How to Prepare a Clean and Safe Home for Your New Baby

Preparing for a new addition to your family is a necessary and intensive process. You need to install child locks on cabinet doors, put hazardous materials out of reach, paint, and furnish the nursery – all the while with an ever-expanding waistline for Mom! Cleaning your home from top to bottom is just as important as stocking up on diapers. Do it early enough so as not to endanger the health of the mother or baby, and hire a professional service if it helps you relax. Try to complete these cleaning steps ahead of time, invaluable in ensuring a clean and safe return home for your bundle of joy.

• Remove all pet dander, dust, and allergens. Newborns do not yet have a fully formed immune system, so take the initiative to eliminate as many local allergens as possible. Vacuum all carpeted floors and dust thoroughly, especially in those dark corners and hard-to-reach ledges where dust bunnies love to hide.

• If possible, remove curtains and drapes, the main dust collectors in the house. If it’s only in one room in your house, at least replace them in the nursery with blinds, they dust easily.

• Clean and disinfect all surfaces where baby’s tiny hands tend to grasp. The television remote control may seem harmless, but it is actually full of germs that could cause illness. Use a non-toxic wipe or household cleaner to effectively kill up to 99.9% of germs in hazardous areas like the kitchen and bathroom. In the kitchen, foodborne illness is always a risk, especially for newborns. Make sure all surfaces remain “clean enough to eat”, as food tends to touch these surfaces anyway.

• Place soap, water, and clean hand towels in all sinks in your home for guests to wash their hands before holding your newborn. No matter how uncomfortable it may be, enforce this rule, especially for young children, who carry many germs. Make sure each visitor washes their hands for at least 30 seconds before cradling the baby. Everyone, especially mom, remember to wash your hands after using the bathroom, sneezing, or preparing food for yourself or the baby. New moms, keep in mind that your child will quickly get used to the germs that naturally live in his body.

• In the changing table drawers, keep a stash of cleaning supplies in addition to a generous supply of diapers. You’ll want to clean the table after each change with a disinfectant wipe or a household spray. You can use these products in other areas of the nursery, like the crib, where your baby will inevitably put his mouth on the bars and his hands on the railing.

• Keep all power supplies clean, especially before first use, and ideally after each use. Boil new bottle nipples in hot water and discard old pacifiers and nipples that are broken or stained. Instead of using a harmful chemical like bleach to disinfect baby products, simply soak your breast pump’s bottles, nipples, and accessories in water mixed with baking soda. Or put used food in a dishwasher cycle; high heat will kill most stubborn germs. Make sure to dry clothes very carefully, as bacteria love moisture.

• Get organized and stay organized. Vigilant and constant organization is the key to managing a new baby and a clean home. Have a designated place for everything (formula, diapers, medications, disinfectants) and return everything to the proper place immediately after use and cleaning. Implement an organization system and stick to it in every room in the house, especially the kitchen, bathroom, and nursery. You’ll save time and energy by cleaning on the go, plus you’ll keep germs to a perpetual minimum.

Mom, listen. First, you must stay rested and healthy to care for your newborn. As difficult as it may seem, put yourself first and get some sleep so you can be the best possible parent your child deserves. It is also important to mention that it is possible to have a house that is too clean. Studies show that some children with asthma and allergies did not develop immunities due to overly antiseptic homes. So, use common sense and don’t go crazy. That’s the baby’s job.

Learn more about avoiding allergens in your home and creating a healthy environment for your baby on our blog on the company’s Denver home cleaning website.