All About Baby Proofing Your Home

My friend always complains that her 10 month old grandson has made her life stressful, what with his pulling at the table cloth and trying to stick his chubby little finger in all electrical sockets. This made me feel that the parents are to be blamed. Just like planning for cribs, playpens, toys, baby blankets and prams, it was equally important to baby proof the house and provide for safety aspect.

Baby proofing the home requires attention to: 

Crib: Ensure that the mattress in the baby’s crib fits snugly and has no open spaces between the mattress and the end of the crib; this helps prevent suffocation due to the baby’s head slipping in the gap between the mattress and the crib. Next ensure that the crib’s slats are close enough to prevent the head of the newborn being caught between them; you could accomplish it with bumpers or thin, lightly padded mats that are tied to the walls of the crib. Ensure you cut the bumper ties short to prevent the baby from being entangled in the long bows. When the baby is big enough to get up on his/her own consider removing the bumpers that could act as support for the baby to get out from the crib.

Bedding: Neither soft mattresses nor soft toys are meant for babies; ensure you use a firm mattress. Also cute stuffed toys in the crib could suffocate the newborn whose head gets under a stuffed toy and he/she will be unable to move it off by himself/herself. 

Balconies: This is another important area; ensure that the walls of the balcony are high enough that your crawling baby cannot reach its edge; if the walls are low it is time you consider making them higher. In case you do not want to block view, it would help to add decorative wrought iron rods to extend the height of the wall. Next ensure that you do not keep anything near the wall of the balcony that could aid the baby climbing on to it. You could also consider enclosing the balcony if it is very small and you do not use it. 

Grills: Another very important aspect; its time you add grills to the window of your home if you already don’t have it. Most toddlers like to climb up and look through windows, with windows not grilled proving to be a death trap.

Gates: The next important aspect of baby safety that applies to homes that have stairs; it would help to place a gate at the top of the stairs that would prevent tumbling down of the toddler. Ensure that the gate is not only shut, but also latched at all times; it is best to use latches that click and shut in place than a manual latch that could be unlatched due to human error and negligence. 

Medicines: Make sure medicines are kept out of the reach of children; toddlers may take a bright colored pill for something delicious and may pop it into his/her mouth.  


Have you baby proofed your home?