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As a family, a new baby means lots of changes. As a nanny, a new baby means caring for those changes.

Every household is different, but a new baby often means swapping or dividing bedrooms between children. Changes will also need to be made throughout communal areas of the house. Safety will be a key concern for both you and the parents when the newborn arrives. 

As a nanny, you can play a vital role in rolling out needed changes throughout the house. We’ll take a look at how you can do that. 

What key principle will help you make room for a new baby?
Where should I make room for a new baby?
How can the family make room for a new baby?
How can the nanny help make room for a new baby?
What boundaries should a newborn nanny remember?

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The Best Way to Make Room for a New Baby – Simplify

A key principle of organizing and tidying is to get rid of things. Getting rid of unused or unloved items will have the biggest impact on your houses’ space or clutter problems. 

All people, including children, need fewer things than the typical American owns. Helping the family take an honest look at what they own or what is in their soon-to-be newborn’s room can often open up more than enough space. 

Often, people with tidy houses end up cluttered because of their baby registry. People love buying things for babies and their families, but this can lead to some serious storage issues. 

Your family can preempt this problem by simplifying their baby registry. As the nanny, you could recommend to your family:

  • Focus on needs. Only add items to your baby registries that you need, such as a stroller or crib. Needless items will quickly add to the clutter problem.
  • Multi-Purpose items. Many items today carry out multiple purposes. For instance, some cribs can be converted into bunk beds later on
  • Ask for big-ticket items. Most registries have the ability for multiple people to contribute to one, larger gift. This can help your family get just a few, necessary items. 

Where Should I Make Room for a New Baby?

Simplifying is important, but you still need to have in mind where the new baby’s room will be. What options are available? 

  • Parent’s Room. While this is not a long-term solution, dedicating a corner of the master bedroom is often more than enough space for a newborn. 
  • Shared Kid’s Room. This is often the most obvious solution. Dividing the kid’s room for two or more is a fairly long-term solution that’s also simple. 

Once you know where Baby is going, the decluttering can begin. These, however, are not the only areas of the house where you’ll need to make room. 

Every room of the family’s house will need to accommodate Baby in some way. Correctly using space throughout the house can also help to keep your home tidy, despite the influx of newborn items. 

Kitchen

  • Bottle Rack. Rather than mixing bottles with the rest of your dishes, keep them separate with their own bottle rack. 
  • Baby Drawer. Have a kitchen drawer dedicated to Baby’s dishes. If all the items inside are safe for Baby to handle, you don’t even need to lock it. 
  • Baby Pantry Shelf. Reserve one of your pantry shelves or a cupboard for baby formula, food, and snacks. This way you’ll never misplace food items. 
  • Fridge. Dedicate one portion of the fridge to storing breastmilk. 

Livingroom.

Many livingrooms end up overtaken by newborns and baby gear. Playsets, cribs, toys, tents, everything… 

If you want to keep the house tidy, only allow a few baby items into the living room at a time. You can also dedicate a portion of the living room for the baby with a play rug.

How Can the Family Make Room for a New Baby?

There are several lifehacks that either you or your nanny family can implement to make room for the new baby. Essentially, you need to make good use of space. 

  • Multi-Purpose Furniture. Like items on your nanny family’s baby registry, you can make an effort to find multiple purposes in furniture your family already owns. For instance, rather than buying a changing table, use the top of your baby’s dresser to change Baby’s diaper. 
  • Vertical Storage. You can clear valuable floor space by storing items vertically. Try to incorporate hanging baskets in your kid’s room, fruit stands in the kitchen, and floating shelves throughout the house. Additionally, you can make a toy hammock using a little lace, mesh, or tule. 
  • Tension Rods. It’s often useful to convert your closet into a double rod closet using tension rods. Because baby clothes are so short, you can even convert a bookshelf into a baby closet simply with tension rods. 

How Can the Nanny Help Make Room for a New Baby?

You nannies can make a world of difference by doing some of what we’ve outlined here. Choose a few of the bigger projects and several smaller projects that you can do for your nanny family. 

  • Build the family’s new Ikea crib while the baby’s napping
  • Buy or print out some baby clothes size rod dividers
  • Clean out kitchen cabinets and cupboards to make room for Baby’s items. 
  • Reorganize the new baby’s space. You can also use a label maker to make the space a bit more organized.
  • Make room for breastmilk in the fridge and freezer. Make sure to keep frozen breastmilk on its own shelf in the back of the freezer for even temperatures and easy rotation.  

Don’t Force Your Opinion

When a newborn arrives, Mother’s instinct is to nest. Nesting is a mother’s natural urge to nurture and prepare their child’s environment. The mother always has the right to do so how she wishes. 

Nesting can be a special time for new parents to spend time together, anticipating the arrival of their little one. 

While you can offer suggestions on how she could tidy, organize, and otherwise prepare her baby’s future home, don’t take over. Do everything you can to help without imposing your views. 

If Mom doesn’t have an interest in nesting you can be a great help at every stage of the process! In either case, you will prove integral to your family’s coming changes. 

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