Simple Ways To Babyproof Your House
A new baby in the home means you have to take some new measures to ensure that your home is safe. You’ll have to reassess everything and see how your child will interact with it. It’s possible at you will overlook some things, so we want to point out a few simple things you can do to make sure your home is safe for the baby.
Now, when our baby is first born, it can’t do much other than roll from one side to another, but once it starts to crawl, it can get into all sorts of trouble. That’s when you need to start taking extra safety precautions around the house and that’s the stage of your baby’s life we will be concerned about safeguarding here with these tips.
Clean Regularly
A clean home is a home the fewer hazards. If you sweep, dust, wipe and vacuum on a regular basis, you are less likely to leave behind things on the floor that your baby can get into trouble with. Babies like to put things into their mouth that don’t belong there. They probably won’t ask you before they make a snack of whatever they find on the floor, so keeping things neat and picked up is a good way to keep your baby safe.
You’ll get rid of bacteria this way and prevent your child from picking up germs and contracting illnesses. You’ll also made the floor safer to move across, and you’ll be cleaning up debris that could scratch or otherwise injure your baby’s sensitive skin. You want to spend extra time cleaning in the areas where your baby spends most of its time, such as in its playpen or bedroom. Richard from Diamond Home Cleaning Company mentions “If you want to be extra safe, hire a cleaning service to care for your home every so often too”.Move Items From The Edge Of Furniture
Your baby may not be able to reach on the tables or nightstands to play with items that are too heavy or otherwise dangerous for it. However, it may bump the furniture and cause items to fall down on top of it or onto the floor where it can access them. You need to be aware of this risk and keep flower vases, drinking glasses, picture frames and other items away from the edge of the furniture. You can move items onto shelves where baby cannot reach or bump. You can also move them to the center of the table where they won’t be likely to fall off. Or you can move items onto the counter, where they cannot be bumped from their perch. Having a baby in the house means that you will need to do some rearranging. You have to put your baby’s needs above your own decorating preferences, and sometimes that means placing items in less than ideal spots just to keep the baby safe.
Lock Up Dangerous Items
Babies that can crawl will soon be babies that can climb and lift themselves up. Before your baby can walk, it will pull itself up and try to open drawers and get into places where it is not supposed to be. You should lock drawers and keep dangerous items as far out of your baby’s reach as possible. Things like knives, glassware, heavy items and other items that could injure your child need to be kept either high up where the baby can not reach them (even when it pulls itself up) or locked behind a door or drawer that baby cannot access.
There are a number of babyproof locking mechanisms you can try that are cheap and simple to use. These are basically impossible for the baby to open but are easy enough for you to access. Most stores that sell baby supplies also stock clasps, locks and other mechanisms that can be attached to your doors and drawers to keep the baby out.
Cover Outlets
A crawling baby is just the right height to reach electrical sockets. It’s easy enough to find socket covers at most retail stores, and you can slide these into the sockets to cover them when they are not in use. Just be sure to replace the covers whenever you are done using the socket.
If socket covers are too inconvenient for you, then you can always place a strip of tape over the outlets. This is a lot simpler than the outer cover, but it is not quite as effective. You’ll need to check your outlets every so often to ensure the tape is working like it should be.
Prevent Door Pinching
Your child may play with opening and closing doors as they move around your house, and you can add door stops to each one to make them safe for the baby’s fingers. It’s not always possible to keep your baby confined to a single room, and when you turn your back, they can be playing with doors and get their fingers pinched. By installing simple door stops, your baby will be able to move from one room to the next and fidget with the doors without you having to worry about them catching their fingers.
Your home has the potential to be a very safe place or a very dangerous palace for your child. How much effort you put into babyproofing will make all the difference. You still need to keep an eye on your child and make sure they are not getting into any trouble. However, having the right babyproofing methods in place throughout your house can give you some much needed peace of mind and make you feel much better about allowing your baby to roam free through the house.
We have just listed a few things you can do, and there is so much more, some of which is dependent on the kind of house you have and the different obstacles and dangers present there. You will need to assess your own home and ensure for yourself that it is safe for the baby before letting your child freely move about. We hope this list helps you in making a safe environment for your new baby.
