It’s a natural instinct for pregnant animals to prepare a safe and clean place for their baby. Referred to as nesting, expectant human mothers also exhibit similar behavior. A pregnant woman often feels a desire to clean and clear up the clutter in preparation for the arrival of a newborn. Family and friends are often happy to help with cleaning up and organizing clutter, but unless they’re professional cleaners, it’s likely some important things will be left undone. There are many ways on how to clean your house for a new baby, but if you can afford it, bringing in a professional to do a deep clean prior to the baby’s arrival will take away quite a bit of the worry.
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How to Clean Your House for a New Baby
Newborns get sick easily, so getting your house spotless before baby arrives is important. Dust, mold or other allergens can cause newborns to experience allergic reactions. Regardless of whether you clean yourself, rope in friends and family or involve a professional cleaning company, it’s important to understand how to clean your house for a new baby.
Here are 10 things to do to make sure you have a clean house for your new baby:
- Cleaning Up the Clutter
People often collect things that they think they might use later in life. Or sometimes they keep items for their sentimental value. However, an untidy home can be dangerous, especially once a baby learns how to crawl or otherwise move around.
When thinking about how to clean your house for a new baby, it’s a good idea to rehome, donate, recycle or otherwise get rid of unnecessary items. This can include books, magazines, DVDs, outdated electronics, used clothing or toys that other kids may have worn out. Go through cupboards and closets, hauling off what you don’t need or want. Once the clutter’s removed, it’s much easier to clean properly.
- Dusting the House
Keeping your home well-dusted keeps illness and allergies at bay. Though children usually only develop allergies when they grow older, some newborns do develop allergies, which can cause asthma and other breathing conditions. Besides this, the presence of dust encourages bacterial and fungal growth, especially when combined with humid conditions. While dust might be great if you’re wanting to create your own microbial biome, it’s not so good for babies. For this reason, it’s important to ensure all surfaces are free from dust.
Don’t forget to dust the following:
- air vents
- baseboards
- ceiling fans
- ceilings
- electronic devices
- light fixtures
A newborn’s lungs are fragile, so make sure your home has as little dust as possible when they arrive.
- Vacuuming
Preparing your house for a newborn should also include extensive vacuuming. This isn’t just to vacuum up the dust that naturally settles on the floor after a regular dusting of shelves and other surfaces, however. Vacuuming should also include upholstered furnishings, behind the furniture, inside drawers and under cabinets, along with other hard-to-reach or rarely vacuumed parts of the house. When vacuuming upholstery, remove cushions and get into the creases, where bits of food or pet hair like to gather.
- Cleaning Your Carpet & Flooring
For carpet or other floorings, it’s a good idea to ask knowledgeable professionals about how to clean your house. For a new baby wooden, tile, vinyl or other solid floors just need to be swept then mopped, which will keep dust particles from floating around and ensure better air quality throughout your home. Just start from the furthest corner and clean towards the entrance, rinsing the mop after every 15-20 square feet or so.
When cleaning carpet, vacuuming won’t remove all the dirt, pet hair, random detritus or the dust mites and other tiny creatures that call your carpeting home. Refrain from using harsh chemicals and ask a professional cleaning company for advice about steam cleaning or water extraction. Renting a machine may be cheaper, but a professional clean by a reputable cleaning company will be more thorough.
- Using a Steam Cleaner
Chemicals in carpet and upholstery cleaners are harmful, and can easily damage a baby’s sensitive skin. A steam cleaner also offers a safe way to sanitize a wide array of household surfaces without chemicals.
Steam cleaners can be used on:
- carpet
- countertops
- curtains
- glass
- grills
- grout
- hardwood floors
- mattresses
- ovens
- sealed tile
- showers
- sinks
- stove tops
- tubs
- upholstery
Depending on the type of steam cleaner, you may require special attachments to clean certain surfaces. If you lack the time and energy, but not the money, hiring a professional to steam clean your home is definitely a good investment.
- Cleaning Air Ducts
Often neglected, air ducts should be cleaned every now and again, but especially when you’re about to bring a new baby home. Dust can accumulate even in newer neighborhoods when new houses or additions are constructed. A lot of nasty stuff like mold or bacteria can grow inside ventilation systems, particularly in older homes. As with dusting, cleaning air ducts will also remove allergens and make indoor air quality better. Because they tend to be difficult to access, it’s often a good idea to get air ducts professionally cleaned.
- Cleaning the Bathroom
When considering how to clean your house for a new baby, the bathroom is one of the more important rooms to clean.
Consider the following tips on deep cleaning your bathroom:
- Clean grout to brighten the whiteness, scrubbing with a special grout cleaner and wiping it down with a clean cloth.
