Becoming a parent can be challenging and sometimes worrying. New parents have to deal with so many unknowns that it can be difficult to know where to start. Are you going to breastfeed or are you going to use formula? Will you have a natural birth or will you opt for all the medication you can have? Will you need to buy a new car, and save more money?! There are many situations you need to think about, but the one we're going to look into today is preparing your home for a new baby.

Deep clean your home.

Dust can cause allergies in small children and newborns so you will need to clean your house top to bottom very thoroughly and then keep up with maintenance cleaning. It can be hard work when pregnant so if you have someone who can help you out now's the time to ask. If you don’t have anyone to help it could be worth hiring a cleaner if you have the budget for it and if you don’t, be very careful when cleaning so that you don’t trip over. Keeping your home dust-free can be time-consuming but it isn't expensive, all you need to get started is a long duster.

Remove any unwanted furniture.

If you have been thinking of throwing out your furniture, now would be the time to do it. When your baby comes along you won't have the time. By getting rid of some of your furniture you will make room for all of the equipment that comes with a newborn baby. If throwing out your furniture is too drastic you could use rent a self-storage unit. Managing Director Scott Evans of Pink Self Storage Newport had this to say: "Self-storage is an excellent option for new parents as they can store some of their larger pieces of furniture on a temporary basis until their baby grows up and needs less equipment." Self-storage can also be an excellent choice for parents who don't have the room to keep expensive baby equipment like cots and prams but want to keep them for their next child. Parents can store away this equipment for a year or two and get them back out when needed.

Make sharp surfaces safer.

Your baby will probably fall and bump their head at some point, just ask any parent. You can be the most careful parent in the world and your little one will still manage to fall when they're young. To make your home safer from trips and falls you can buy a baby protection kit that contains rubber matting to put on sharp corners, but these kits can be expensive. Something that works just as well is bubble wrap. Bubble wrap doesn't look as nice but it's much cheaper and a little safer too. You can get bubble wrap on many of the auction websites online in huge quantities. The baby protection kits can also be bought online, do shop around though as some of them come with additional safety measures like plug protectors.

Buy a shoe rack.

When your baby grows up and starts crawling they will be moving around the house at lightning speeds, at the time they learn to crawl they also begin teething, this means that they often put their hands in their mouths constantly picking up any germs that may be on the floor. When you have a new baby you often get many guests arriving at your home. These guests could transfer nasty germs from their shoes to your flooring which could then get picked up by your child.  To stop your baby picking up germs from the floor invest in a shoe rack and make all of your visitors take off their shoes and leave them in the rack.