How to baby proof your home

Babyproofing your home is an important part of bringing up your child safely – more specifically, when your tiny person starts being able to move of their own accord. There may be many things that are a hazard to your child, but they just haven’t occurred to you as such.

Babies usually start crawling at eight months, and will then start pulling on things to help them stand and eventually walk. The first thing that you should do is to take a baby’s eye view, and get down to their level. Think about what is in reach, and what looks tempting. This should help you to figure out which drawers and cupboards that you child might get into.

These are the things that you should consider:

• Make sure cleaning products, medicines, vitamins, etc are out of reach and locked away.
• Protect plug sockets with covers. If you can, replace any sockets with ones that include a safety latch. 
• Bolt heavy furniture, such as bookcases, TV sets, appliances, to the wall so it cannot be pulled over. Try to ensure that pieces are bottom heavy, with heavier items at the bottom of the bookcase. 
• Cover sharp corners of furniture, taking particular care with coffee tables and hearth edges.
• Use safety gates for anywhere that you don’t want your child to go. For instance, you could use them on external doors, doors to the bathroom and at top of the stairs. 
• Shorten curtain and blind pull cords. These can strange children if a child becomes entangled in the strings. If you can, avoid placing your baby’s crib near a window, and either cut off, use cord shorteners or wind ups to keep the pull cords well out of reach. 
• Check that windows are closed and secure when you let your child in a room. If you have to open them, open them from the top, and windows that open from the bottom should have window stops on them so they don’t open more than four inches. 
• Water safety is really important at home, as accidental drowning is one of the leading causes of death for children aged 1-4. Never leave your child unattended in the bath, and install a safety latch on your toilet. 

If you rent, then you may have to come up with alternative solutions to some of these suggestions; you can find some helpful tips detailed in this post from Homelet. 

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