Childproofing Tips for Your Home

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

01 Aug 2006 09:46 AM

It may not be the first thing on your mind when you get pregnant or when you come home from the hospital with your newborn. But sometime between infancy and toddler hood, childproofing will become a priority especially as your baby becomes more mobile.

The following tips are things that most parents learn through trial and error. Error usually means your baby gets hurt or nearly gets hurt. Take it from the voice of experience, accidents do happen and even safety precautions cannot prevent all of them.

When my daughter was first learning to walk, we lived in a three level townhouse. My office and her playroom were on the second floor. I kept gates on the stairs for obvious reasons. But the gates were pressure based rather than latched into the wall directly. One day, she threw herself at the gate - and she went down a flight of stairs on the gate.

It was a pretty awful experience. Thankfully, my daughter was fine. She had some bruises and a carpet scrape on one cheek and it scared the pants off of her and me both, but she was fine. I thought I'd done a good job of child proofing, the error method however is not one I would recommend.

So here are some baby proofing tips to keep in mind:

• For stairs, use safety gates that fasten to the wall and are very secure
• For light sockets, be sure to use plastic plug covers to protect little fingers and other objects from being able to put anything in the plugs
• For cupboards (whether in the kitchen or in the living area), baby proof them with secure latches that don't let babies go poking around in them where they can get things out that hurt them or pinch their fingers
• For the hard edges on tables, bookshelves and other furniture, wrap them in secure foam - especially when the walking starts
• Play areas - whether you use a playpen, a playroom or set up play yard, free it of all sharp objects and such. You want it to be a place where they can't hurt themselves and where you can lift your eyes away for a few minutes without fear - be sure there is nothing they can climb on in there either
• Toilet locks are a great way to prevent accidents and curious hands from playing in the toilet

While these child and baby proofing techniques are not 100 percent full proof, they are better than the alternative?

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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Libby Pelham (12876) 01 Aug 2006 11:04 AM

Great blog Heather! I've done all this, but now I realize I was not being a total spazz in trying to child proof my house.

judygail40 (25) 01 Aug 2006 03:53 PM

If you have a entertainment center with glass doors on the front. The kind that are latched with magnets. I recommend removing them. My son opened one of these doors and leaned on it and the whole door shattered. Again, learning by error, not realizing all the things that can happen no matter how hard to try to prevent it. I don't think you can "over" child proof your home. Better to be safe than sorry.

Jaime Egan (2178) 01 Aug 2006 04:40 PM

Here is the link to a blog I wrote back in my Consumer Reviews days. It is a list of safety items by KidCo. Check it out!

http://baby.families.com/blog/items-to-consider-when-childproofing-you