- Remove everything from the bathtub or shower before cleaning, getting rid of anything that’s worn or doesn’t belong.
- Replace any bath mats, rugs or wastebaskets, especially if they smell funky.
- Scrub down soap dishes or racks.
- Scrub the sink, bathtub and shower walls (and floors) with a grout brush and grout cleaner, including drains and faucets.
- Thoroughly clean the toilet, making a special effort to sanitize the base and other areas that get cleaned less often.
- Use glass cleaner and a soft cloth to buff mirrors.
- Use vinegar to remove scaling from faucets and showerheads.
- Wash shower curtains if they’re safe for washing machines, or simply replace them, especially if they’re starting to grow mold.
- Wash the walls with warm water, along with tile and grout cleaner, letting it sit to get them even cleaner.
If this sounds like too much work and you have the means, calling out a cleaning company just for the bathroom might make sense.
8. Clean the Kitchen
When baby comes, a lot of action will center on the kitchen. Whether it involves breast milk stored in bottles for emergencies or preparing formula, knowing how to clean the kitchen before your baby arrives is important.
Consider these tips for kitchen cleaning:
- For self-cleaning ovens, just remove any fire hazards and keep windows open to keep the toxic fumes from making the air unbreathable. Spray oven cleaner in those without self-cleaning functions, following directions on the can, and don’t forget to scrub the wire racks.
- For gas stoves, remove pot grates on the stove top, soaking them in hot and soapy water. For electric stoves with coiling, simply unplug the coils to clean more easily. Electric stoves with smooth tops are invariably much easier to clean. Some stoves feature a tray under the burners that catches food, which should also be cleaned out. Use a soapy sponge followed by a clean wet rag to clean these, along with control knobs and other surfaces, along with the hood fan and filter.
- To help soften food splatters in microwave ovens, put it on high for about three minutes with a ceramic dish or mug filled with water, vinegar and lemon inside. If the microwave sits on the countertop or in an enclave amidst cabinets, don’t forget to clean around and under it. For the face and keypad, use glass cleaner.
- Small appliances should have their outsides wiped with a microfiber cloth, while toasters should also be tipped out to remove breadcrumbs that can attract ants and other pests.
- Go through your cupboard and pantry to make room for the baby’s food. Remove any expired food and wipe the surfaces down inside and out.
- The kitchen sink just needs cleaning with hot soapy water, though make sure to pay attention to the area around the faucet, backsplash and any crevices.
- Baking soda and vinegar will help remove soapy residue in the dishwasher, which builds up over time. Run it on empty, using half a cup of baking soda and a cup of vinegar.
- Perhaps the most important thing to keep clean in your kitchen is the refrigerator. While babies start out on a liquid diet, by six months they’ll start eating solid foods. The best time to clean is right before shopping, when the fridge is nearly empty. Working from the top down to the bottom, take everything out, tossing any fuzzy fungal science experiments along with other expired food. Apply a sponge with warm water to wipe down the shelves, using a diluted vinegar solution for particularly sticky places. Clean the rubber seals around the door with warm soapy water and vinegar. You can even defrost the freezer and give it a good wipe down if it needs it.
As with the bathroom, hiring a professional cleaning company can save a lot of time and effort.
9. Use Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
Using environmentally-friendly products for cleaning takes a bit of know-how. To clean your house for a new baby, most new parents won’t want to use harsh chemicals. Yet you also want it properly cleaned. A reputable cleaning company can give advice on cleaning products, as many cleaning companies are quite knowledgeable about the impact harsh cleaning chemicals can have. They might even sell natural or chemical-free cleaning supplies.
10. Using a Professional Cleaning Service
If you’re not a professional cleaner, but have the financial means, hiring a reputable, professional cleaning service will make life much easier, particularly if the expecting mother’s mother-in-law unexpectedly decides to show. To clean your house for a new baby, professional cleaning help is perhaps the best baby shower gift an expecting mother could receive.
Cleaning for the Health of Our Clients
Our clients’ health is important, and we take cleaning seriously While too many professional cleaning companies only do a surface clean, Chet’s Cleaning is dedicated to making your house clean for newborn babies, children, parents, pets and anyone else living in the household. We understand how contaminants like bacteria, mold, pesticides, herbicides and other toxins can cause long-term health problems or even learning disabilities. We understand how toxins within your home can contaminate the air, flooring, surfaces, vents and other parts of your home. When we clean, we work to make your home healthier for everyone living in it. Quite simply, we clean what you cannot see and do it better than anyone. If you live in the metro Detroit area contact us today for a free consultation!
