Preparing a Healthy Home For A Newborn

Preparing to have a new little one in your home can be overwhelming. All of the stores can give you a huge list of things you have to have before baby arrives. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, will be giving you advice. When it all comes down to it, the best thing you can do as a parent is make sure your baby has a happy, healthy home to come home to.

I received compensation for this post, all opinions are my own.

One of the first things you can do is wash all those adorable newborn clothes and linens that you will be using for your babe. Besides just making sure everything is clean, washing and drying the items will make them softer and less likely to irritate your child’s skin. My kids all have had sensitive skin, so I always use a detergent that is free of dyes and perfumes.

Next, you can prepare a safe space for your baby to sleep/be. In my case that means setting up the bassinet and making sure my baby swing is ready for use. I wish I could hold my newborn all day and night but the reality is, sometimes you need somewhere safe your baby can be for naps and sleeping as well as times you need free hands, like taking a shower, or cooking dinner.

After having more than one baby I have decided that the best gift you could EVER give a new mom is a visit from a cleaning service before her baby is born. Making sure your home is nice and clean before your babe arrives is not only a stress reliever but good for everyone’s health. Knowing it has been has been thoroughly cleaned gives you peace of mind in regards to lingering germs and bacteria. Sure, you can tackle that task at 39 weeks pregnant, it might even get that baby here a little early, but it is ideal to have someone else do it for you!

The most important thing YOU, in my opinion, can do to make sure your house is a happy and healthy one is to make sure you and anyone else that will be caring for your baby is caught up on their vaccinations. Especially Pertussis, or Whooping Cough, as it is commonly called.

Whooping cough is a highly communicable disease that infects the lungs resulting in uncontrollable, violent coughing which often makes it hard to breath.Whooping cough is spread from person to person through contact with respiratory droplets generated by coughing and sneezing. But here is the scary part: infants are at greatest risk of serious complications from whooping cough- even death, especially within the first 6  months of life. Most are infected by those around them, including grandparents, and about half of babies under age of 1 who have whooping cough must be hospitalized.

I recently visited my local Walgreens to find out more about getting a vaccine at their pharmacy. I was so impressed by how helpful their pharmacist was, even at 7pm! Life is busy, and sometimes it can be so hard to find a way to arrange doctors visits around busy schedules. Walgreens offers whooping cough vaccines whenever the pharmacy is open. You don’t even need an appointment. *

My absolute favorite thing about Walgreens is their Get a Shot. Give a Shot.® campaign in partnership with the United Nations Foundation. When you get a whooping cough shot (or any other immunization besides flu) at Walgreens, Walgreens will donate a life-saving vaccine to a child in need. Not only will you be making a healthy choice for you and your family, but you will be helping a child who desperately needs it. *

Making sure that my kids have a healthy start in this world is the most important thing to me. I am so grateful that Walgreens makes that so easy. *

Donation currently valid for non-flu vaccinations. Aggregate donation of up to $1 million. Vaccines subject to availability. State-, age- and health-related restrictions may apply.

What do you do to make sure you are ready for a healthy start for your newborn?