• Babies
• Building a Family
• Children
• General Parenting
• Newborns
• Teenagers
• Toddlers
• Pregnancy

Childproofing Your Home

Fire and electric outlet child-proofing

Childproofing Your Home

Danger is your baby's middle name. As she begins to crawl throughout your home in search of new adventures and discoveries, she will invent new ways of getting herself into trouble. You and your partner need to serve as your young adventurer's scouting party: Explore the terrain first and eliminate anything that poses a serious threat to your baby's health and safety.

Fire Fighters

Babyproofing

Never ever leave your child alone in a room with a space heater or an electric fan on. For that matter, don't even leave him alone if the space heater or fan is off, unless you have unplugged it and put an outlet cover over the electric outlet.

Do you have a working smoke detector on every floor of your home? You should. Fire safety depends on early warning and planning for an emergency. If you haven't yet mapped out fire escape routes from every room of your home, do it now. You should also keep a fire extinguisher in your kitchen and perhaps one on every other floor of your home, too.

You have to have heat in your home, but heat sources can sometimes get very hot themselves, posing a serious risk of burning. The most dangerous source of heat is a portable space heater. Don't use one at all if possible. If you really need a space heater, avoid the type that features electric bars or coils that will attract your baby with their glowing reddish-orange color.

Any open radiators also pose a danger. In the winter, they get scorching hot, so get guards or covers that will keep your baby's hands away from them. If you have a fireplace, make sure the fire screen fits securely into place. Store fireplace matches on the mantle and other matches high out of your baby's reach.

Shock Treatment

Q-tip

Carry some outlet covers in your baby's diaper bag so that you can use them for any extended visits with grandparents or friends who don't have babies of their own.

Electric outlets pose a significant danger because most are located right at the level of your crawling baby's eyes. Make it impossible for her to shock herself (or worse) by sticking anything in an outlet. Any outlet not being used should be shielded with a plastic outlet cover. Outlets that are used can also be protected from your baby's curiosity. Special outlet safety boxes that fit over both the plug and the outlet will prevent your baby from pulling the plug.

Loose electric cords can also be hazardous. If your crawler's hands or feet get tangled up in the cord, she can unwittingly pull a lamp or other appliance down on top of her. If she can grab a loose cord, she can also deliberately pull a clock or iron down from a table or counter. Even more dangerous, your baby may suck or chew on an exposed electric cord-which can cause shocks, serious burns, and even start a fire.

Keep all electric cords out of reach if possible. Thread them behind furniture and under rugs as much as you can. Those that need to remain exposed should be secured with tape or special electric cord staples. You can also tie up any excess length of cord with rubber bands.

If an electric cord looks cracked or frayed, replace it immediately. Make sure the rest of the electrical system is safe and up-to-date, too. All electric outlets and appliance cords should be grounded (use three-holed sockets for three-pronged plugs).

Blocking and locking

Bye-Bye Boo-Boos

As you crawl around the floors babyproofing, check all furniture for sharp corners. You can fit any furniture that has low sharp corners with rubber or soft plastic "bumpers" that will round and cushion their impact. Don't forget to check and bumper the corners on the underside of furniture as well. Until after her first birthday, your baby is much more likely to smash her head on the underside of furniture than crash into the top.

You might also choose to put certain pieces of furniture, especially low, glass-topped tables, into storage for a few years. Other objects you may want to consider putting into storage or moving are table lamps, fragile decorative items, and anything else that might get broken by and/or injure your child. Pay special attention to the items you normally keep on end tables, coffee or cocktail tables, and bedside tables or nightstands.

Although your crawler doesn't have far to fall yet-and the many times she's planted her face in the carpet show that she can fall without injury-she will not be just a crawler for long. When she starts using legs of chairs, tables, and people to pull herself to standing, her falls can become more damaging. Rugs and carpets can help soften your baby's falls as she begins to practice standing. Pillows can also cushion the blow, but may also cause your baby to fall as she gains a little mobility while standing.

