Babyproofing-101
Oct 05 '01
The Bottom Line This is an epinion on HOW to babyproof your home, things from personal experience from a mother of 3.
As a mother of three children, I've learned a few things about "baby proofing" the house. "Baby Proofing" is an odd term, it leads you to think you're protecting your house from the baby, and while this is in part necessary, the main objective is to protect the baby from ordinary things in your house that you might not even think about.
The task gets considerably more difficult with each child you have, and further complicated if you also have pets in the home because it's really difficult to control what might be left lying around by the other members of the household.
Lets just get started from the beginning and work from there.
Experts will advise you to get down on all fours and REALLY look and what's lurking within reach of your baby. This includes everything that's within two feet of the floor. Take this advise seriously. Get down on your hands and knees in every room of your house and spend several minutes, notebook in hand, looking around the entire room. Make notes of what you see that you need to take care of. *Do this while your baby is still immobile, because even a pre-crawler can roll around and find danger. Keep in mind that EVERYTHING is new and fascinating to a young child. Things you've seen a million times you might not think about your baby noticing, but trust me, they'll notice everything. Some people even provide baby-proofing services; they will come and inspect your home and make suggestions.
Electrical Outlets
One of the first and most obvious things to keep in mind is electrical outlets. Buy a few packages of outlet covers and plug up any unused outlets immediately. It is also a good idea to carry a few outlet covers in your diaper bag for those places that you may visit with baby. My oldest son once tried to stick a car key into a hospital outlet while visiting his great grandmother.
My youngest baby is now 13 months old, and just today she became interested in an outlet that had two things plugged in it. Even though I have three children I don't always handle things correctly. I told her "No!" and I removed her, which only increased her curiosity and stimulated her sense of independence and made this become a battle between us. An older child can understand when you explain that this is a dangerous thing better left alone, but an infant or toddler has to be protected. At her age, and with her personality, I should have just removed her and distracted her each time without increasing it's appeal to her.
If at all possible, outlets which are in use should be harder to get to. For instance, if you have more than one option on plugging in a lamp or appliance that is going to stay plugged in constantly, try to find the outlet that is completely covered by the couch or table. When this is not possible, keep the cords pulled up out of reach and secure the plugs by buying the locking kind of outlet cover.
There are a large variety of brands and products to suit your needs and they are available in baby stores, grocery stores, and hardware stores.
The Family Room
There are many dangers in the family room. We have a fireplace in ours, and when my first baby was less than six months old I ordered a custom fit padded hearth bumper guard for it. It has been in place for 9 years now. I have a friend who is more creative and she and her husband made their own from wood, foam covering, and vinyl. Sure enough, the day mine arrived in the mail, my baby had learned how to crawl up onto the brick hearth. You might want to use a collection of pillows or stuffed animals to further protect your baby from the bricks.
I could go on and on about fireplaces themselves. You need to be very careful during the months that you might use the fireplace. Buy a screen even if you have glass doors that cover the fireplace. Baby number one burned the backs of his fingers by grazing them just ever so briefly against the hot glass. Baby number two actually got close enough to have a spark fly out and touch his pajamas before we bought the screen (we had not used the fireplace between the time of the burned fingers and then- a span of several years). Keep firewood and all fire starting equipment put away. Keep the tools needed for the fireplace out of reach.
Do you have "clutter areas" in your living room? Boy, I do. And, as time goes by, these areas get worse. When we had baby number one, the babyproofing was easier. Periodically take inventory of your living spaces and keep the lower shelves really safe and free of not only breakables and dangerous objects, but those things you wanted to keep secure, because if it's within reach it's fair game : )
When baby number one became mobile, life as we knew it changed. All the cute little knickknacks went bye bye, or at least up high. For your baby's safety, please don't be fooled into thinking that just simply saying "NO" is going to work. My mother and I (my childcare provider) had many an argument about this. She didn't want to change a thing in her home. While I do believe a baby needs to learn the meaning of "No!", I think it's going to be an easier job if you don't have to use the word every time the baby explores something in his environment. There are definitely going to be things you have to say "No!" about and be very consistent and very strong in meaning it. However, keep in mind that it's a baby's nature, and indeed his JOB to explore his environment. Your job is to make it safe to do so.
