Natural Birth and Baby Care.com

How to Protect Your Baby In the Nursery

How to Protect Your Baby In the Nursery: A Complete Checklist is an incredible one. I was delighted to receive a review copy and even more delighted once I read through it. It certainly deserves to go on your checklist of books to read - it's the most complete report on baby's room / play area safety I've ever seen.

The checklist begins with General Safety Precautions. These are common-sense tasks that you may have read or been told, but can quietly slip from your mind as you peruse baby carriers and arrange your cloth diaper stash.

There's a section on general furniture safety and a more in-depth checklist on crib safety. This is a big deal - crib accidents happen more often than you'd like to think. This checklist will help you feel confident that if your baby is sleeping or napping alone in the crib, he or she is completely safe. (And I mean completely - author Helen Burroughs leaves nothing to chance!)

The next checklist is on portable cribs and playpens. We use a playpen for Galen 30 minutes each weekday while I teach 2nd Grade lessons to my oldest child. I was really glad to have a checklist to go through, especially since Galen is mobile and pulling up in his play yard. There's also a checklist for cradles, bassinets, and other small baby beds.

You'll get complete checklists on safety around the crib, safe bedding. mattresses, and bumper safety. I was impressed that an organic mattress is recommended since studies are showing mattress off-gassing could be a problem for babies.

Some other pieces of furniture get their own checklists - changing tables and toy boxes. Rocking chair safety is also well-covered.

Floor surfaces, lighting, and toys each get a comprehensive checklist.

Burroughs includes a daily safety checklist to help you do a quick check of your baby's sleeping and play area. Summary checklists on safe sleep and safe bathing are also included. These are great for keeping near your baby's sleep area and where you bathe baby. They're especially nice in those early newborn days when you're still building your baby care confidence.

A walk-through checklist will allow you to do a periodic walk through of the nursery and play area and be sure they're completely safe for baby.

Burroughs sums up with a comprehensive list of safety equipment for the nursery. The recommendations are all solid.

I was truly impressed by this little eBook. In fact, the only thing I'd have liked to have seen is a checklist on sharing sleep with baby safely. However, even without that checklist the book is expansive and thorough.

You can see the care taken with collecting the information, and with keeping up-to-date with safety guidelines. You will not find such a comprehensive and easily accessible safety list anywhere else (or at such an incredible price) - get your copy of How to Protect Your Baby In the Nursery: A Complete Checklist today.