Changing Baby’s Room as Baby Grows

It all happens so fast. The first eight months of pregnancy rocket by. The last month, not so much. From birth to toddler to young person—the time goes by in a blink. This is not the poetic waxing’s of a parent but a statement of a child’s neurological development. In two years, your child will go from a nearly immobile, babbling cutie to an overly mobile talking whirlwind of energy. The things that you set up for your infant will not work for your toddler so, like baby, everything in her room needs to change over a very short amount of time.

A Wardrobe to Suit a Growing Body

When you first get baby home, there will be a lot of swaddling. For newborns, swaddling helps baby sleep better, reduces fussiness, and is a lot easier for breastfeeding. As your infant gets a little older, you want the child to be able to use her hands. This is one of the first ways that an infant explores the world. You want to allow and encourage this. The Seattle-based company SwaddleDesigns has specialized wearable baby blankets, called zzZipMe Sacks, that offer the comfort of swaddling but give your child freedom for her hands. You can find these and other SwaddleDesigns products online or at Target.

The Best Bedtime

Newborns sleep more than 16 hours a day but by about three months this drops down to 10 hours. Also around this time you can expect rolling over and pre-talking sounds. Within the first year, baby will be pulling herself up and may be walking. The crib needs to change with your child’s needs but you do not want to buy a new sleep set every three months. When purchasing a crib, look for a crib that has several different adjustments for the mattress so that you child cannot pull herself out but you do not need to bend so much to pick her up. If it can ultimately convert to a toddler bed then this will save you some money as your baby passes through growing stages.

The Baby Fan

As your child gets older, she will communicate if she is too hot or too cold. When she is preverbal, you will see it with fussiness. When she is verbal then she will tell you. As you create her room, consider a ceiling fan. Be certain that it has a wide range of speeds so that the strength of the circulation can vary as your baby gets older.

Rocker to Work Area

The serene setting of a newborn’s room is not the same as the active environment of a cruising would-be toddler. The rocker while feeding the baby at night gives way to playtime in the morning. As your child ages, the furniture will need to change with her. Like the classroom that your child will be visiting soon, create a bedroom space that enhances the learning opportunity. Start with a child-sized work area where she can draw, paint, or play with developmentally appropriate building toys. Make sure that everything is sturdy so that a pre-walker can use the furniture to cruise and explore her world.

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