Safe Baby Furniture

Why is it that people go completely bonkers when they have their first baby? They spend a fortune on a nursery, buy the most exotic strollers, buy expensive sneakers for a kid that can’t walk yet, and record every waking, and most of its sleeping, moments. Could it be because your first baby is so utterly adorable and amazing that you’d rather watch him sleep than go out to a movie? Probably. You could pay for at least a semester of college with the money many people spend on a nursery. And does the baby care? It does not. The baby wants to be warm, dry, full, and cuddled. That’s it. That little ingrate couldn’t care less about all that stuff that is so cute you could die of saccharine poisoning. It is immaterial to him whether his crib bumper matches his sheets.

A baby’s needs are simple. The furniture in the nursery is for the mom. Mom needs: the crib for an infant to be high enough for her to not have to bend over. The crib needs to have uprights no more than 4” apart so mom doesn’t have nightmares. It also needs to be constructed so the mattress can be dropped to make a more efficient cage for the one-year-old that thinks it has a prehensile tail. Small humans still think they’re arboreal and can climb anything. This idea must sometimes be discouraged.

Mom also needs a handy place to keep the stuff she uses all the time, like diapers and butt-wipes (honestly now, isn’t that what everybody calls them?) and a tube of A&D ointment. No powder (silicosis, don’tcha know). What else? A rocker and a bookcase for ‘Goodnight Moon’ and ‘Guess How Much I Love You’. Maybe a small CD player for the Mozart and Vivaldi that babies love. Beethoven is a little too complex for a newborn. And save the Beatles for later, too.
Can the piece of furniture be converted into anything else? Can it ‘grow’ with your child? Many cribs are designed to convert to toddler beds later and if you don’t commit to obvious nursery themes, dressers and armoires can be used for many years, too.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

| |