
• Q-tips cotton swabs are great for cleaning and applying ointments to a baby’s delicate skin. Made with 100% cotton, Q-tips cotton swabs have the most soft cotton at the tip*, making
them gentle enough to use for baby care. Plus, Q-tips cotton swabs are disposable and biodegradable when composted, making them friendly on the environment, too.
• Dip a Q-tips cotton swab in rubbing alcohol to clean around your newborn’s umbilical cord. Q-tips cotton swabs are a must-have tool for baby care, especially around hard to reach
areas like the belly button, around the nose and outer ear.
• Moisten a Q-tips cotton swab with warm water to clean your baby’s outer ear, folds of the neck or between the toes.
• Always remember that Q-tips cotton swabs are not to be used for cleaning inside the baby’s ear canal (or yours!).
*From the end of the stick to the top of the swab
Wendy Bellissimo, celebrity nursery designer, has 10 great ideas for creating the perfect nursery:
1. Be Your Own Designer: Go through
magazines, catalogs and visit baby & furniture stores to see the looks available. Choose a style that feels most natural to you so the nursery can become an extension of your home. Then create your own book or board of clippings, fabric samples and photos for inspiration. Start the design process well before your due date so that you have time to relax before the baby’s arrival. 2. Save the Paint for Last: Select your nursery furniture and fabric before you paint. It is easy to find a paint shade to match your furniture/fabrics and not always the other way around. Keep in mind, furniture and fabrics do not all need to match – a great mix of textures that complement each other can add a truly custom, "designer" feel.
3. Don’t Sacrifice Style for Functionality: It is easy to create a beautiful, organized space in the nursery to care for your baby (without the piles of diapers and a mess of toiletries). Place a basket or fabric covered box (from an arts & crafts or paper store) on the changing table or shelf above and fill with diapers, Vaseline® petroleum jelly, diaper cream and rubbing alcohol. One nursery essential you won’t have to hide is the new Q-tips® Baby Pack! They are available in two adorable nursery animal designs and are functional (with a new sliding drawer that keeps Q-tips® cotton swabs protected for baby) so they can always be within arm’s reach.
4. Add a Personal Touch: Give your nursery a personal touch by adding framed covers of your favorite childhood books or classic black & white or sepia photos of you and your significant other when you were babies.
5. Create A Sleepy Time Sanctuary: We all need our beauty rest, so it is important to create an environment that’s peaceful for your baby to sleep. Create a calming atmosphere with soothing colors and softer tones rather than bright or harsh colors. Then, use accents to add pops of color without being too overwhelming. Be careful not to make the room too dark or too quiet at nap time. This way your child will be able to fall asleep in any environment, which is great when you are traveling or when new siblings arrive! You can also play soft, soothing music or lullabies to help the baby fall asleep.
6. Room to Grow: Choose design options that can grow with your child – consider color palette, furniture style, storage options and a play/reading area. Look for a dresser with drawers and cabinets, rather than a standard changing table and simply secure a changing pad on top. Once your child outgrows diapers, you will have a beautiful piece of furniture with drawers for clothing and cabinets for toys that are within reach for your child.
7. X vs. Y: Not finding out the sex of your baby? No worries! Design a gender-neutral nursery with yellow, green, white or crème and simply add touches of blue or pink accessories when the baby arrives – these simple changes can be made to anything from the receiving blanket to the changing pad. These color options also give you the flexibility to use the bedding over again for a new sibling.
8. To Theme or Not to Theme: Nursery themes such as safari, princess or transportation are a great way to create a fun, lighthearted statement. A themed nursery can still be done tastefully if the items are selected in moderation. For example, if you are doing a safari-style mural, keep bedding and fabrics neutral so the room doesn’t look overdone.
9. Accessorize: A few must-have accessories for any nursery are books, books and more books! You can also add a silver piggy bank and a few irresistibly soft stuffed animals that will quickly become your child’s best friends! Even my celebrity clients still go for the traditional accessories – they bring us all back to that magical time of childhood.
10. The Essentials: When designing your nursery (large or small), you should always keep these essentials in mind – a crib, rocker, changing table/dresser, light dimmer switch and books within the little one’s reach. If you do not have enough space for a bookcase, a basket for the floor will do the trick perfectly. Your little one will be crawling around before you know it and handing you their favorite book at bedtime.
ENTER TO WIN!!
Mom Select and Q-tips has offered to sponsor a giveaway to my readers! What you have the opportunity to win is the NEW Q-tips Baby Packs in two designs (safari & farm animals) and an adorable silver elephant bank to display in baby's room - another nursery design essential!
This contest is open to bloggers and non-bloggers of the United States, and the contest is open until midnight March 4th, 2010. To enter, comment about what you consider nursery essentials or "must haves" for the perfect nursery.
**For extra chances you can: blog this contest, add my button to your site, subscribe to my blog, twitter and/or become a fan on facebook, and/or visit everyday and add another friendly comment about something you think is a baby necessity. Lots of chances to win! Don't forget to put the extra comments for the "extra" work. Good luck!**
This review was provided from Mom Select and Q-tips. They have provided me with the perfect nursery pack and elephant bank to review and information to share with my readers. I am sponsored to offer a giveaway for my readers through this review. I was given the product for my personal opinion and option to share with my readers. I was not compensated for my time or written review.