From the moment you bring your precious infant home, his or her (or their!) room will become a special place for you and your child. Even if you keep your baby in your bedroom at night for the first few settling-in months, you’ll probably use the baby’s room for ch­anging diapers and other everyday tasks. The sooner you and your child feel comfortable in the nursery, the better. (Yes, you need to feel at home in the baby’s room, too, as you’ll be spending a lot of hours there!)

Once you’ve got the crib, comfy chair, changing table, and optional extra bed in place, the rest is child’s play. If your family includes older ­children who share baby’s room, their needs will obviously dictate a lot of the furnishings and accessories. If the room is for the baby only, you may be tempted to go for broke with decorative treatments. There’s no harm in doing this as long as you avoid items with small parts or cords, but you don’t have to spend a fortune on special effects. Babies can’t really see details or pick out the nuances of color until they’re six months old or so. Until then, bold patterns in black and white serve much better to stimulate their eyes and brains.

If your taste tends toward the lively and modern, a baby’s room in black and white with red accents may be just the ticket. If not, however, you can provide short-term toys and board books that stimulate baby just as well and decorate in a way that better suits your style.

1. Buy storage-friendly furniture
Get a crib with drawers underneath or buy a crib skirt and some under-bed boxes, which are great for stashing all those excess diapers and wipes. Still short on storage? Consider a cube system like the IKEA Expedit, which can grow with your tot and be outfitted with drawers and doors to hold toys and books on the bottom. Plus, you can stash clothes they’re growing into or growing out of on the top.

2. Trick out your closet
Use every inch of space already available in your nursery by maximizing your closet’s storage. Little outfits are short, so double your closet space easily using a double-hang closet rod on one side. Then use a portion of your closet to create flexible shelving by adding a sweater bag. Both can be found at The Container Store.

3. Containerize everything
Find attractive open bins for the shelves of your changing table and give each bin a specific category. Inside your closet you’ll want to use clear, stackable containers so you can see exactly what’s there. Label them with size and season. For example, seeing “12-month, summer clothes” is a lot more helpful than having to take down a huge bin of hand-me-downs from the top shelf and then having to dig through. Important: Whatever you do, skip the toy bin! It just becomes a repository for all the tiny pieces, and ends up with stuff on top of it, so your child will never be able to open it to retrieve those stuffed animals anyway.

4. Go vertical
Have a small nursery? No problem! Utilize your vertical space — backs of doors and even the walls are often overlooked areas. Have excess toiletries or tiny shoes? Put an over-the-door shoe bag with clear pockets on the inside of your closet door so that you can compartmentalize all the small stuff and keep it from cluttering up your surfaces. Stick the thermometer in the top row right next to the Infants’ Tylenol, so next time your baby has a fever in the middle of the night you know exactly how to find it (and it’ll be too high for them to reach as they grow!). Have a ton of pictures or other keepsakes to display? Don’t clutter your dresser — hang floating shelves on the wall to show off your treasures. It will look intentional instead of haphazard, and once your child is more mobile, he won’t be able to destroy them so easily.

5. Toss the junk
Having a baby often means you’re showered with gifts. But that doesn’t mean you have to keep and love everything Cousin Gertrude gave you! Take a picture of your kiddo wearing the item or playing with it, write her a thank-you note and put it in the outbound pile. As a parent you need to constantly manage both the inflow and outflow of stuff in your space, so dedicate a bag or two for things that are no longer in active use, and once they are full, get them out. Store the items that you love that make the cut for a future child, but pass others along to a mommy friend with different taste or donate them. Swimming in excess samples from the hospital? Stash a few in your diaper bag, use up the ones you love and toss the rest! You don’t need random stuff you’ll rarely use.

The teething process is different for every baby. For some, a tooth may cut overnight, causing little to no fussiness from your baby. However, for some babies, the teething process is a long, painful process. Signs that your baby is teething include irritability, diarrhea, cold like symptoms, drooling and the main sign – chewing or gnawing. Babies like to bite or chew on things when they teethe because the counter pressure gives them a bit of relief from the cutting tooth. They are a few ways to naturally soothe your baby’s sore teeth and gums that will help both of you get a better nights rest and a better day.

-A Wooden Cooking Spoon: Although this may seem strange, it is no different than a wooden teething ring.

-Cold Fruits or Veggies: Depending on your baby’s age, giving them a tasty frozen treat could be very comforting to your little one. An alternative, if your baby is too small to digestive chunks of food, is a mesh feeder. Bread also works well for older babies.

-Clove Oil: Always test this on yourself first before you put it on your baby. If it is too strong, it could blister baby’s gums. However, in the correct dosage, this could be very relieving.

Remember, teething is not forever. Although it may seem like it will never end - it will.

Benefits of breastfeeding

There are many reasons why a mother chooses to breastfeed or not to breastfeed. It is very personal decision and one that should be made with careful consideration. However, there are many benefits of breastfeeding to both mother and child from choosing to nourish your little one in this way, all of which are worth considering as you make this decision.

Benefits for the baby

Infants who are breastfed have been shown to experience improved health including a lowered occurrence and risk of certain diseases as well as a more resistant immune system, most likely due to antibodies the baby receives through breast milk. These benefits not only improve the baby’s health during infancy but are believed to improve lifelong health as well.

Some of those benefits include lowered risk or occurrence of the following:

-         Ear infections

-         Diarrhea

-         Bowel conditions

-         Urinary tract infections

-         Obesity

-         Diabetes

-         Asthma

-         Allergies

-         Irritability

Benefits for mother

Mothers also enjoy several benefits when they breastfeed their baby. Some of the benefits mothers cite for choosing to breastfeed include:

-         Less mess (no bottles or formula to mix)

-         Unique bonding experience with the baby

-         Easier weight loss

-         Lower risk of ovarian and breast cancer

-         More energy while breastfeeding

Talk to your doctor if you have questions

If you are unable to breastfeed your infant or choose not to for other reasons, this does not mean that you are making the wrong choice. Talk to your doctor about ways that you can supplement the infant’s immune system and other ways to assist your child’s development.

Summer is approaching, and that means that parents will have more unscheduled time with their children. Without school taking up the majority of the day, children have the freedom to pursue any number of activities. For many families, summer day or sleep away camps are a great way to fill that time and broaden the horizons of the children.

However, this may not be a viable option this summer, which means that parents will be looking for innovative ways to keep their kids occupied. At Luna Lullaby, we believe in a healthy and balanced lifestyle, so we encourage kids to get off the couch, away from the computer or television, and get outside this summer!

3 Ways to Get Out and Have Summer Fun!

#1 – Go Swimming

It’s hot outside, which means it’s a great time to get in the water. Swimming burns more calories than other types of cardiovascular exercise, so it’s a great way to get in shape while staying cool.

#2 – Go Biking

Some people do not enjoy being in the pool, and even those who love the water may look forward to a way to shake things up and do something new. The great thing about biking is that you can travel greater distances than running or walking, so it is easy to make a day trip out of your physical activity.

#3 – Just go play

It seems obvious enough, but having fun is a great way to stay active. With longer hours of sunlight during summer months, it’s a great time to get some kids from the neighborhood and start a game of freeze tag or capture the flag.