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It’s never too early to prepare your home for a child. In fact, the sooner you can ensure all those hazards are handled the better. We’ll walk you through how to baby proof your house so that your adventurous little one can explore fearlessly. Keep this safe, baby-proofing checklist handy to make sure your home is ready to welcome your bundle of joy.
When you’re bringing home a baby, it’s important to remember one thing — children grow up fast. In almost no time at all, babies can go from laying on their back in a crib to walking around the house searching for new things to learn and explore. It’s because of this reason that baby proofing the house entirely is vital for new and expecting parents. When you’re consulting a baby proofing checklist, you’re ensuring the safety and well-being of your child and there’s nothing more important than that.
Install cabinet latches in your bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room and mud room to baby proof your home so your little one can’t open them on their own.
Even with cabinet locks and latches, make sure to move all chemicals to a high location where little hands can’t reach them. Then, make sure that the doors and locks are child-proof.
To baby proof your home, cover electrical outlets with safety covers. Especially those that a child can reach from the floor.
Never leave your baby alone with water. Swimming pools and bathtubs may seem obvious — but there’s less obvious things like cleaning buckets or pet water dishes.
Make sure children can’t access windows by crawling to them or climbing on furniture. Keep windows from opening more than 3 inches when they can reach them. If windows are accessible on a second or higher floor, make sure that there’s no way they could push through a window or screen and fall out.
If you can, move pet dishes to an area that isn’t accessible to a crawling baby or a toddler. Keep the child away from the dogs or cats while they are eating.
To protect your child from getting caught, install blinds that can be opened and closed without cords. Breakaway cords have been known to fail, so don’t rely on them when baby proofing your home.
Make sure your child’s crib follows current safety recommendations and keep soft pillows, soft bedding and stuffed animals away from children when they’re not being supervised. Get more details on child safety in the bedroom.
As previously mentioned, ensure all blinds are cordless; or, if cordless is not an option, keep all cords out of reach of children by using pins, cord clips or other similarly designed product.
When baby begins to hone those fine motor skills, be prepared for anything. Children often begin strengthening their legs in their crib by standing, so make sure you place a cushion capable of breaking a fall in the event baby tries to climb out.
As a general rule, you should always keep fabrics away from heating and electrical sources, but this is particularly true with bed sheets, curtains and other nursery items.
Perhaps most important place to hone your baby proofing skills is the bathroom. A place that can quickly reveal many hazards to a new parent. The bathroom will be a regular place for a baby in no time, so make sure you’re following safety tips early.
Keep the door closed to your bathroom when you aren’t in it.
Make sure cabinets and the toilet are always closed and locked.
Don’t rely solely on a feel test to determine if the bathwater is too hot for baby. Lower the temperature of the water on your water heater to a maximum of 120°F and use a thermometer to measure the temperature accurately. Experts suggest going for a temperature of 100° before bathing your baby.
This tip is suggested for the safety of both parent and child. Make sure you’re eliminating or reducing the chance you or your child could slip and fall in a wet bathroom.
Medications should be stored in the highest, lockable cupboard. Discover more tips for child safety in the bathroom.
How to babyproof your home doesn’t have to be a stressful guessing game. Whether you’re stepping away from a busy toddler or cooking with kids, keep these tips in mind for child proofing your house.
Keeping these things out of reach ensures that your child won’t accidentally drop anything on themselves or, worse yet, break glass.
Contrary to many household habits, keeping your chemicals under the sink is a bad idea when you have wandering children. Even if you have locks on your cabinets, place chemicals and cleaners high up and well out of reach of children.
We’ve all pinched or pinned our fingers in a drawer before. It doesn’t feel good to us, so make sure they don’t experience it for themselves. A closed drawer on a little finger could be a very bad situation.
Children learn fast. They watch what parents do and they try to mimic that action. Keep your kitchen safe by covering your stove knobs with specially designed covers.
How do you baby proof a living room? Simple! By following safety checklists like this one.
Living and family rooms tend to have furniture, fixtures and other things that pose a danger to your little one. Here are some baby proof home tips to mitigate those dangers .
One of the biggest dangers to a child are sharp corners on furniture and other surfaces. By placing corner guards around your house, you’re making sure your child doesn’t get a nasty cut from a fall and taking great steps in babyproofing your home.
This one requires a little bit of handy work, but the benefits outweigh the cost. Secure your shelving and television along a sturdy wall to avoid any terrible accidents when baby looks to objects to pick itself up.
Wrap your cables together in a cable tie and keep them out of reach of your child.
Once more, keep cords from blinds and other objects out of reach of your baby or toddler. There are products available that allow you to wrap and tie cables out of reach of children.
The garage can be one of the more dangerous parts of the home for a baby or curious toddler but, with helpful tips, you can reduce safety risks at home. Following this baby proofing house checklist should be a great start on your baby safety journey.
The surest way to keep a curious child from the garage is by locking the door. Consider installing a lock on the garage door from the house.
Lock tools, equipment and other hazards away or place them on shelves well beyond reach.
Ensure disposal bins are covered and out of the way of a roaming toddler.
All chemicals should be kept locked away or well out of reach.
Always keep doors fastened and locked.
Take an afternoon to put these safety checks for baby proofing your house in place — it’ll make you feel more ready for baby! Then, start to integrate these habits into your day-to-day life so that when your baby comes home with you it will be second nature.
For more safety tips, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Child Safety Network.
If you’re making large investments to baby proof your home, ensure that your homeowners insurance covers any new furniture or supplies. Get in touch with your American Family Insurance agent today.
Related Topics: Home DIY
