has a very healthy respect for kitchen rules now.
You can also have him help put things away, like others suggested, or sort laundry. Although, even now, laundry help usually means unfolding towels to make blankets for her toys…
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im not sure about the help cook thing… that idea scares me a little lol We have laundry baskets for each kid and they are the ones who fill it with their dirty clothes they also get to help put the clean ones away, my three year old can now do it her self. Out youngest who is almost 2 put the towels away and helps put the plastic containers away when I do the dishes (Which our 5 year old loads the dishwasher) At that age we get them to try to get dressed and their own shoes on. After eating we have them put their plates in the sink. They also start cleaning all the toys up before they go to bed. Try to encourage little things like having him pick out the book to read before bed. We have a drawer in the kitchen that has the kids plates (Plastic of course) and cups and they all pick out what they are going to eat off of and set their spots at the table. (I will admit sometimes by almost 2 year old will have two plates.. its just a matter of redirection) We also have them button the chest straps of their car seats (My kids even my oldest still has no idea how to unbuckle them but I hear other parents saying their kids can) We also play the what comes next game (for expample when we are getting out shoes on to leave we say what comes next? he will answer now the coats. Or when he is almost done eating we will ask what comes next and he will say plate in the sink. We challenge our older ones with games like that too) Good luck and keep at stuff… they really love to help!
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mom of 3 with #4 due in June
We have my son do a whole bunch of little, simple, natural tasks. If we are cooking, I usually give him a bowl and a spoon so he can pretend to mix (obviously, I’m not going to let him do anything with the stove/oven, or touch raw food etc). If it’s something simple like making juice, I’ll let him help me mix that. I also have him help me clean the house. If I’m dusting, he has his own dust rag and helps me. If I’m vacuuming, I will let him take the hose when I’m finished and he can do it as well. I have him help me organize/stack up his books, clean up his toys, carry things for me, he brings his plate (empty of course) and spoon/fork and sippy to his high chair, ummm what else. Basically, anything that I’m doing, as long as it’s not dangerous, I let him help me. He loves it! My mom does exercise videos and he LOVES to copy the motions as well-haha!
I’m sure you are doing a great job, don’t be too hard on yourself! =) It’s definitely hard to realize that your baby is growing up–mine is 18 months and he is such a big boy now! (tears)
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he’s only a baby for such a short period of time. just coz people tell us that we shouldnt be "babying our kids" doesnt mean we shouldnt. enjoy "bubs" he’ll soon be at school then your baby is gone. just start with playdough and cookie cutters. take him to baby groups, playgroups etc. he’ll soon learn to be "grown up" when he’s good and ready and not before. good luck and stop worrying. the worrying parent is a loving one
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My twins are 20 months old and to be honest I don’t do a lot of bigger things with them, my daughter likes to try and get herself dressed and yesterday I let them ice there daddy’s birthday cake which went alot better than I thought it would. I play puzzles with them dance & singing also, I let them walk up and down the stairs themself with me standing close by. When I am hoovering I give them a shot of the hoover each and I think that is it they are not aloud in my kitchen unless one of tem s sleeping it is just to hard with 2 of them emptying cupboards.
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