Blocking and Locking

Q-tip

A pressure gate will fit in almost any standard doorway. This adaptability makes a pressure gate ideal for temporarily blocking your crawler out of certain rooms that you want to keep off limits.

Q-tip

You can encourage your child to improve his skill at climbing up and down stairs by investing in either a playroom set of sturdy wooden steps or a baby slide that has three or four steps.

Stairs can cause the most serious falls. So whenever you're not there to spot your baby as he crawls up the stairs, you need to make them totally inaccessible. Install two safety gates on every set of stairs in your house (unless the staircase is behind a locked door): one at the top and one at the bottom. Of course, your baby is not about to fall up the stairs, but most babies love to climb. If you don't put a safety gate at the bottom of the stairs, your crawler may climb all the way up and risk falling all the way down.

At the bottom of the stairs, you can install either a latched gate or a pressure gate. But never use a pressure gate, which expands to fit snugly between a newel post and a wall, at the top of a flight of stairs. A baby who falls against a pressure gate or uses it to pull himself to standing may cause it to pop loose. If this happens at the bottom of the stairs, it's no big deal. You'll no doubt hear the crash, turn to see your baby lying on top of the gate, and put it back in place. But if a pressure gate pops loose at the top of the stairs, it will come crashing down the stairs with your baby right behind it. So take the trouble to install a latched gate at the top of every staircase.

Open stairways are particularly dangerous for crawlers (and for toddlers as well), so install banisters on any open stairways to prevent your baby from falling over the edge. With any banister, make sure that all railings are no more than four inches apart so that your baby doesn't get his head wedged between them.

When your baby does crawl or climb upstairs, make sure you stay right behind him, with your hands and arms ready to catch him, every step of the way. Then when he wants to come down the stairs, try to teach your baby how to come down safely by crawling backwards. Again, stay right below your toddler at all times on the stairs. Also, your baby will have enough trouble getting up and down stairs without having to negotiate an obstacle course, so try not to use the stairway as a way station for "things to go upstairs."

If you can get yourself into the habit of using them, locks can also keep certain dangers off limits. Basement doors (including outside storm doors), garage doors, workshop doors, and tool shed doors should be kept locked at all times. Your baby cannot open an unlocked door yet, but getting into the habit of locking doors prepares you for the day (probably some time during his second or third year) when he can open a door. It also provides you with the certainty of knowing that you have indeed remembered to pull the door shut. Use safety locks (or rubber bands or bungee cords) on the doors of any cabinets or drawers that contain things your baby should not regard as playthings.

Try not to lock up every cabinet or drawer. Leave a few, perhaps those with pots and pans or plastic measuring cups and plastic cookie cutters, open for your infant to explore. First make sure, however, that everything you put in these cabinets or drawers will be safe in the hands (and mouth) of your baby.

Window and kitchen child-proofing

Window Treatments

Q-tip

In many cities, owners of apartment buildings are required by law to install window safety grates in the apartments of tenants with small children. If you live in an upper-story apartment, ask the owner of the building to do so.

Windows, like doors, should remain locked to prevent your baby from opening them, whether by accident or on purpose, and falling out. In the summertime, however, you will of course need to keep many windows open most of the time. But you can still take one of the following steps to protect your baby from the danger of falling:

• Open only the top halves of windows rather than the bottom halves, if possible.
• On upper-story windows, consider installing window grates that make falls next to impossible.
• Install special window guards that prevent windows from being opened more than four inches.

Finally, make sure that you make it a practice to shorten or tie up all cords of window shades, blinds, and drapes so that they never dangle down to where your baby can reach them. Your baby could easily get tangled or strangled in these kinds of loose cords.

Someone's in the Kitchen

Babyproofing

Stoves, ovens, toaster ovens, coffee makers, irons, and pots and pans all retain heat long after you've stopped using them. So keep them well out of your baby's reach until you're sure they've cooled down enough to touch safely.

What do you do in the kitchen? You cook. So what's the greatest risk to your child in the kitchen? Burning, of course. To reduce the risk of burns, start with this basic rule: Never hold your baby while you're cooking or serving hot food. Your child has too many ways of squirming and wriggling into trouble to hold her anywhere near a hot surface, hot pots, or very hot food.

