|
|
 |
|
WOMEN'S & CHILDREN'S | Family Maternity Center | Pregnancy Resource Center | Pregnancy Library | Baby Health | Childproofing Your Home: Plan ahead to keep baby safe
Childproofing Your Home: Plan ahead to keep baby safe
It's true: Most accidents happen at home. The good news is that many accidents involving young children are completely preventable. While you're dreaming about your baby's hair color and what to name him or her, keep your hands busy making your home safe.
Here are more than a dozen tips to start you on your safety journey. Many steps aren't really necessary until after baby starts crawling, but now is a good time to start preparing.
- Install safety latches and locks on cabinets and drawers. This will keep your child away from medications, household cleaners and knives and other objects in your home that may be sharp and dangerous.
- Install window guards and safety netting for balconies and decks. There should be no more than four inches between the bars of the window guard. If you have window guards, there must be at least one window in each room that can be used easily for escape in a fire. Be sure the latches and locks you install are sturdy enough to withstand the pulls and tugs of children.
- Safety gates can keep children away from rooms with hazards or from climbing stairs. Make sure to get gates that a child can't move easily, but that adults can open and close without difficulty. For the gate at the top of the stairs, use the kind that is screwed to the wall rather than the pressure gates; they're safer.
- Install doorknob covers and door locks to keep children away from rooms with hazards, including swimming pools.
- Corner and edge bumpers can be used with furniture and fireplace hearths to prevent injuries or to soften falls against sharp or rough edges.
- Cover electrical outlets and plates to keep children safe from electrical shock.
- Consider a carbon monoxide detector to prevent CO poisoning. These should be installed near the sleeping area of your home. You need one if you use gas or oil heat or have an attached garage.
- Safety tassels on window blinds can prevent strangulation from the loops of cords. For older miniblinds, cut the cord loop, remove the buckle and put safety tassels on each cord. When you buy new miniblinds, verticals or draperies, ask for safety features to prevent strangulation.
- Set your water heater temperature to 120 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent burns from hot water.
- Make sure you have a smoke detector on every level of your home, especially near your bedrooms. They need to be in working order with good batteries and need to be tested monthly.
- Doorstops and door holders can help prevent little fingers from being crushed or pinched.
- Consider a cordless phone. This way you can watch your child all of the time without having to leave to answer a phone call. They are especially good to have at bath time when you must never leave a child to answer the telephone.
Other baby-safe tips to keep in mind:
- Keep toys with long strings or cords away from infants or young children. Pacifiers should never be attached to ribbons or cords around a baby's neck.
- Avoid all foods that can cause choking in a young child including popcorn, grapes, foods with pits, raisins, nuts, hard candies, raw vegetables, and small pieces of hotdogs.
- Keep the crib clear of plastic sheets, pillows and large stuffed animals or toys. These are suffocation hazards.
- The National Safety Council says that infants should not be placed on an adult bed of any kind (without supervision) because of the danger of suffocation.
Date last reviewed: October 2002.
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|