How to Create a Clean Home for Your Baby
You decorated the nursery, baby-proofed electrical outlets, and removed all the choking hazards and toxins from your home. You assembled the crib and unpacked the baby shower gifts. But there’s still work to do before your baby arrives. Think about how to create a clean home for your baby.
Establish a No Shoes Policy
If taking your shoes off in the house isn’t already a habit, start that habit now, and make it a policy for everyone who enters the house. This doesn’t mean you go slipping and sliding around your wood floors in your socks, risking a potentially serious injury from a fall. Simply have “inside shoes” (or non-skid slippers) and “outside shoes.” Designate a spot just inside all entry doors for shoes—any shoes that have been outside go in a box or a tray, separate from another that holds your inside shoes. This makes it easy to change each time you enter or leave the home.
Have Floors and Carpets Professionally Cleaned
Dust and allergens love carpet and those little gaps between floorboards. Find a carpet or floor cleaning company that uses non-toxic cleaning methods and get the floors thoroughly cleaned. Invest in a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter, so you can keep your floors and carpets as free from allergens as possible once baby is home.
Wash Baby Clothes, Stuffed Toys and Bed Linens Before Baby Arrives
Wash all those cute outfits you received at your baby shower before they touch your baby’s skin. Use non-toxic, gentle detergents made specifically for infant or baby clothes. Ditto those cute stuffed animals—if the tag says they’re washable, wash them. From the minute you opened the box or unwrapped the present, those plush toys have been collecting dust and allergens in their cuddly coverings. Wash fragile or luxury toys by hand, and follow the proper steps to cleaning your baby’s stuffed animals.
Wash crib sheets before you use them and launder them frequently thereafter. Don’t neglect your own bed linens—whatever is all over them is on you, so keep your own sheets and bedding clean.
Vacuum the Furniture
Pull the couch cushions off and be prepared for an ugly surprise. Whatever is under there, now is the time to vacuum it out. However, pregnant women should not move furniture around; the non-pregnant members of the household should handle that strenuous chore.
Clean and Sanitize the Kitchen
No room in your house—even the bathroom—has more germs than the kitchen. Sponges by the sink are festering with bacteria. Replace them now and sanitize or replace them weekly from now on. After you clean surfaces, sanitize them with non-toxic sanitizing wipes. Be aware that some of those wipes require a rinse after, especially on surfaces that may contact food.
There are plenty more tips and tricks to help you prepare a clean home for your baby, on top of all the other things you do to make your home as safe as possible for an infant. Putting that nesting instinct to work to clean your home to help pass the time during those last few weeks before your baby arrives.