Whenever you cook, try to use the back burners before using the front burners to minimize the risk of spilling a scalding hot pot. You should also point all pot handles toward the back of the stove rather than out toward you.

Once your baby can pull herself up to a standing position, you may need to install plastic guards that will prevent her from turning the stove and oven controls. If you don't have guards for the controls, then pull off the knobs when you're not cooking.

Small appliances, such as blenders, coffee makers, and food processors, are another major danger found in the kitchen. To prevent your baby from pulling one down on top of herself, store all small appliances away from the edge of the kitchen counter and tuck the electric cords behind them. Also, when you're not using a kitchen appliance, unplug it so that your baby can't turn it on by accident.

Babyproofing

If you drink coffee, keep your cup well out of your baby's reach at all times. One cup of piping hot coffee, if spilled on your baby, can cover more than 80 percent of her body with third-degree burns.

In looking around your kitchen for potential hazards, use your common sense:

• Store knives, scissors, and anything else that's sharp in locked drawers.
• Keep glass and other breakable dishes in high cabinets that your baby can't reach.
• Move plastic bags to higher drawers or cabinets.
• Remove anything toxic from the cabinet under the sink.
• Move popcorn, nuts, hard candy, spices, and other potentially dangerous foods to high cabinets or shelves

Consider putting away all tablecloths for the next few years. If you leave them on the table, your budding magician might try the old tablecloth trick and pull everything on the table down on top of herself.

Folding chairs are also not a great idea for crawlers (or even toddlers and preschoolers). Most easily collapse when weight is concentrated on the back of the seat and can send your baby crashing to the floor or perhaps crush fingers that get caught in the joint. If you have folding chairs, consider replacing them with something a little more substantial.

Nursery and bedroom child-proofing

A Tale of Two Bedrooms

Q-tip

If you have inherited a classic, wooden toy chest (or if you find one at a garage sale), chances are it has no safety features. You can create your own safety zone for fingers, however, by gluing small blocks of cork onto the two front corners of the opened chest. Virtually all modern toy chests incorporate a built-in space between the lid and the chest to guard against crushing fingers.

With the exception of the changing station, everything in your baby's bedroom should be totally safe for your baby. That way whenever your baby is in the nursery, whether playing, sleeping, or getting changed, you will be virtually worry-free.

In the play area, store the toys your baby likes best somewhere where he can easily reach them. Leave everything in plain sight in low, open shelves. If your baby sees something he wants to play with, he can get it himself without having to climb. Until he can stand and do something with his hands (lifting the lid) at the same time, a toy chest will not allow your baby this degree of independence, yet you may prefer the tidiness of a toy chest to open shelves (or you may have so many toys that you need both). If your baby's room does have a toy chest, make sure it cannot slam shut, crushing your baby's fingers.

Arrange the furniture so that your baby's crib, as well as any other furniture that he might climb on, is not next to a window. Then make it a rule that the side rail of the crib must be raised to the locked position whenever your baby is in the crib. If it gets cold, provide your baby with an appropriate number of thermal blankets, but never place an electric blanket in your baby's crib. An electric blanket and a wet diaper are a hazardous combination.

Speaking of diapers, make sure to keep your diaper pail(s) covered except when you're using them-not just for safety's sake, but to contain the smell as well. If you can, make the diaper pail inaccessible, too-perhaps behind a closed closet door (if your changing station is right next to the closet). Store diaper creams, diaper pins, and other hazardous supplies on a shelf above the changing table or in a pocketed wall hanging. Everything you need to diaper your baby should be out of his reach, but well within yours. That way you'll never need to leave your baby alone on the changing table, even for just a second.

You will also need to take certain safety measures in your own bedroom. Again, remove or make inaccessible anything that might endanger your baby if he gets his hands on it:

• Hang your purse on a high hook in the closet or keep it on top of your dresser.
• Hang all ties, scarves, and belts well out of your child's reach as well.
• Store coins and jewelry, as well as hair pins, safety pins, buttons and other sewing supplies, staples, thumb tacks, paper clips, and the like, on high shelves or on the tops of very high dressers where they will be not only out of your baby's reach, but out of his sight, too.
• Throw away dry cleaning bags. They aren't safe anywhere in your home.

