Keep a Relaxing Environment

The nursery is supposed to be a place of calmness, so you want to make it a very relaxing place to be. Bright colors and lots of movement should be kept in the playroom and out of the nursery. Colors such as reds and oranges may end up keeping your little one awake at night instead of giving him that bit of solace and quiet that’s necessary for a restful evening. With more soothing hues, such as light browns, greens and blues, your child will behave differently and react positively to its calming effects.

Another way to keep it relaxing is to only have a handful of toys in the room. This is not a play area and should not stimulate a lot of activity and movement. Your child will be able to differentiate between play and sleep if the rooms for each activity are kept separate.

Go Natural

To truly follow feng shui, the nursery should have natural materials, such as wood, rather than synthetic substances like plastic. The crib, rocking chair and other furniture should be made out of real wood rather than hard, cold plastic or laminate.

Also, avoid electronic devices such as television sets, radios and phones. Having these in the nursery can harm the sleep cycle of your baby, according to feng shui adherents. Feng shui experts believe that the noises and radio waves emitted by these items disrupt the child’s regular sleeping pattern and even stunt their developmental process.

The more you keep things natural within the nursery, the more at ease and comfortable your baby will feel. You can even decorate with woods like bamboo to bring more nature into the room.

Clutter-Free Zone

The nursery needs to remain a clutter-free zone. Having a clean, open space is calming to the child. One purpose of feng shui is to allow positive chi to flow freely throughout the room. Also, it is calming to your baby to be able to see everything in the room and not feel overwhelmed by too much “stuff.”  Just like walking into a messy room can cause you to have a mini-panic attack, a cluttered room may cause a similar reaction in your child due to over stimulation. Having an uncluttered room is also a way to keep your child feeling centered. Another way to ensure your child feels calm and benefits from the tenets of feng shui is to have a mobile or a crystal located in the center of the room or to hang one above the center of the crib. The feeling of being centered created by these objects is key to feng shui.

An easy way to keep things clutter-free is to not allow the baby in the room unless it is bedtime or naptime. This will encourage separate behaviors for the nursery and the play area and other rooms of the house.

Keep It Simple and Avoid Noise

Simplicity is an important factor to feng shui. Busy wallpaper, décor and patterns throughout the room may distract from the sense of relaxation desired for this room.

Furniture placement is key when it comes to feng shui, with a square shape favored most highly. If the room has a sloped ceiling or a curved wall, square it off with curtains or furniture. A window is also a busy area of the room where negative energy can flow in freely, so this is not where you want to put the baby’s crib. Street noises as well as sunshine or other lights can deter your child from getting a restful night’s sleep.

The location of the room itself can help create a relaxed environment for your baby as well. If possible, do not have the nursery located above a garage or near a busy door such as the front entryway. The heavy traffic of the location will disturb the peace of the nursery.

To best nurture your child, create a peaceful place for him to sleep. Though an infant may not realize he’s better off sleeping through the night, the rest of your family will appreciate the effort you put in to make it happen and he may thrive more as a result of your dedication.

Written by Michelle of NannyPro.com

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A pacifier (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pacifiers and newborns is a controversial topic, but only the parents of a newborn ultimately have a say in whether or not pacifiers are appropriate. There are many ways that pacifiers can help a newborn, but there are also ways that they can be detrimental. Here are the major pros and cons of pacifiers and newborns.

Newborn Pacifier Cons

When you give a pacifier to a newborn, it can result in nipple confusion in some babies. Because the shape of the pacifier and a breast or a bottle nipple are different, it can cause some interference in feeding. Some mothers find that it makes breastfeeding more difficult for this reason.

Though pacifiers can be helpful for keeping a baby calm when it’s time to sleep, some babies do get dependent on sucking on one as they fall asleep. This can interrupt sleep when the baby’s pacifier falls out during sleep. Some newborns have worse nights with pacifiers than without because they wake up and cry until the pacifier is replaced instead of simply falling back to sleep. This can in turn interrupt the sleep of everyone else in the house. This dependence can also make it difficult for the baby to give up the pacifier later.

Dental problems are a possible side effect of using a pacifier for too long. While a newborn won’t create dental problems by using a pacifier, the use of a pacifier can become such a crutch for the baby that it is difficult to self-calm without it. That can create an emotional need for the pacifier that continues well into the time when dental problems can be created. The continued use of a pacifier can cause a cross bite that requires a dental appliance during the elementary school years.

Newborn Pacifier Pros

Babies love to suck on things to calm themselves. The sucking reflex can come in handy when a baby is having trouble sleeping and needs something to create a calmer feeling. A pacifier can help a baby to calm himself and to go to sleep when it is needed. This can keep the baby on a better sleep/wake cycle, with more waking hours during the day and more sleeping hours at night.

A pacifier can help to keep the baby happy for a few minutes as you ready the baby’s meal. For a nursing mother, that means finding a place to feed and arranging a cover. For others, it may mean heating up a bottle and testing the temperature. With a pacifier in the baby’s mouth, there will be less of a panic when hunger strikes.

There has been a connection established between SIDS (crib death) and the use of a pacifier. The risk of SIDS among infants who use a pacifier while sleeping is less than in babies who don’t.

Babies who use a pacifier have an advantage over those who develop a thumb-sucking habit. When it is time to stop using a pacifier, the parents can simply take away the pacifier, but halting thumb sucking is far more complicated.

Article from WAHM.com

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