We now have a crawling, climbing and standing little dude, which means we need eyes in the back of our head and are always on high alert as to where he is and what he is up to. He literally never stops moving at the moment, unless he is eating or asleep. We don’t intend to do a lot of baby proofing around our home but we have started to put a few basic precautions in place, such as baby gates and cupboard locks. So here are a few tips to help you start baby proofing your home so its safe for your little ones and their adventurous and curious nature.
Assess Your Home
While you may not have thought twice about kitchen cupboards, stair gates and childproof locks when it was just the two of you all that’s changed! Children have microscopic awareness when it comes to danger, and can hurt themselves on the most innocuous of objects. Before you begin to baby-proof you’ll need to think about just how safe your home is. Are there smoke and carbon monoxide alarms fitted in every room? Do you have emergency numbers? Do your appliances have automatic safety switches?
Stairs
It’s best to get into the habit of closing stair gates when kids are tiny so that by the time they can run around it’ll all be second nature. Believe it or not, each year over 100,000 children are taken to the emergency room having fallen down stairs at home, or having pushed open a stair gate. Make sure you install a mounted gate with bars that’s impossible for kids to open by themselves.
Kitchen
Kids tend to wander into the kitchen all the time even when they’ve been told not to! Avoid any accidents by making sure your kitchen is as child-friendly as possible. Make sure that heavy plates, bowls or cookware are placed in higher cupboards so inquisitive children can’t bring anything crashing down on them. Reorganize your cleaning products as all kitchen sprays, detergents, and even laundry powder needs to be moved to the highest shelves. Pop things that are child-friendly low down, i.e., plastic cups, paper plates, kitchen roll and tea towels that’ll cause minimal harm.
Bathroom
Never leave your child alone in your bathroom for a single second as babies and toddlers can drown in a few inches of water. Avoid having any electrical items such as hairdryers in the room, and make sure that any electric heated towel rail you have is set to warm, instead of hot as a child could easily burn themselves while reaching for a bath sheet. It may also be worth buying a toilet lock as it’ll keep curious kids putting anything valuable i.e. Money, phones, wallets and keys down there as well as stopping them from constantly flushing the lever.
Living Room
First things first make sure that any outlets or plug sockets that can be reached by a child are covered with a plastic guard as well as removing any furniture with very sharp edges. Children are clumsy little people at the best of times so it’s important you reduce the chances of an injury occurring. Kids also love to climb on furniture so make sure you don’t leave your sofa next to an open window where they could fall out. Securely fasten furniture to the wall as free standing book shelves are extremely dangerous and can crush a child in seconds.
*This is a collaborative post