Five tips for setting up a sleep-promoting nursery

May 19

Picking out paint colors, arranging furniture, and filling your baby’s room with precious stuffed animals and crafty signs is one of the most exciting parts of preparing for your baby’s arrival.

There are plenty of details to think about and questions to ask as you’re planning out each little area of your baby’s soon-to-be new home.

Will the room have a theme? Where will the crib go? Will you have a comfortable place for you to administer middle-of-the-night feedings?

All of these details are important to consider, but healthy sleep should also be top-of-mind when designing your child’s nursery. This is perhaps one of the most important aspects to focus on, as your newborn will be spending most of her time sleeping, after all!

That’s why we’ve created a checklist for you to ensure you’re setting up a healthy sleep environment for your baby from the start:

1) Choose neutral paint colors

It can be tempting to pick out vibrant colors for your baby’s nursery, especially if you know the gender already and want the room to follow a fun theme! But our recommendation is sticking to soft colors that won’t be distracting for your baby.

Greys, light blues and pinks, light purples, and off-white colors are all great options.

Try and steer clear of dark colors, as well polka-dots, stripes, and any other patterns that can be stimulating for your baby.

2) Keep toys to a minimum

As a newborn, your baby won’t be playing with many toys anyway, so try and limit the amount of toys and stuffed animals that are in the nursery. Also, remember not to have any stuffed animals, blankets, etc. in the crib as a precaution for SIDS.

As your child gets older, toys in the nursery can also become confusing because you want the room to be dedicated to sleep and not play, so staying consistent with that message is important.

3) Consider the positioning of the crib and where sunlight hits the nursery

If your baby’s crib is in the exact place that strong rays of sunshine are shining in, you want to move the crib to a different area of the nursery.

Also consider investing in blackout shades as you want your child’s nursery to be as dark as possible for all sleep.

4) Set up sleep-promoting objects

Baby monitors and white noise machines are examples of products that are helpful to keep in your baby’s room for safe and healthy sleep.

When choosing a monitor, you want to try and select something that can be hidden and out of the way, but provide you with a direct view of your baby and the room to ensure she is safe and sound. The Nanit or the Nannio are our top picks for baby monitors, but there are other monitors we recommend as well.

Likewise, when it comes to selecting a white noise machine, it shouldn’t be distracting or close to the baby’s crib. We recommend finding one that has multiple settings for different sounds that can replicate the womb, which has been proven to help extend sleep for babies!

5) Try setting up “stations” for easy flow throughout the nursery

In the middle of the night and throughout the day, you will likely spend a decent amount of time in your baby’s nursery changing diapers, feeding, and attempting naps.

Rather than randomly placing furniture and other objects in the room, consider the flow of the room and how to make the set-up efficient and helpful, especially for those middle-of-the-night interventions.

For example, it would be a good idea to have the changing table and crib in close proximity of each other so you don’t have to go from one end of the nursery to the next for each diaper change. Similarly, having everything you need at your diaper “station” will help so you aren’t searching for a new outfit, for example, in the case of a blowout.

You might also consider having a very dim night light you can turn on at night, or a dimming system, in the baby’s nursery. The light shouldn’t stay on all night, but should be easily accessible when you need to go in the room while it’s dark.

Considering all of these tips will not only help your baby establish healthy sleep habits by being in a sleep promoting environment, but it will also help you as you adjust to a new routine.

While there are many details to consider when setting up your baby’s nursery, try not to stress about having everything “perfect” before your baby arrives. You can always add and remove things later or switch up the layout of the nursery if you find it isn’t conducive to sleep.

Try to enjoy the process, and congrats on the soon-to-be arrival of your little one!

For more information about newborn sleep, check out our newborn sleep course.

Preparation

Rachel Mitchell