Making Your Home Safe for Babies – What to Remove and Secure

When you first bring home your newborn, there’s a lot of emotion – and if it’s your first baby, there’s a lot of confusion and preparation to consider. It can be difficult to expect every little change and mishap, but babies must be given plenty of accommodations to ensure their safety in and around the home. This is especially true as they begin to crawl and walk; one wrong turn and a potentially hazardous accident can occur if you are not taking the proper steps to make the home secure. While you may take some more common steps – such as buying them soft baby toys – what dangers are often overlooked but need to be addressed? We’ll discuss these potentials in the following article and help you remove/secure the items that need to be removed and secured to guarantee safety.

Bathrooms

The bathroom can be a very dangerous place for infants and toddlers when proper precautions are not taken. One of the most uncommon dangers in the bathroom include razors and scissors, both of which have sharp edges and can end up cutting a baby’s delicate skin with even the slightest touch. The toilet is another; a baby can drown in just a small amount of water, so it’s important to keep it secured. Smaller items such as cosmetics, Q-tips and cotton swabs can also create dangerous conditions for choking or injury. We recommend that the bathroom be blocked off from any baby or toddler’s playing or roaming area, just to be safe.

Living Rooms

With so many forms of entertainment and pleasure in the living room, it isn’t surprising that there are dangers awaiting your infants and toddlers. Soft baby toys should always be present in the room to distract young children from other items (find great solutions on Gumtree), but you must also take measures to secure these dangers. VCR and DVD players are a natural magnet for children who want to poke and prod; you can procure a VCR lock and ensure that these are placed out of the reach of children. Curtains and blinds can also be a hazard – by purchasing child safety blinds, this can be avoided. Bookcases are another huge liability, as children may try to climb or pull items off of it, only to wind up toppling the entire structure.

Kitchens

A variety of dangers also exist in the kitchen, so be prepared to remove or secure some items. Refrigerator magnets are a great example of something that can be removed and swallowed. Kitchen utensils such as knives and forks should be kept away from kids by ensuring that they are high enough away from the ground that they cannot reach them or pull entire drawers of items like these down upon them. Cleaning supplies are another huge item that must be secured at all costs; with so many chemicals and toxic agents in many, you’ll want to ensure that these are under lock and key.

While many people think of soft baby toys and large cribs to keep their kids safe in the first months and years, ensuring that elements throughout the home are not within reach plays an equal role. Your kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms must be inspected for dangerous situations whenever a new addition arrives in the home. These quick checks will help guarantee safety for your family.

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