Organizing the Nursery
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Organizing your space in a nursery room is as important as organizing your space in a factory. The flow of activity must be unhampered and should be supported by the design and arrangement of your furniture and decor. Don’t underestimate the amount of work involved in caring for an infant. If you are conscious of what you’ll be doing in the nursery, over and over again, throughout the day and night, you’ll set the space up so that you can work smarter, not harder.
First of all, get as much off of the floor and furniture surfaces as you can. Accomplish this by hanging cloth pockets on the walls near your work stations. The changing table can become littered with ointment tubes, wipes, spare cloth covers, and spare clothing. By having an array of large and small easy-to-reach-into pockets, in different colors, mounted on the wall, you can organize these odds and ends and reach them with one hand, without taking the other hand off of the baby. This not only keeps the surface of the table clear and easy to disinfect after use, it won’t tempt you to leave the baby even for a second to reach something. Babies can be amazingly gymnastic and suddenly roll off or scoot over the edge of the changing surface.
Wall pockets are also great next to cribs, where you can store bottles, pacifiers, and teething toys. Wall pockets are helpful anywhere you would tend to leave clutter, like a dresser top. You’ll dust more often if you don’t have to lift clutter, because it’s already on the wall, in pretty cloth pockets.
Stimulating mobiles, board books, and other toys can distract a baby from resisting needed activities. For instance, having a special toy that is only available at the diaper changing table, and pulled out or wound up and played only when the baby is fussing, will keep it novel and therefor an affective ally for calming the baby enough to let you change her/him without as much of a struggle. Likewise, a favorite stuffed animal or doll that is only available in the crib, makes bed time easier. The baby will be happy to see the fuzzy lamb or giraffe and want to be in the crib where s/he can get at it.
Remember to leave the floor clear when you and your baby aren’t lying on it. Hitting your shins on furniture, let alone stepping on, tripping over, or slipping on toys and area rugs in the dark, is miserable and dangerous. Your baby will wake up for feeding and changing every 2 hours all night long, so design the room as you would for a blind person. No obstruction, and pathways that are easily negotiated in the dark when you’re half asleep, is the key.
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