Pre-baby preparations? Top things parents do to get ready for infant

How early should you have everything ready to go before the baby arrives?According to a new survey of 2,000 American parents with kids aged five and under, everything should be ready to go five weeks before the baby is due.Parents’ top checklist items, pre-baby, were having the hospital bag packed (82%), setting up the baby’s nursery/sleep space (75%) and stocking the home with everyday essentials, like toilet paper and laundry detergent (74%). Conducted by Talker Research in partnership with Safety 1st for Baby Safety Awareness Month in September, the study found that safely baby-proofing the home was also a top priority during the third trimester (43%). Uncovering the amount of time parents spent doing baby and home safety research, results found that parents spent eight hours researching before the baby arrived and seven hours after, on average. Investigating what sources of information are most helpful, parents said they relied on advice from friends and family (61%), medical and expert publications (43%) and tips and advice from trusted brands (38%) rather than relying on influencers (24%) and blogs (16%) for baby safety information.Parents said safety (64%) was the top priority when setting up the baby’s nursery/sleep space compared to functionality (28%) and appearance (6%). Results also revealed that nearly half (48%) of moms who carried their babies stopped driving close to their due date.The top reasons were fear that their water would break while driving (43%) and concerns about being an unsafe driver due to body changes, like being unable to reach the brake pedal (41%).During the first few weeks after the baby came, parents reported they would jolt awake four times per night, on average, because they were worried about the baby. Parents also reported they typically only got four hours of sleep per night, on average, in the first three months postpartum. Looking into home safety specifics, the survey also asked parents about home safety best...