Bathroom and outdoor safety

Dear John

Until your baby starts to use the toilet (unfortunately, still a year or more away), your baby will probably spend little time in the bathroom when she's not taking a bath. Yet a couple of hazards outside the tub deserve your attention, too.

Horrifying but true, infants and toddlers have been known to drown in a toilet. So either keep the bathroom door shut when it's not being used or install a toilet-seat latch. These precautions will keep your baby--not to mention bath toys, soap, washcloths, your toothbrush, and nearly anything else your baby can reach--out of the toilet.

Always keep medicines and cosmetics stored in a locked medicine cabinet. Also keep less toxic products that you use every day, such as soaps, shampoos, conditioners, and razors, out of your baby's reach. A shower caddy that slips over the shower nozzle serves the purpose nicely.

Babyproofing

If your railings are spaced too wide, you can fix the problem by adding more railings or by adding screening.

Babyproofing

Make sure that you've put protective outlet covers on all outlets, inside and out.

Babyproofing

Do not use sunscreen until your baby is six months old. When you do put sunscreen on your baby, avoid his hands. Sunscreen on your baby's hands will sting his eyes if he rubs them. Avoid his face, too. Instead, insist that he wear a wide-brimmed hat to cast his face in shadow.

The Great Outdoors

Once you've made sure everything inside is safe and sound, turn your attention to the great outdoors: your yard, if you have one. If you have a porch, deck, or balcony, any railings should be spaced less than four inches apart to prevent your child from falling through or getting his head stuck. In addition, you should remove any horizontal bars that your baby might someday use to climb up and over the fence.

Keeping up with lawn maintenance will help keep your yard safe for your baby. Eliminate ditches or holes that become drowning hazards when filled with water by leveling the ground as much as possible. Regularly mow your lawn to avoid the high grass that ticks and other insects love. Check daily to make sure that no passersby have used your lawn as a trash basket or doggie dumping ground. Finally, put up a fence or a row of thick hedges to keep your baby in the yard and to keep animals out.

If you decide to put up a swing set, slide, or other playground equipment, check the equipment regularly for rust and exposed screws or bolts. Make sure to put a couple of inches of wood chips, sand, or other loose material under all playground equipment to soften your baby's landing if he falls.

Be sure to store all toxins or potential hazards, hedge clippers and other gardening tools, fertilizers and plant food, gasoline and charcoal fluid, and barbecue supplies, on a high shelf in the garage or tool shed. (Don't forget to lock it up tight.)

Finally, make sure your yard offers adequate shade. Your baby's skin has had little or no exposure to the sun, making it particularly susceptible to sunburn. Avoid the midday sun, which can burn your baby's skin in less than 30 minutes. When you do let him out, use at least SPF 15 sunscreen (after 6 months of age) on all exposed areas of his skin.

There! Perfectly Safe?

All done babyproofing your home, inside and out? Good! Now start all over again. Babyproofing is not a one-shot deal. Whether you've done it once or 20 times, babyproofing is an unending process. Keep an eye on your child as she begins to crawl. She'll happily show you what you missed by getting into trouble with it.

In addition to following your baby's lead, repeat your hands-and-knees survey of your home every time your baby demonstrates a new physical ability: crawling, standing, cruising, and walking. Each new skill brings with it an ability to find new dangers. No matter how many hours you spend crawling about your home in search of potential hazards, your baby will quickly find or invent new dangers once she's mobile. To keep your crawler safe, keep an eye on her as much as possible. Stay close, stay alert, and stay aware of what she is doing.

In the coming months, you and your partner will need to serve not only as your baby's guardian angels, but also as her teachers. Remember that even though your baby doesn't yet speak, she still understands a lot of what she hears. In any case, she almost certainly knows the word "No!" So put an end to any unsafe behavior not just with your actions, but with your words as well.