Baby Proofing Your House: Checklist and Tips

Table Of Content

• Childproofing Checklist: What You Need to Do
• A Family Member Finally Shows Up to Donald Trump’s Hush-Money Trial
• Age verification pilot applauded, billion-dollar program panned. What survivors, experts, and advocates think
• Babyproofing the home office
• The Ultimate Guide and Checklist for Babyproofing Your House
• Kids Pacific Pack (Navy/Saffron)
• Other Baby Proofing Tips for the Whole House

This one has all the goodies babies love, including lights, sounds and music, and has an adjustable height so it can grow with them. Wellard suggests creating a "small object tester" to help both parents and older siblings determine what objects must be kept out of baby's reach. Wellard, a mom of three who worked in a pediatric emergency room prior to entering private practice, and Sheehan shared their top tips for new parents baby-proofing their homes. From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author of What to Expect When You're Expecting. What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses only credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions and highly respected health organizations. Learn how we keep our content accurate and up-to-date by reading our medical review and editorial policy.

Childproofing Checklist: What You Need to Do

Start childproofing your home by getting on all fours and crawling to get a baby’s-eye view of the many dangerous temptations that lurk, DiMaggio Walters says. Keep in mind that anything that fits through a toilet paper tube is a potential choking hazard, and dangerous items can easily get hidden in deep carpets, corners and under cabinets. Childproofing your home can be daunting at first, but there are ways to tackle it efficiently and without stress. Give yourself enough time to tackle the project room by room to make it less overwhelming. Plus, there are many baby proofing products on the market that can be helpful to have on hand before getting started.

A Mom Insists That People Are Responsible For Baby-Proofing Their Homes If They Invite Parents With Toddlers Over - YourTango

A Mom Insists That People Are Responsible For Baby-Proofing Their Homes If They Invite Parents With Toddlers Over.

Posted: Thu, 02 Nov 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

A Family Member Finally Shows Up to Donald Trump’s Hush-Money Trial

Smaller objects, glass figurines, and more probably crowd tabletops and shelves in your living spaces. Even if they’re not going to win you a bundle of money the next time Antiques Roadshow comes to town, you still want to place knickknacks out of reach. Once broken, smaller fragments could cut your young child or cause them to choke.

Age verification pilot applauded, billion-dollar program panned. What survivors, experts, and advocates think

If not, make sure it’s in an area that’s not easily accessible to children. Lowering your water heater temperature is important to protect you from accidentally drawing a bath that’s too hot. If an older baby can reach the hot faucet, it will also prevent them from being scalded. Experts recommend turning your water heater down to a max of 120 degrees Fahrenheit1 . Baby gates are also great for blocking off any stairs in the home.

Babyproofing Products 2024 - Forbes Vetted - Forbes

Babyproofing Products 2024 - Forbes Vetted.

Posted: Wed, 10 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

A youth advocacy body is preparing to take legal action against the Queensland government for failing to protect young people in the state's watch houses. The cost of baby-proofing your home depends on various factors including home size and specific baby-proofing needs. The average cost to baby-proof your home is between $500 and $2500, with most parents paying around $1500 to secure their home for their child. As you prepare for the arrival of a new baby, there's much to do. Previously, we shared our ultimate nesting checklist and how to get the each room in the house organized for baby's arrival.

The Ultimate Guide and Checklist for Babyproofing Your House

Lead paint can cause physical and mental development issues for children under 6. Homes built before 1978 have a significant risk of containing lead paint. Your kid’s about to be crawling, if they aren’t already, which means you can’t put off the baby-proofing process any longer. The genius home hackers over at Real Simple have come up with a baby-proofing checklist that runs through basics like baby-proofing drawers room-by-room and makes the whole process, well, yeah. Besides the obvious, there are a few baby-proofing precautions you may not have thought of; the key takeaways are listed below.

Also, maybe start by ditching, or at least locking up, your actual arsenal. When it comes to the bathroom, it’s best to just shut the door when your baby doesn’t have to be in it. Bathrooms have potential poisonous cleaners and soaps, make-up, and hot hair tools. In addition, water always poses a risk to kids—even toilet water. You can get a lock to keep the toilet shut just in case, and consider a cabinet lock if you have one under the sink.

