Routines
Babies and toddlers require a regular routine and can easily become anxious or upset with any unexpected changes. It is particularly important to ensure that your child's sleeping pattern is well maintained. A change in sleep routine, coupled with the stress that moving house brings can be disruptive even for adults. It is easy to find yourself losing sleep through worry or sheer fatigue and your baby can pick up on this. This in turn can also affect their sleep patterns and affect their mood making them anxious, irritable and more difficult to settle.
Planning before moving day
Moving house can be stressful and chaotic at the best of times, even if you've already planned everything through. Babies can take many things to their stride as long as their daily and nightly routine remains unchanged. Wherever possible try to keep to your child's regular feeding and sleeping times, even during the stressful times of house relocation. Planning in advance is important to make moving with young children easier. If you can, try to find an alternative child minding option for the day. Whether it be day care, a family member or friend to help mind your child during moving day, having an extra pair of hands can really help keep your child content in their daily routines and make the whole process of moving home run more smoothly.
Get rid of old clothes and toys
Babies and toddlers are always growing out of their clothes and toys. If your drawers are overflowing with old clothes which don't fit and toys you really don't use anymore, moving is the perfect time to sort these out and consider donating. There are plenty of local charity organisations Australia wide that will gladly take donations of unwanted clothes and toys. Another option is looking to sell these items online and you could put an extra money towards moving costs.
Prepare your survival kit
In the rush of getting everything packed and ready for moving day, don't forget to prepare a 'survival kit' of baby essentials. This is for the moment you get to the new house and in case of any unexpected emergencies on moving day. The survival pack will come in handy and save time of digging through boxes to find what you need. This should include:
1. Any medications you and the baby may need
2. Nappies, nappy cream and wet wipes
3. Extra change or two of baby clothes
4. Extra bibs, bottles, formula and baby food
5. Favourite toy or comforter
6. A sturdy carrier and car seat
9. Water bottles and snacks
Use a professional moving company to do the work for you
Moving house is a lot of work and can take a lot of time. Having to wrap, pack and move furniture is a truly hard and stressful task and can be quite daunting when you add a baby or child into the mix. Hiring a professional furniture removalist to help complete this task is highly recommended. Many removalists not only move furniture but can also provide packing and unpacking services and in some cases also assembly services. This can make your move more time efficient, less stressful and enable you to spend more time with your child.
Take some time for yourself
Moving house is such a stressful time and there are so many things to consider. Moving house with your baby or toddler can make it even harder to manage everything on moving day. It is important to take time for yourself and keep the stress levels to a minimum. To minimise stress it is recommended to have someone watch your baby or child for even a few hours once in a while while preparing your move. It is important that you take some time for yourself to wind down and relax to help ease the stress of relocation.
Moving home? Use Moving Select today to ensure that your move is as stress free as possible.