Tips on baby proofing your home!

Have you done baby proofing yet?

In the last couple of weeks I have personally been touched by horrible accidents that happened to toddlers in their own homes. It made me check my own house again for items that could possible hurt or even worse, kill my toddler and child. To fully understand what you need to look for, you need to crawl on your hands and knees, look at the house like an inquisitive baby/toddler/child. If this is too much for you, or you are worried that you will miss something then get a company like BabyProofesionals to asses your home. The general rule is to have your house baby proof by the time your little one is mobile, even then those curios fingers will show you what you have missed.

Here are my tips to look out for:

• Stairs – install secure baby gates, and teach babies from early what the correct way of going down steps are.
• Cords – blind cords and electric cords are killers, so ensure that they are completely secure and out of reach of any child and adjust it to the shortest setting.
• Batteries – make sure that you discard of any used batteries immediately and keep new ones completely out of reach of any child, this is not only a choking hazard but can burn through them from the inside without you knowing what’s wrong.
• Toys with small parts – I despise the toys that come out of those sweet filled eggs, they are the worst choking hazard ever, and I don’t even want to talk about the ones you got with your groceries recently. Please ensure that the small toys do not land up in the toy bin rather lock them away or get rid of it completely.
• Bookshelves – Many  ALL toddlers like to climb, ensure all bookshelves are secured to the wall to prevent it from crushing your child when they do use it as a ladder.
• If you own a flat screen tv that is standing on a plasma unit, it is in reach of your child and can fall on top of them. If you can not secure the tv with wall straps at the back then look at mounting it to the wall.
• Ensure cleaning products are in a locked cupboard, completely out of reach for kids. This also goes for medication and alcohol.
• Drowning dangers: ensure that your child does not have access to any water, especially when you are not looking. Bathtubs, toilets, buckets, swimming pools, Jacuzzi are all extreme drowning hazards. They will climb up items to get to it so never never NEVER let them have unsupervised access to any. Make sure you have done your cpr & first aid training, you never know when it might become handy.
• Balcony – ensure that the rails are the correct size and height and that no furniture pieces are placed directly next to the rails for them to climb on.
• Cots – ensure that your baby has nowhere to climb up to get over the sides. All 4 of the sides of the cot MUST be unmovable ie. the sides must not be able to drop down.

In general, do not leave babies and toddlers unsupervised, prevention is better than cure.

This visual guide is a great way to check every room thoroughly!

Keep your precious cargo safe! Please share some of your own tips bellow.

Mariette Sakelliou

I am extremely passionate about creating stylish spaces that not only promote growing and learning but spaces that grow with your child.

Apart from creating gorgeous, functional spaces I love doing DIY projects and I am devoted to share tips and tricks to create a happy and healthy home for the whole family.