Five Steps to Prepare for a Cleaning With An Infant At Home

Hello! If you clicked on this, there’s a good chance you have a newborn at home. Congratulations! My wife and I just welcomed our second little boy in August and, in the words of a friend, we are IN it. You know it too well — IN it in the sense of feedings every 2 to 4 hours, sleep deprivation, wondering why he’s crying, arguing at 3 AM over who wakes up to feed, all while attempting to chase around a three-nager.

Here at WellNest we have hundreds of growing families as clients. Here are five steps you can take to prepare for your upcoming cleaning with a newborn at home.

Tell your service ahead of time so they can plan accordingly!

Let them know the following:

• That you have a newborn! Many cleaning professionals are mothers and fathers themselves, they’ll get it!
• Any specific instructions around cleaning the nursery, bassinet, pack-and-play, etc.
• Any information on schedules, i.e. feeding, sibling naps, etc. A properly trained team plans for a certain flow within the home. If your crew knows the family schedules ahead of time, the team can plan the flow accordingly without risking quality by having to adjust mid-cleaning.

Aligned with #1 above, think about what supplies you’d like the crew to use and communicate accordingly.

Whether it’s a hospital-like environment (i.e. bleach) or all-natural, if you would like a crew to use your own supplies, ask the service a week ahead of time whether what you have is sufficient. Putting your crew on the spot with “can you use these supplies instead of what you normally use?” is like asking a mechanic to fix your car in your garage using whatever tools you have.

Put away bottles, nursing equipment, and anything else you want only care-givers to touch.

A cleaning crew will need to move anything on the counters and deploy cleaning products. If you do not want bottles and equipment handled by the team, or potentially sprayed with cleaning product, put them away. We put our bottle rack in our pantry when needed. It works very well. Cabinets are of course another great option.

Have contingency plans in place in the event your crew is not right on time.

Things happen in the service industry. Last minute client cancellations, call-outs due to sick kids, jobs need extra unanticipated work. With so much unpredictability, it’s impossible for service providers to be 100% on time all the time. Build flexibility into your schedule on the day of your cleaning to avoid unnecessary stress due to an early arrival or a delay by your team.

Ultimately, tell the service what you need.

Having a infant at home produces enough anxiety already. Your cleaning service wants to reduce this anxiety, not add to it! Don’t be shy. Instead, be transparent and know that the more upfront you can be ahead of your cleaning, the better the results!

We hope these five steps help you prepare for your upcoming cleaning! Congratulations again on your newest addition. If you’re one of our clients, let us know what you need!

Have a great day,

Phil Harper

Owner, WellNest Home Cleaning

WellNest Home Cleaning is a premier green cleaning company servicing clients in Arlington, Falls Church, Alexandria, McLean, Vienna, Reston, Herndon, Sterling, Ashburn, Leesburg. Book an appointment via our website at www.gowellnest.com or call us at (571) 749-2121.