Preparing your home for a newborn baby can prove to be quite the task. Between collecting all the necessary items required (diapers, clothing, baby food, etc.) and fool proofing your home against possible injuries, one of the more important items your new family needs is furniture designed for your baby. In particular, this is means finding the right baby crib.

While finding a suitable wooden baby crib might not be that difficult, you might run into some issues when deciding how to design the crib. Wanting it to still have some sense of aesthetic — color matching the tone of the room, you’ll likely have to look into paint for your baby’s crib. But the question emerges, what is the best paint for baby cribs?

Figuring our just what is the best paint for baby cribs can prove to be a large order, but the basic answer relies on using baby safe paint. Otherwise, you want to look into ordering what would be considered to be low VOC paint or non toxic spray paint.

You might be asking yourself just what is VOC paint? VOC paint stands for ‘volatile organic compound’ paint, which means that chemical compounds are released from the paint and into the air while you are painting. As reported by CBC Marketplace, VOC levels over 500 ppb (parts per billion) can cause health issues for people with chemical sensitivities. While low VOC paint might be more preferred in use, there are zero VOC paints available in the market. Now, that’s not to say that these paints are completely harmless, as the process of applying color/tint to paint causes chemicals to be present.

Like VOCs, take the time to search for paints that feature no traces of propylene glycol and glycol ethers (PGEs), as studies have shown that PGE-exposure can increase the development of or worsen the affects of asthma, eczema, and rhinitis in young children.

If you’re also thinking about repainting the floor in your child’s room, you might want to consider the use of a VOC-free paint, simply to ensure that the least amount of chemicals will be present. These paints, similar tot the best paint for baby cribs, will use organic compounds that stray from harmful chemicals. When painting wood, there are a number of types of paint that you’ll want to use, between stains and varnishes.

These paints will protect the face of the floors for time to come, with pre stain conditioner preventing stain from being coated unevenly, stain giving the wood a specific shade of color (complimentary to the room), and varnish acting as a polyurethane clear coat that will protect the stain.

When considering the best paint for baby cribs, you should be searching for paints that minimize the exposure of chemicals to your newborn child. Ensure that you provide a defense for them from the start, opting to use safer paints at all times within your home.