At some point during pregnancy, you’ll probably start to wonder about how to prepare your home for a newborn. This “nesting” can feel exciting, emotional, and sometimes overwhelming. Many pregnant women feel pressure to buy the “right” gear or create a perfect nursery before their baby arrives. But what actually matters most in those early weeks?
In this episode of the Postpartum Prep Podcast, I sit down with postpartum doula and biological infant sleep educator Claire Fagan to answer three listener questions about setting up a baby-friendly postpartum environment.
This blog post gives you the key takeaways - but for the full conversation and more tips, make sure to listen to the full episode!
What kind of lighting is best for a newborn? Do they need a quiet house?
One of the most common questions expectant parents ask is whether newborns need total darkness and silence to sleep. Claire explains that newborns do not yet have a fully functioning circadian rhythm. They spent their entire life in darkness before birth, so their brains don’t automatically connect light with wakefulness or darkness with sleep until around four to six months.
Still, the environment you create now lays a healthy foundation.
Claire shares a simple rule of thumb:
Match your home’s lighting to what’s happening outside.
When it’s dark outside, keep lights low, warm, amber, or dimmed.
When it’s bright outside, open blinds and let natural light in.
This rhythm supports their circadian rhythm development in newborns. For older babies, light & noise during the day can help them sleep better at night.
And what about noise? Claire says that daytime doesn’t need to be silent. Babies benefit from experiencing normal household sounds. During the day, naps only need to “take the edge off.” A lively home signals daytime wakefulness without interfering with sleep needs.
This helps new parents avoid the trap of staying shut inside a dark room all day trying to engineer perfect naps. I had to learn about this trap the hard way - so I hope this helps you to feel more calm & confident in following your baby’s rhythms.
How can I make my home safer for a newborn without going overboard?
Claire’s answer might come as a surprise - and a relief:
The safest place for a newborn is near you.
With this in mind, keeping your newborn safe becomes less about buying specialized products and more about supporting closeness. A newborn’s needs are simple - you don’t need elaborate setups or expensive gear.
Some helpful ideas include:
Creating cozy spots where you can comfortably hold your baby during the day
Setting up your bed or a bassinet according to safe sleep guidelines
Preparing your “postpartum village” so you can stay close to your baby without feeling isolated
As Claire says, a baby’s primary environment is you. This aligns beautifully with research on the benefits of skin-to-skin and the motherbaby dyad.
👉 See also: Free Postpartum Prep Checklist
How do I set up my bedroom to make night feeds easier?
Night feeding can feel intimidating during pregnancy. The truth? Night feeds are designed to be simple and sustainable - especially if you are breastfeeding.
A few gentle reminders she shares:
You don’t need bright lights or a full setup.
A soft, warm night light is enough to help you see without disrupting sleep.
Keeping your baby close (in a sidecar crib, bedside bassinet, or safely bedsharing) prevents long wake-ups.
Many modern sleep expectations tell parents that babies must sleep far from them. But when babies sleep in another room, parents often spend 30+ minutes awake for each feed - getting up, turning on lights, settling the baby again. Claire points out that this is not how humans evolved to feed babies at night.
Keeping your baby close is not only safest - it supports better rest for both of you.
Want the full conversation?
This blog post gives you the highlights, but the episode dives deeper into newborn biology, light cues, sleep pressure, closeness, and practical ways to design a postpartum environment that feels nourishing rather than stressful.
🎧 Listen to the full episode of the Postpartum Prep Podcast for all the details, examples, and supportive nuance.
If you’d like to submit questions for future Q&A episodes, be sure to join my email newsletter - I always share upcoming Q&A topics there so you can submit your questions. You can join the newsletter here - and you’ll also receive my free postpartum prep checklist as a thank you!
Ceridwen
Welcome back to the Postpartum Prep Podcast. My name is Ceridwen. I'm your podcast host and your guide to preparing for a smoother start to life with your new baby.
Here on the Postpartum Prep Podcast, we talk about all things, newborns, feeding, sleep, postpartum recovery, all the things. And today on the podcast, we're joined by Claire Fagan. Claire, can you give us just a very brief introduction to you?
Claire
Yes, absolutely. Hi everybody. My name is Claire Fagan.
I'm happy to be here. Um, I am a doula, a childbirth educator, a biological infant sleep educator, and I am also the founder of Regenerative Motherhood, which, um, we have a full podcast episode on. So go listen to that.
I'm also the mom of a almost two-year-old named Bixby, um, who has been such a great teacher of mine. So I'm happy to be here and share what he taught me about preparing for having a newborn.
Ceridwen
Today, we're talking about setting up a baby-friendly postpartum environment, and we have three questions that were submitted. Um, and Claire is going to answer them for us today from her perspective. Um, I'm super excited to get into it.
So let's start with the first question. This person asks what kind of lighting is best for a newborn and do newborns need a quiet house or is normal noise okay?
Claire
That's such a good question. And, um, the lighting conversation is interesting because it kind of leads us into a conversation about circadian rhythm and how the brain, um, tells the body to wake up and go to sleep and things like that. So, um, what's interesting about humans specifically is that we have, as newborns, we have, we have this like major adjustment period on the, like once we're out of the womb.
