Tips for Nursery Lighting

Whether you’re planning a nursery or you already have your baby room set up, there’s a lot that goes into making this space comfortable for your child. You’ve already gotten the crib, a few cute stuffed animals and a baby changing station. Everything looks just right for the baby. However, along with these nursery essentials, it is important to consider how you want to maintain illumination in your baby’s room.

Natural Light 

When choosing a room for your nursery, you should consider a room that has windows. Provide your new little tike with plenty of natural light. As we’ve learned in a previous post, natural light works to increase human proficiency and helps regulate our circadian rhythms. Regulating sleep patterns is especially important for babies, as it helps them adjust to a normal 24-hour day. Another major benefit of streaming natural light into your nursery is vitamin D production. This vitamin aids in the modification of calcium production and helps to create healthy teeth and bones, which is essential for any growing child. However, because most babies nap off and on throughout the day, you will need something to block the sunlight while your child is resting, such as blinds, curtains or drapes. When setting up the crib be sure  not to place the crib directly by the window because excessive sunlight exposure could damage your child’s skin.

Overhead Ambient Lights 

Ambient lighting is essential to your nursery because it provides the overall lighting for the room. Consider choosing a simple close to ceiling fixture for your nursery.  Because this is a bedroom, and you do not want to distract your baby while resting, choose lights in a warm color temperature like 2700K to create a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere for your baby.

Another way to keep the nursery atmosphere serene is by incorporating a dimmer switch. Dimmers allow you to lower the lighting in your baby’s room which can be especially helpful when your baby can’t stop crying due to restlessness.

Nightlights

Newborns often have a difficult time conforming to their new environment.  To aid in their adjustment, consider incorporating a nightlight in their room. Nightlights are an ideal source of accent lighting that won’t be overly distracting for your baby. They are also easy to install and battery operated, providing just enough illumination without over-saturating the nursery in light at night. Another added bonus to using a night light is that you will not find yourself tripping over toys and stuffed animals while checking on your baby in the middle of the night.

Task Lighting 

It’s late-night feeding time and your baby is crying loud enough to remind you. Using a rocking chair to soothe and quiet your baby during feedings is essential, yet you can also use the rocking chair to read and sing lullabies to your baby. For these tasks you’ll want to add a lamp to the nursery. Consider choosing a floor or table lamp depending on placement. For example, a table lamp could sit higher up on the baby’s dresser or even the changing station. Floor lamps can be situated directly on the floor near your rocking chair, however as your child grows and begins crawling and walking, you may want to consider moving the floor lamp to another location.

Bonus

If you want to get extra creative in your baby’s room, consider adding colored lights. For example, adding blue rope light to the nursery helps to create a calming and more serene effect.  You may also want to try using an amber lightbulb which emits a soothing orange glow, similar to a candle flame.

In decorating your baby’s nursery, remember, lights should not be too bright, as your child’s eyes are still developing. Use soft lighting, and layer the room with ambient, task and accent lighting to maintain balance. It’s all about creating the best and coziest environment for your little one. Have any additional tips on ways to light up nurseries? Feel free to drop us a line on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Instagram!