A Nursery Lamps Guide

As often happens when you’re setting up your baby’s nursery, the simplest thing can turn into a seemingly monumental decision.  This is generally the case when it comes to nursery lighting.

You don’t want it to be too bright, or you’ll wake the baby.  If the lighting is too dim, you’ll trip over something and…you guessed it!  You’ll wake the baby!

Here are a few tips on what to look for when outfitting your new baby’s nursery with the proper nursery lamps:

• Night lights are very valuable in a nursery.  Get a night light that turns on automatically at dusk and turns off at dawn, and you’ll save energy at the same time you’re ensuring you won’t trip over anything in the nursery at night!  One tip here that I had to learn the hard way – make sure you have plenty of nightlight bulbs in case one goes out!  My son had to sleep with a nightlight, so the night the bulb burned out, my husband ended up going from store to store at 9pm looking for a replacement.  Avoid this and just have a few on hand!

• A floor lamp with a dimmer is a great nursery lamp for a variety of reasons.  This will usually sit behind and to the side of your rocking chair or glider.  Excellent for middle-of-the-night feedings, you can just barely turn it on and it will give you enough light to feed your baby while not being bright enough to fully wake him or her.  You’ll see that this is very important as you’ll want your baby to learn to go right back to sleep after feeding and changing.  A floor nursery lamp is also nice when you want to rock your baby and read to him or her or tell them a story.  You’ll probably want to move the floor lamp out of the baby’s room when they begin to crawl, as the design of a floor lamp, as well as the cord, can present hazards.

• A desk lamp for the top of the dresser/changing table is a smart choice for a smaller nursery lamp.  This type of lamp is great for diaper changes, especially if you have a 3-way bulb and can turn it only to the lowest setting.  It’s also nice for providing soft indirect light when rocking your baby to sleep.

These three choices should be all the nursery lamps you need.  Soft lighting is key for late-night feedings and diaper changes, and with the combination of a floor lamp, a desk lamp, and a nightlight, you’ll definitely have all your nursery lamp needs met!