So it's not that once we're born, we're just like ready to go. And we're kind of operating at like our full level, but we have just this period of time where we need, um, lots of tender care and attention and safety and closeness for our brains to develop, to start informing our bodies of things like when to go to sleep and when to wake up. What's very interesting about newborns is they just spent life as they know it inside a mostly totally dark place.
So their brains do not understand the concept of light means wake up and dark means go to sleep. Um, and their circadian rhythms or their 24 hour clocks aren't operating like in adults at all until closer to four to six months. Um, so with that being said, it becomes more important around four to six months that you're, um, more aware of what the light is telling your baby's body.
Um, but up until then, I think it's just good hygiene to practice working with light cues, even though your baby will still continue to sleep in what's called a polyphasic sleep pattern, which is where they're on and off sleep all throughout the day and night, whether it's light or whether it's dark. So something that's so important to, um, I think keep in the back of your head is just mimicking what the light inside your house looks like based on what it looks like outside. So if it's dark outside, then keeping light really low and really warm and more, you know, orangey ready amber, um, because that just helps the circadian rhythm kind of clock darkness and therefore, um, sleepy time, rest time, the body, it, you know, the body, when we clock darkness, it starts to produce melatonin and things like that.
Um, at night, that doesn't apply to like blackout blinds. Like, I think that that's an important, uh, piece of the conversation is, you know, just putting your baby in a dark room in the middle of the day. Isn't necessarily going to help them produce melatonin.
It's more in line with the earth's light and dark cycles. So yeah, keeping the house dark on the inside when it's dark outside. And then when it's light outside, like keeping blinds open and, um, keeping the house lively, this isn't going to, um, have major impacts on your newborn when they're newborn, but it's going to set the rhythm of your household for, as your baby starts to catch onto these things when they're closer to four to six months, it's going to just, I think, have the house in a good rhythm to be supporting circadian alignment when it matters.
Ceridwen
Um, I hope that's such opposite advice from what a lot of people say that a lot of people say for every nap, they have to be in a quiet dark room, but actually have you ever seen, do you know basis? Um, Helen ball. Do you know, I don't know, like research that she has done is with like her university, they have a website called basis, baby and infant sleep information, something like that.
They have this really cool graph that shows how, like, um, with sleep pressure when your baby's going into, like, because if they're in like a really dark, quiet space for their naps, they're going to go into a deeper sleep. And so their sleep pressure is going to be, um, it means that at night, they're not going to have as intense sleep pressure because it's like a really cool graph. I'll send it to you because I think you would find it.
I'm sure you'd like it. Um, but yeah, I think it's just, I love what you kind of said about, you know, they don't need to be in this black, all blind quiet because it can mess with not only their circadian rhythm, but sleep pressure as well.
Claire
Totally. And I think noise plays into that as well. Like the rest of the question about, do they need noise, quiet noise, there's a normal house.
Okay. And I think it's just a matter of fostering an environment for deep rest at night and then, and then fostering an environment for just restorative pauses throughout the day. Um, and like, like what you just said, the edge off the edge off, right?
Your baby isn't supposed to go into the deepest sleep of all time during the day. It's just a matter of, yeah, taking the edge off. And so having some noise, um, just to send your baby's body, the message that, you know, it's daytime and we're awake and you don't know that.
And that doesn't mean anything to you, but here's some cues as you start to unfold and become aware and catch on. Um, so yeah, I would say at night, yeah. A quiet, peaceful environment is important, but in the daytime, it's not as important as like to, you don't have to stay home trapped in your house all day, just so that your baby can nap.
Ceridwen
I think that's another thing. Like I found, I thought that I had to, and I literally was like so isolated because I, not only are newborn naps like so unpredictable that you can't really plan any, anything like if you're, if you're trying to make sure that for every nap, they're just in a completely quiet, dark room, um, it means, yeah, that you're spending like all your time in the day in a quiet, dark room. Um, okay.
Our next question is how do I make my home safer for a newborn without overdoing it?
Claire
I think this one's interesting because it's almost like, um, like.
Ceridwen
Like you, maybe like a reality check for like, what is a newborn going to even be doing that could be unsafe?
Claire
Right. Well, I think that the safest thing for a newborn to be is near you. Um, so it's almost like, how do you, you can, you know, there's certain things that you can do in your home and for your home and to your home to make it so that it's very comfortable for you to be with your baby.
Yeah. So like, um, you know, whether that's maybe, you know, you don't need to get like the most expensive bassinet or crib or whatever. Um, but if you maybe get a nice arm chair that feels really, really good for you and your baby to be in during the day so that you can have a guest over, but still be comfortable in the living room or, um, maybe making your bed and environment that's safe for your baby in accordance to safe sleep guidelines or something like that.
But like, it's really about like the, what is safe for a newborn is to have the next best thing to being in the womb, which is to being on you in a womb-like environment. Um, so it's almost like you kind of don't need anything at all. You don't need to go out and buy anything at all, but, um, creating a, a, a place of comfortability for that closeness, I think is important.
