10 Nesting Mistakes To Avoid...

I am a cleaning and organizational fiend… basically nesting at all times.  When it came time for me to actually nest, I went to Pinterest for the tell-all stories.

I read hundreds of tips and lists of things not to forget.  Even the things not to do and lo and behold… I am still guilty of some mistakes.

With pregnancy brain, there’s really no telling what you’ll end up doing.

Here are 10 tips I hope you’ll find useful for your whirlwind of nesting!

1. Washing everything you get & throwing away receipts

Guilty.  As soon as I got things, they were almost immediately thrown into a sudsy Dreft bath, folded, hung and organized.

Huge mistake. You will realize by the time your little one is here, everyone and their mom… literally… has gotten you the cutest newborn outfit they could find.  You now have drawers overflowing and closets dripping with newborn size outfits.

Some babies basically skip right past the newborn clothing and go straight to 0-3 month clothing.  Now you can’t return anything for bigger sizes and your baby will be naked then you will be broke.

When registering, I suggest avoiding registering for a single article of clothing in the newborn size.  People will get those for you.  Register for 3, 6, 9, and 12 month clothing.

The last thing you want to happen is have your baby go up a size overnight (which literally happens) and have places to go and nothing to wear!

Pro Tip: Go to the dollar store and spend $1 on 100 clothespins.

When you get new stuff, use your will power, hang it in the closet. Separate by the precious dividers they sell everywhere.  Use your clothes pins to keep receipts with the gifts.  When baby is close, de-tag and wash a handful of things.  Save yourself money down the line!

2. Standing on chairs, ladders, and counters while cleaning & organizing

Guilty.  I went into a cleaning frenzy.  My husband came home to me on the counters in the kitchen wiping down my greasy cabinets and up on a ladder decorating our Christmas tree.  Please do not risk hurting yourself.

Pro Tip: Make a list! (I love lists!) As you think of things you want to get done around the house before baby arrives, pick and choose what you should be doing with help and what you can get done alone.

3 Moving heavy furniture while cleaning and rearranging

Guilty. My poor husband walked in to see all of our drawers from both dressers on our bed, the dressers had been moved, and I had vacuumed where they were.  I had rearranged our entire bedroom and I was wiping the dressers down.

I pushed myself far too hard several times and threw out my back which made it impossible to sleep when it was already impossible to sleep. You think you’ll be logical enough to avoid this, but there is no sound mind when you are pregnant.

Prego brain is crazy.  You will forget words that you use every day, zone out, and have no idea why you have entered a room, you will put things in the wrong spot and lose everything.

Pro Tip: Refer back to that list in #2.  Have it out in the kitchen or living room.  Go over it with your support system.  LET people help.  That was the hardest thing for me.  If anything CAN be done, I can do it myself.  DON’T.  Don’t hurt yourself or your precious package.

4 Buying stockpiles of bottles & pacifiers

Guilty.  I bought three different types of bottles (and lots of them), and stocked up on the hottest new binkies (over 20 of them).  Of course, I un-packaged and sanitized everything I bought.

I fortunately ended up with a fabulous baby who took a bottle the first time we handed it to her and is fine with whatever you put in her mouth as long as there’s food. Even still, we ended up never using half of the bottles we got.

Unfortunately, she had a hard time with the hot new binky in the market and we ended up having to start all over on those.

Pro Tip:  Get a small quantity or variety.  Figure out what works best for your baby, THEN stock up.  I know this sounds like no fun.  You want to be beyond prepared.  But save yourself the money and the sad time when you get to pack up a bunch of stuff that they outgrow and NEVERtouch.

5 Not putting batteries in… everything

What you never want as a mom… or anyone… is an unstoppable screaming baby.  It’s 4am, you’ve been up all night and the child is screaming and nothing is working, maybe try out that fancy swing… oh no!  You didn’t put batteries in it.

Go search for batteries in the dark on no sleep while the baby is screaming.  You don’t have the right kind of batteries. You don’t have enough. You’re stuck with the screaming baby.

Pro Tip: When you assemble, assemble entirely.  Batteries and all.  Get it done while you have your tools out.  Almost all baby accessories have battery compartments that screw closed to prevent accidents.

6 Forgetting to prepare a post-baby wardrobe for yourself

You get home from the hospital and you finally don’t have to wear those frumpy maternity clothes!  Except, you can’t fit into those skinny jeans and you don’t want to wear pajamas for the next 3 months.

Pro Tip: Put the skinny jeans away!  Way back in the back of your closet! Get yourself some comfortable leisure wear that will make you feel cute while your body heals and changes daily.

I got myself a single pair of jeans that were a size or two bigger than I used to wear and got some flowy shirts and plenty of yoga pants.  It makes a huge difference in your mood and energy if you get out of your pajamas.

7 Not making room in the kitchen for baby

Baby kitchen-ware multiplies like bunnies while it’s in those cupboards, I swear!  I thought I made enough room by designating a drawer for spoons and binkies and a small cabinet for bottles, sterilizers, cereal, formula, extra pump pieces, and teethers.

I have been pretty constantly changing out supplies since we have hit the solids stage and luckily had another cabinet to hold extras and outgrown items.

Pro Tip: Have a plastic tub somewhere around your kitchen that you can throw 4/5oz bottles once you move up to 8oz, bottle tops when you change out for the next stage, binkies once you upgrade to the next size and bowls and spoons when they get too small.

Keep it organized and keep it off of your counters.

8 Waiting to put together or learn how to use your pump

Do it. Do it now.  In some cases, your baby may get taken to the nursery.  If you don’t want nurses to give your baby hospital formula, now is the time to pump and get your supply kick started and get your baby that colostrum!

Now is not the time to figure out how it goes together and how it works.  Sterilize it all, put it together, take it apart and learn what everything does.

Pro Tip: Put it together early. If you’re not getting induced, your doctor may tell you to use it to get labor started!

9 Throwing away instruction manuals

This is not too crucial as you can basically Google any product and find its instruction manual online.  However, spending time on Google is unnecessary.

Have them on hand.  Especially those products that require pieces that are not currently being used in order to transition to another stage!  Keep the extra pieces and manual together!  Ziplock bags!

Pro Tip: Make a designated spot for all manuals for everything baby related.  All of mine are in my baby’s closet.  If I forget how something works when we finally get to use it, it is time to transition something and we can’t figure it out, or if something is broken, all of our warranties and instructions are in one place.

10 Forgetting about bills that are due when you are due

The last thing on your mind while you are about to go through labor and add a new member to your family are your bills.

Make sure you know which bills have automatic drafting so you know when money will be disappearing from your bank account and make sure you know when bills are do that are usually handled manually.

When you bring baby home, you don’t want to arrive to late fees and late bill paying.

Pro Tip: Make sure all normal tasks are taken care of.  Make a house-sitting, pet-sitting, or baby-sitting guide for whoever will be taking care of things while you’re out.

Make sure a responsible party is handling the bills on time.  Get everything taken care of so all you have to worry about is that brand new bundle of joy!

Happy nesting, mamas!!

Written by Sara Lillestol for her blog, Magical Mama Blog.