A baby entering your home is an exciting time. It involves lots of changes and joyful experiences. It also means that it is time to baby-proof your home in order to keep your child healthy and safe. My number one rule of baby-proofing your home is to do the babyproofing before your baby needs it. It is very easy to lose track of time in the first few months after having a baby, therefore taking these steps early is essential to make sure it isn’t forgotten.
Here are a few important things to remember in order to baby-proof your home:
- Mount furniture and tv/other electronics to the walls: Infants, toddlers, and children are notorious for attempting to pull up on furniture and climb on furniture. These pieces that are not secured to the wall are at risk for tipping over and causing life threatening injuries to your child.
- Cover electrical outlets with safety covers: This will prevent little fingers, toes, and objects from being inserted into the outlet and causing electrocution.
- Safety locks and risky items: Place safety locks on cabinets and drawers that hold potentially dangerous items. This includes cabinets that hold cleaning products, sharp utensils, alcohol, batteries, and/or medication. Children with access to household cleaners run the risk of ingesting these toxic substances. Aside from locking cabinets, it is best to keep these items high up and out of reach when possible
- Water safety: All toilets should have child-safe lid latch in order to prevent toddlers and young children from accidentally tipping into toilet and drowning. Remember-a child can drown in less than 2 inches of water! Additionally, if you have a swimming pool or hot tub, this should have a sturdy fence around with a locked gate to prevent drowning as well. Also, set your water heater max temperature to 120 degrees farenheight in order to prevent
- Corner covers: Cover sharp corners on tables, counters, and shelves with padded corner covers to prevent bumps, bruises, and cuts from these.
- Blinds: Remove cords from blinds or place blinds cords out of reach-these pose a strangulation risk.
- Stairs: Place a gate at top AND bottom of stairs to prevent falls. Gates can also be used to block off rooms that children should not enter.
- Houseplants: Ensure that all plants in home are non-toxic-kids like to put everything in their mouths!
- Burn risks: Fireplaces, radiators, heating vents need to be covered/gated in order to prevent accidental burns. Additionally, use stove knobs to prevent toddlers and children from accidentally turning on the stove.
These are only a few of the important things to remember when babyproofing your home. As always, consult with your pediatrician regarding questions or concerns!
Little Spurs Pediatric Urgent Care opened in 2006 in San Antonio, Texas. With multiple locations in San Antonio and Dallas, they are open seven days a week with extended evening hours and see walk-in patients or through an online check-in system. They accept most commercial insurance and Medicaid plans.
