Preparing Your Home for a Baby: Essential Tips and Insurance Must-Haves

Bringing your new baby home is exciting — but it also means making sure your home is ready and safe. Knowing how to prepare your home for a baby includes stocking up on newborn essentials and installing safety features to prevent accidents. It also means reviewing your insurance policies — baby home safety preparation could involve renovations or higher liability risks, both of which may affect your home insurance coverage.

Keep reading to learn how to prepare your home for a new baby and why updating your home insurance may be just as important as baby-proofing.

On This Page

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  Baby-Proof Your Home

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  Nurseries and Safe Places

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  Make Room in the Refrigerator

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  Prepare for Visitors

• 

  Get the Items You Need for Your Baby Ahead of Time

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  FAQs

Baby-Proof Your Home

You’ll ideally want to cover dangerous items a curious baby may try to poke or play with, such as electrical sockets or a radiator’s grating. Consider bumper pads for the corners of your walls. Ensure your windows are covered with secure mesh netting that a baby can’t push through. You may also want to install window guards.^[1]

While it may feel like an over-precaution, an average of eight children ages 5 and under die and 3,300 are injured each year due to falling out of windows.^[1]

You’ll likely want to ensure that any potentially dangerous objects, such as cleaning chemicals or choking hazards, are kept out of reach in areas where children are unlikely to be — like on a high shelf in the laundry room or behind safety locks. Secure heavy furniture to the wall to keep it from tipping over. For high-value items a newborn could damage, such as furniture, artwork and jewelry, consider a scheduled personal property rider to increase your coverage limits.

Use baby gates with safety latches to block off specific rooms and hallways for added safety. Consider installing safety gates around a pool if you haven’t already done so.

It may also be worth checking on any alarms, such as burglar alarms, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Ensure these devices are functioning properly — not only for peace of mind but also because many homeowners insurance policies may offer discounts for installing them.[2]

Nurseries and Safe Places

While a nursery may not always be necessary, it can benefit both parents and their new child. A nursery provides personal space while the child rests, helps organize belongings in one room and typically offers a safer sleeping environment than bed sharing.^[3][4] Nurseries can also be seen as investments, as you can upgrade and remodel your child’s room as they age.

Setting up your baby’s crib and sleep environment is critical to preventing sleep-related deaths caused by sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), which claimed the lives of more than 1,500 children in 2022.^[5] While the cause of SIDS isn’t always known, it’s often associated with babies sleeping on their sides or stomachs, bed sharing or overheating. Ensuring your baby sleeps securely in a crib with a tightly fitted sheet — and cannot roll onto their side or into soft objects — can help reduce this risk.^[4]

Some homes may need expansions or renovations to create a nursery or other safe places for children. These can be expensive, with budget-friendly remodels costing up to $1,500 on average and high-end renovations reaching $10,000 or more.^[6] If you renovate to add a nursery or expand your home, review your dwelling coverage to ensure your homeowners insurance reflects the added square footage.

Make Room in the Refrigerator

Take stock of your refrigerator and remove any expired or unnecessary food items. In addition to cleaning out your fridge to make room for fresher food, you’ll likely need the added space for storing milk.

Milk can only last at room temperature for up to six hours, but it can last in the refrigerator for up to four days. This can give parents more flexibility in preparing milk for when their newborns get hungry, as it’s easier to have some on hand that has been prepared in advance. Keep in mind that milk is best stored in the back of the fridge to prolong freshness, meaning you’ll likely want to ensure there’s enough open space in your fridge to access it easily.^[7]

Prepare for Visitors

Bringing a newborn home may mean more visitors to your household — whether from family members, other young children or a babysitter or nanny providing child care. You may want to prepare your home to make guests feel more comfortable. Depending on the visit, that could include setting up a guest bedroom or temporary sleeping space for out-of-town relatives.

An increase in visitors may also require reviewing your personal liability coverage, which is part of your homeowners insurance policy. This coverage helps pay for injuries or property damage that occur to others while they’re on your property. For instance, if a visiting child is injured while playing with your baby and needs medical care, personal liability coverage may help cover any associated medical expenses or legal fees.

Review your current personal liability coverage limits with your homeowners insurance provider to determine if they still meet your needs or if an upgrade is necessary.

Get the Items You Need for Your Baby Ahead of Time

Below is a list of essential items you’ll likely need for your newborn and should consider purchasing before bringing them home for the first time:

• Various newborn clothing items, such as onesies, shirts, pants, socks and jackets
• Swaddling blankets
• Crib and mattress
• Crib mobile
• Baby monitor
• Changing table
• Disposable or cloth diapers with covers
• Baby wipes
• Diaper bag
• White noise machine
• Baby bathtub, towels and baby-safe shampoo
• At least 10 bottles and nipples of various sizes
• Milk formula or a breast pump
• Bibs and burp cloths
• Pacifiers
• Baby thermometer and first-aid kit
• Newborn-sized or convertible car safety seat
• Stroller
• Indoor play mat
• Outdoor play yard mat
• Teething toys
• Stuffed animals
• Storage organizers

Keep in mind that each family’s needs may differ, so you’ll likely want to create your own list based on the available space and budget. Some items may also be available as hand-me-downs from family members or neighbors whose children have outgrown them. Asking around in your local community may help you cut costs by reusing gently used gear.

Additionally, check that any products meet Consumer Product Safety Commission standards, especially if they’ve been recalled or updated.