Once your baby is mobile, making your home safer is almost a daily chore. Here, we give you some general safety tips that will help keep your child out of harm’s way. Please remember that by no means is this a complete list, but rather a guide to help you begin to recognize the less obvious dangers that may exist in your home. We can give you a specific list of safety recommendations for your home only after conducting a home safety evaluation.
Keep coins, small toys, jewelry, cosmetics, medication, contact lenses, plastic water bottle caps, etc. off of nightstands and out of infant’s reach. Tip: Any item that is small enough to fit inside a cardboard toilet paper roll is a potential choking hazard.
Position audio/video cameras away from the crib so baby cannot pull the wire through crib slats.
Remove dish towels that are hanging on the oven door – young children can pull on these and pull the door down onto themselves. Similarly, don’t use tablecloths – a baby will pull them and what’s on them down.
Some common household items pose significant danger if ingested by children: do not keep pet food and cat litter boxes where your child can get to them and check to be sure all plants in your home and garden are not poisonous.
Set your water heater to 120 degrees or below. Higher water temperature can severely burn a child within seconds.
Keep all mouthwash, rubbing alcohol, hair care products, vitamins, medication, toothpaste with fluoride, etc. out of reach. Remember, caps are not child proof, merely child resistant. A determined child can open a safety cap with perseverance.
Never leave standing water in a tub, sink or bucket. It takes very little water to create a drowning hazard.
While bathing a toddler, keep all electrical appliances such as razors, toothbrushes, hair dryers, curling irons, etc. unplugged and out of reach of children. Water and electricity are a fatal combination. Also be sure to remove items from around the tub (shampoo, conditioner, razors). When bar soap becomes small enough, it becomes a choking hazard.
Remove magnets from refrigerators and push pins from cork boards, they can easily fall off, creating dangerous choking hazards.
Crib bumpers should be removed from a crib to reduce the risk of suffocation, strangulation or entrapment. Bumpers can potentially lead to these hazards by allowing babies to climb on them, getting trapped between the bumper and the crib, or by restricting airflow around the sleeping area, which increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).