When you have a newborn baby, your entire life turns upside-down. You need to go through a process of both securing the home and making it comfortable for a baby to live in and grow up strong and healthy. We all think about baby-proofing the home, securing the doors and windows, installing baby monitors, here you can find top 10 baby monitors by OwlRatings but we don’t think about the things we can’t see: the air. Air quality is a hot topic these days, and with good reason.
Air pollution is rampant, and there are precautions we should take to ensure we’re breathing the highest quality of air, so here’s how to make sure your newborn is breathing the best air possible:
Monitor the quality
Firstly, you can’t fight the enemy you don’t know. Some things, like dust mites or large allergens, you can see with the naked eye, but most harmful things floating in the air are invisible, like nanoparticles. This is why you need an air quality monitor. It will tell you the saturation of different allergens and pollution in the air so you know what action to take to prevent it.
Open up the windows
The first thing you need to make sure is that there’s enough fresh air in the nursery – or any room where the baby is spending time. Open up the windows and let some fresh air come in. If it’s really hot outside, open them up during the night and in the early morning to prevent heat from coming in, and if it’s very cold, take the baby out of the room while it airs out.
Get an air purifier
While some fresh air might come in through the window, if you live in an urban area, there’s a lot of pollution coming in as well. This is where an air purifier will come in handy. It will take the air in, run it through a filter, and push it out cleaner, so plenty of harmful germs and dust stays in the filter. There are two main kinds: mechanical and chemical. The mechanical ones only push the air through a physical filter, meaning the nanoparticles that we mentioned before will still remain in the air. But a chemical purifier will actually chemically clean the air and kill any potential germ or other harmful particles. If you’re using a chemical purifier, make sure that you are using one with mild chemicals that are natural, non-toxic, and baby-safe. If you’re unsure – always check with your doctor.
Control the AC
Sure, you want to keep the room at the right temperature to make sure your baby is comfortable. But if your AC hasn’t been cleaned recently, you might be causing more harm than good. Make sure you get a professional to thoroughly clean your AC system before bringing a baby in. And if you’re adding on a new room for the nursery, you can click here to find out about ductless air conditioning, which is the best option if you’re adding an additional room to your home. Make sure that the AC units are fitted with filters that are cleaned out or changed often.
Careful with your vacuum
When you’re vacuuming your home, you might not know that what you’re most likely doing is just throwing dust particles up into the air. You need to have a specialized vacuum, like a water-based one or fitter with a HEPA filter if you actually want to catch the dust and lock it in when you’re cleaning. In addition to that, make sure you always follow up vacuuming with a wet mop, because it’s the mop that will actually catch all of the dust.
Reduce pet hair
Pet hair can be dangerous if inhaled, and if the fur is fine enough, it can just float through the air all the time. What you want to do is regularly trim the fur on your pets, brush them to reduce fallout, and keep them out of the nursery. No matter how clean they are, the pets have no place in the nursery of a newborn baby. You also need to be prepared for the fact that if your baby is allergic to your pets, you will need to keep them completely separate.
With these few tricks, your baby should be breathing good, healthy air. If by any chance, your baby was born with some complications on the lungs, your doctor might suggest different, more rigorous measures, which you should always stick to. And lastly, these measures aren’t baby-exclusive. Even with no baby – or with a baby on the way – you should employ these tricks to make sure you’re breathing clean air in your home and protecting yourself from harm.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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