And, you know, um, setting up your, your postpartum village to, to support you to be able to stay close, I think, but your baby doesn't need anything but you.
Ceridwen
No, I love, actually, do you, do you know Nils Bergman? No. Oh my gosh.
I need to, I'm sorry. I'm like such a nerd. This is why I love it.
Nils Bergman, he's the guy that's done like, Oh, like you must've heard of kangaroo care as a doula.
Claire
No, but I, I mean, with the kangaroo having a pocket, I think I can, I think.
Ceridwen
Yeah, you can understand how it's basically like in, in the NICU kangaroo cares about, um, it's like kangaroo care terminology is specifically used for NICUs where babies are, we want to basically keep them in skin to skin as much as possible. Um, and Nils Bergman has done a lot of research on this, but also, um, he talks about how the mother is the environment for the baby, which I feel is just kind of what you've said. Um, and so the next question that we have, and this is going to be our last question for today.
Oh, also, by the way, you mentioned about safe, safe sleep guidelines for anyone listening. We did, I did recently do an episode on safe sleep guidelines, which was episode 19, that you can go back and listen to that, um, for the last question that we have for Claire today is how should I set my bedroom up to make night feeds easier?
Claire
I love this question because, because I love that night feeds, and I'm sure you could go on and on about this as somebody who is like passionate about lactation, but I feel like night feeds are designed to be so easy. Just the inherent design of them is one of such ease and one that is so sustainable because you have what you need if you're breastfeeding. Right.
And of course there's other considerations to take if you're not. Um, but I think that like one thing that can make night feeds easier is just remembering that like, um, you don't need to be up and have lights on and make like a, a thing of it, like it can be so simple and it can be so quiet. And, um, I think one thing just going back to the circadian rhythm is just having a warm, low light that allows you to see what you need to see without it really being disruptive to your circadian rhythm or sending your baby the message that it's, you know, not time for sleep.
Um, but I think that that one thing is just remembering that despite a lot of narratives around what, what you need to, to mother, what you need to, to have in your room at night, whatever. Um, just remembering that like there is an inherent design and it is one of ease and closeness. And, um, and you don't need to buy like a whole bunch of things to make it easier.
And, you know, especially like, I think often about how the, the narrative right now is like, okay, your baby shouldn't sleep with you. They need to sleep elsewhere. And so when our babies are sleeping elsewhere, but they're waking up for a feed as mothers, we're needing to rise out of bed, go into our baby's rooms, get them out of the crib, turn on a light, sit in a chair, wait till they're done feeding, put them back in the crib.
Maybe they don't go back in the crib. So we're out of bed for 30 plus minutes. Right.
Whereas, um, I think that that was never the design that's not sustainable. We can't, you know, that's not sustainable longterm. And that's when we start having to turn to interventions such as sleep training or, um, you know, outsourcing nighttime feeding or, um, all different gadgets that cost a lot of money.
And I think just remembering that. What your baby needs is you and nutrition. However, you're feeding your baby, um, is what's most important.
And it really is part of our evolution to sleep together and to be close to each other, and even if you're not bed sharing, like just having your baby so, so close that it's a matter of reaching over and grabbing them, um, that's okay. And that's safe. And that's, um, that's how it was meant to be.
Right. And so just remembering the inherent ease of that and allowing, allowing that, like trusting yourself and trusting your baby so that, so that it can be easy as it was meant to be, and it is sustainable as it was meant to be. I think it's important.
Ceridwen
I don't know.
Claire
That's again, too vague, but no, I love it.
Ceridwen
And I think it, um, in our last episode, we talked to, or sorry, not, not our last episode in the, uh, sleep safety guidelines episode, we talked all about the importance of closeness and connection and how, even if you're not bed sharing, there's, there's other ways to keep your baby close. That doesn't have to mean they're in a crib halfway across the room or in another room, you can, um, you know, a sidecar bassinet or, um, one of those bassinets that you pull over your bed, something like that can really help. And then, um, most, I would say the easiest for some people is just bed sharing.
And, um, but again, making sure that you're set up to do so safely.
Claire
Right.
Ceridwen
Yeah. That's awesome. Thank you so much, Claire, for answering these questions for us today.
Before we end this episode, could you just tell us for anyone listening where they can find you, if they'd like to learn more about you?
Claire
Yes. My Instagram is my name, Claire Fagan, at Claire Fagan, and then my website is regenerativemotherhood.com.
Ceridwen
Awesome. Thank you so much for those of you listening. Please be sure to check out the last episode that I did with Claire.
We talked all about how to make mothering your baby just so nourishing for you as well as for your baby. And it's just an episode I'm so excited to have on this podcast. So make sure you go listen to it.
Thank you, Claire, so much for joining us today. If you want to submit any questions for an upcoming Q and A episode, I will always share in my email newsletter the week before I'm recording. I always share the topic for that week's Q and A in my email newsletter.
So if you're not already subscribed to my email newsletter, I'll make sure to link it in the show notes or in the episode description below so you can join. Thanks again, Claire, for being here today. For those of you listening, I will see you in the next episode.
Bye for now.