Just remember that you aren’t likely to have more time after your baby is born. We keep all kinds of things that babies and children may find interesting behind cabinet doors and drawers, so it’s important to keep them safe. Installing latches that parents can manipulate but children can’t is a great way to do so. Starting in the nursery, Mauro explains the dangers of lead for pregnant women and children under age 6. Using a chip of paint from the windowsill, Mauro demonstrates an easy way to check for lead paint with a lead test kit. These items may need to be placed in a special area and taken out only while the baby is away from the room.

Other Baby Proofing Tips for the Whole House

There are lots of options for locking cabinets and drawers depending on your hardware, including magnets and hooks to keep everything closed. Of course, once baby starts to roll over, sit up, pivot on their tummy and crawl, you’ll need to do a second baby proofing sweep to make sure the house is safe for a kiddo on the move. You’ll also need to recheck your existing safety preparations, since baby’s height, reach and mobility have changed. This includes childproofing anything baby could yank, grab, reach or swallow. “Childproofing can be an evolving process as baby grows and gains new skills, since you’ll find they discover new ways to get to things that are dangerous,” Scott says. However, once your little one is on the move, you may discover more safety issues than you knew existed.

You may not think of it, but curious tots may try to “shave” or “wear a tie” like they see their parents do. Before you know it, your baby will become a lot more mobile—rolling, scooting, crawling, or even pulling themselves up to stand. And they’ll also get much better at grabbing, holding, and moving things around.

Curious babies love to open whatever they can, and you’re probably going to want to lock up your cabinets. These are a great option that works to keep them locked out even when they’re older. According to Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit organization that works to stop preventable injuries in infants and children, a child dies every three weeks from a television tipping over.

New Hampshire could soon beat Florida—known for its anti-vaccine Surgeon General—when it comes to loosening vaccine requirements. New Hampshire would be the only state in the US to have such a law, although many states allow religious exemptions to vaccine requirements. "Public discourse around youth crime becomes a bit harder when we have to actually acknowledge children as victims in their own right," she says. She was among many who repeatedly tried to intervene in the boy's situation, but her "dozens, if not hundreds" of pleas to child safety services over a three-year period often went unanswered.

Safe, no-tip furniture, cordless window blinds and smart toy storage are all wise moves when it comes to your baby’s nursery décor. Kitchen dangers include sharp objects, cleaning supplies and high heat from the oven and stove. Check out our downloadable babyproofing checklist to help you along when making your home a safe environment for your little one.

If you’re still (or already) preparing your home for your new arrival, you might like to check out this list of baby essentials you might need or want for your little one when he or she arrives. The kitchen is the heart of your home, and with a baby or a toddler around, you’ll most likely need to make some changes to make sure everyone is safe. “So, whether it’s your purse or a visitor’s, keep it out of reach of young children,” she says. Keep your vehicle doors locked so when your little one decides to become the next Supercars driver, they won’t be able to put the pedal to the metal. Keep a fire extinguisher accessible, but be careful that it’s not within reach of your child. They're heavy and could really hurt a kid if pulled off a counter, not to mention the fact that the fire retardant in extinguishers is toxic to ingest even in small doses.

To keep your child safe, there are specific steps you can take to childproof your home before the baby arrives. Start with your child’s bedroom and work your way outward adopting new measures as they grow. And pay attention to any doors that lead to an outside area like a balcony or porch. If you have a sliding glass door, you may want to install a tension bar at the top to stop your kiddos from opening doors when you’re not looking. If you have a set of stairs or a sliding screen door, you want to make those areas safe and secure for your little wanderers. Whether our kids are crawling, toddling or even driving, it’s our job to keep them safe from the hidden dangers lurking at home.

An adjustable, portable mesh gate can also make it easy to set up a temporary barrier when you are visiting friends or family members that don't have a well-childproofed home. Securing the stairs in your home to prevent falls is another essential part of childproofing your home. Even if you’re crazy diligent, your kid will likely topple off a stair or 2. But instead of replacing every stair in your home with an elaborate block and tackle system (as in boats, not NFL), gates are the way to go. Make sure you use the kind that are held in place by more than just pressure; those are easily bullied into breaking.