Before my baby was born, we worked so hard to make our new home "cute." We installed many blinds and new curtains, etc. The curtains, the ones that were those half size curtains the only went from half way down the window to the floor, came down. The coffee table went bye bye after the baby repeatedly his head on the corners and climbed on it. *You can purchase rubber corner protectors for coffee tables, and you can even find elastic padded bumpers to go around tables of all shapes and sizes.
Cords to blinds need to be pulled up and secured away from baby. There have been cases of children being strangled to death from accidentally getting tangled up in these cords. The blinds themselves are very dangerous and need to be closely monitored.
*Speaking of monitoring, let me say this now, nothing takes the place of parental supervision! Even after you think you have baby proofed every possible danger, there will still be danger.
Babies will begin to climb once they've mastered crawling and walking. We once followed our second baby into the bathroom to find him in the sink! Baby watching actually slacks off when there is more than one adult in the home, because you think the other one is watching the baby; not always the case! My 13 month old is always climbing on things and then calling for assistance to get down. Keeping this in mind, you want to also make certain that things that your baby can reach from climbing on something else are free from immediate hazards; such as the electrical outlet or appliance dangers.
Just when you think you've really baby proofed, and you have a completely cleaned living room, your baby will pick up a tiny item from the carpet that you've just vacuumed. That's how observant babies are!
Give your living areas a complete once over again after you've already given it your best shot; invite your best friend over to give her opinion. She might have observations you might have missed.
Do you have houseplants? Those provide many hazards. Some plants are poisonous. Did you know that Poinsettias are poisonous? You'll have to take extra precaution when decorating for holidays keeping in mind that these special decorations are going to be especially appealing to your little ones.
Bathrooms and Kitchens
You'll have to be even more careful about electrical things in the kitchen and bath. Get in the habit of unplugging things that are not in use; such as curling irons and hair dryers (and better yet, put them under the sink in the cabinet) and kitchen appliances like coffee makers. Make sure those cords are never dangling when they are left out.
Cleaning products should always be put in cabinets, the higher the better, and with locks! My mother gave me a hard time about installing cabinet locks at her house. I didn't ask her permission, I just did it. She broke fingernails and then removed them all. With baby number two and three I decided to stay home and watch my own children!
Just to be on the safe side, add Syrup of Ipecac to your list of item's to buy for safety. This is the stuff used to produce vomiting in case of accidental ingestion of harmful substances, but be sure to call poison control before administering it because in some cases it is more harmful to give it. I have bought many bottles of this stuff, but thankfully have never had to use it. You need to have a bottle in your diaper bag and your child care provider also needs to have one on hand. The number for poison control is likely on the packaging. Be sure to replace the bottles as they expire. *As with any medication, be sure it is tightly secured (I leave mine in the packaging) and out of reach of children. Another thing that I want to mention is children's medications. Children's dosages will change with their age and weight, and when you aren't sure of the accurate dose please call a pediatric office or your pharmacy for dosing schedules, and follow the instructions exactly. Many pediatric medications really taste good and I know of a child that has had to go to the hospital on two occasions for drinking his medicine from the bottle. I never understood how he got the bottle open in the first place, but he did.
On the subject of medicines, I even made a phone call to my mother's pharmacy to ask them to start putting safety caps on her medicines after my baby was born, because as I've said he spent many hours at her house every week.
Garbage cans need to be emptied frequently and please don't even PUT dangerous items in the bathroom trash cans. They are smaller and easy for young children to get into.
