Essential tips you and your partner should know about baby proofing your home

Did you know that drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury death among children between 1 and 4 years? A child can drown in one inch of water which is why open water sites and swimming polls should be baby-proofed.

Drowning is not the only cause of injury among babies. Once they start crawling and manipulating toys and objects around the house, you will need to do more than keep the floor dry. Below are simple tips to keep your baby safe at home.

Use Baby Gates to Block out Some Areas

The kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and stairs should be out of bounds for babies younger than four. The kitchen has electrical and gas appliances that may be injurious to the baby. The bathroom has soap and other chemicals, the floor might be slippery, and the bathtub might have water. Babies can eat soaps and detergents in your laundry and they may fall if they access the stairs. While you should know where the baby is at all times, sometimes they walk quickly and may be in danger before you locate them.

Keep Chemicals Locked

While baby gates will keep babies off rooms that have chemicals, babies outgrow the gates very fast. As such, you need to keep cleaning chemicals, pesticides, fungicides, medicine, herbicides, skincare and hair products, glue, and alcohol among others, securely locked.

You can also place the chemicals at the top of high cabinets but your baby will be a toddler in a few short years and later they will be child tall enough to climb stools and fetch the medicine.

Baby Proof the Nursery and Secure Light Furniture to the Wall

To keep the nursery safe for your baby, ensure that mobile items attached to the bed are not reachable for the baby. Keep any other furniture away from the baby crib. If there is light-weight furniture in the nursery, keep them secured to the wall so the baby cannot push or pull them to a fall. Lastly, install safety guards on windows.

Protect Baby from Electric Shock

Cords need to be hidden while sockets need to be covered to keep the baby safe. Again, ensure that you unplug all appliances when not in use. Sockets, switches and socket extensions should be placed high, a place where babies cannot reach.

Conclusion – Be Observant

Before the baby comes and after the baby comes, you need to keep an eye on all rooms and ensure they are safe for the baby. For instance, you need to keep the floor dry, keep hot objects far from the baby, remove chipped paint, install smoke detectors, purchase a fire extinguisher, get a first aid kit, have non-slip pads on rugs, cover sharp furniture edges, and much more.