Tips for Packing & Storing Beloved Stuffed Animals
Don’t let mold or moths ruin your child’s favorite toys. Learn the expert tips for cleaning, packing, and storing stuffed animals safely for the lo...
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blankets
While receiving blankets are quite lightweight, you may want a heavier blanket to ensure that baby is kept warm enough. Especially if your room temperature is below 65 degrees, your baby may need the extra warmth. You may even want a quilt style blanket with several layers of fabric stitched together. Thicker blankets are also nice as playmats for tummy time, because they help insulate and cushion your baby from a hard floor or irritating carpet. Remember, babies should not sleep with loose blankets unattended. The blanket may cover the baby’s face and newborns lack the strength and coordination needed to remove the blanket.

lovies
Finally, getting a soft toy or a lovey for your baby is a great way to soothe and entertain them. While newborns aren’t really strong or coordinated enough to grab and handle these toys, touching and looking at them is interesting to baby and helps develop their brand new senses. Personalized Lovies can end up becoming your child’s best friend, too! The best loveys are soft and baby safe, without hard plastic pieces that can come loose and be choking hazards. A variety of textures is great, too, as it gives baby more to touch and feel. Small soft toys are best for newborns. Remember, babies should not be left unsupervised with blankets or soft toys, to ensure that they don’t accidentally suffocate.

RATTLES & CHIMES
Rattles are a great toy for newborns, as it helps them develop their vision and attention. Baby’s vision isn’t fully developed at birth, so a toy that makes a noise catches their attention and makes them look toward the sound. It’s best if rattles or other sound making toys for newborns are soft, since hard materials can injure baby if dropped.

BOOKS
Though your newborn can’t understand spoken language yet, hearing your voice is soothing for them and hearing spoken language can help them with developing the parts of their brain that they’ll need to learn to talk later on in life. One perfect way to expose your baby to more spoken language is to read to them. Infants will enjoy hearing a parent’s or caregiver’s voice, and getting to look at the pictures in a picture book can help develop their vision. Baby books are short and use basic words that will be some of the first that appear in baby’s vocabulary early on.
soothers and pacifiers
When a baby starts to fuss, sometimes a pacifier or other soothing toy is the best option. The sucking reflex appears even before birth, while baby is still in the womb. It’s one of baby’s most powerful calming behaviors, and has been shown to lower heart rate and blood pressure. Babies suck to nurse, but they’ll also suck when full, as a means of self-soothing. They may suck on their fingers or on toys. Providing your baby with a toy specifically designed for this behavior is the perfect way to help them. Pacifiers should be comfortable to baby’s gums, and it’s best if they’re machine washable. A pacifier holding toy can help keep the pacifier nearby at all times, too.
Don’t let mold or moths ruin your child’s favorite toys. Learn the expert tips for cleaning, packing, and storing stuffed animals safely for the lo...
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