Even things like shampoo and soap need to be kept away from babies. For some reason that I have yet to understand, babies don't seem to think things taste bad that you and I would turn our noses up to. My second baby used to constantly dump out full contents of shampoo bottles and my 13 month old loves to eat soap. These are more annoying than dangerous, but have potential to cause health problems.
Never leave babies and young children alone in the bathroom (she says after disclosing the information in the above paragraph). Even toothpaste is poisonous. You might not have known that, but it is!
You might even buy a lock for the toilet seat. That is really irritating to use, but I've never known a baby that didn't like to play swishy swishy in the potty water. You've heard the horror stories that babies can in fact drown in toilets, and even in an inch of bath water. You can bet the people that has happened to never in a million years would have thought that would happen to THEM.
Keep counters in the bathroom and in the kitchen as tidy as you can. This is a task I find especially difficult, but it really is important. If you can't guarantee that your baby or toddler won't wander into the kitchen or bath, you might want to buy baby gates to go in the doorways of the rooms that you want to keep baby out of. A closed door works best, and even a little hook and eye lock can double the safety of that, but when you have older children in the house often a safety gate will work. These present their own dangers though so I seldom use them... the baby can crawl up it and fall over the top. They can fall from the doorway if not attached extremely securely. I don't have stairs in my home, but if you do, the permanently attached type of gate (swings to open) needs to be installed at both the top and bottom of the stairs. I knew a friend whose baby once went down cement steps into the basement in his baby walker. Thankfully he was OK. *While on the subject of baby equipment, always follow advise on consumer reports on the safety of certain baby items. The use of mobile baby walkers is strongly discouraged. There are constantly recalls on baby products and toys too. If a product you purchase comes with a registration card, do fill it out and mail it so that you can be notified of any safety recalls.
We have recently reached the stage where we have to make certain that all the kitchen chairs are pushed in all the way or we'll find baby standing on the kitchen table.
In the kitchen you might also have to take special precaution to stove knobs, etc. I bought stove knob safety covers, but that only made my baby notice them more, so I took them off. It's all trial and error, even when you've had more than one baby and baby-sat many!
If you have older children you'll have to be extremely watchful of all the little stuff that they will add to the house. I am constantly fishing out bits of crayon or small toy parts from my 13 month old's mouth.
If you have a pet or two, you'll have to be particularly careful about pet supplies, and even the pet itself.
In the baby's room
Yes, you even need to be careful here. Are there things the baby can climb on? Such as the changing table? Is there a rocking chair that might tip over? Have you followed the recommendations on things such as the height of the mattress and things that might pose a threat inside the baby's crib? Are there things on the changing table that now that the baby is older might be dangerous? You constantly have to reevaluate with a small child.
Play room
OK, this is a REAL toughie. In our house we have a playroom. Try as we might, it is not an area that the baby can go and play without adult supervision. Since I have children of large range in age, I have pulled infant and toddler toys into the living room area where smaller children can play with supervision, while the rest of the toys are housed in the playroom. This doesn't mean that the baby doesn't want to go in there, and it doesn't mean that small things will STAY in that room (or be put up after they children have played with them).
It's a constant struggle to try to keep baby safe. Our front door might as well be a turn style. I'm always reminding the older kids to close the screen door completely or the baby will just push it and go outside. This formerly "cute" little house has really changed. The deck on the front of the house was enclosed first so that it provided a second stage of safety beyond the front door. After baby number two, the entire front of the house was fenced in. So, if a baby escapes onto the porch, then outside the porch, she is still enclosed inside the fence.
I apologise for my thoughts really being scattered in this epinion. It's harder to write now that I have three little ones to watch while I sit here!
I'll likely add to and tidy up this epinion as I've had time to digest it myself. If you have comments on it, please email me! I know this is really long, but I wanted to be very complete in this case.
I was asked if I'd like to be interviewed on the subject of baby proofing and this was how I wanted to organize my thoughts.
Thanks for reading!
~Lisa
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