BABY'S DREAM NURSERY BLOG

Baby Proofing Your Home

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From outlets to cabinets, there are a multitude of places a baby or child can get into that can cause harm. While undivided attention is your number one asset to keeping your baby safe, it is nearly impossible to watch your child every second of the day. So, here are some safety measures you could take to prevent some injuries or accidents from happening.

Fireplace bumpers

• My son has fallen a couple times onto the bumpers. Thankfully, he "bounced" back both times without injury. Well worth the price to avoid a trip to the ER.

Corner guards

• If you can live without a coffee table for a couple years, it's worth it. You could also replace the coffee table with a storage ottoman: It doubles as a toy box and coffee table.
• You could also buy an edge bumper to go completely around all sides of a table.
• Place corner guards on all pointy edges: my desk is modern and has 11 of them... Ouch.

Outlet covers

• Put an outlet cover on every outlet accessible to your child.
• The safest outlet covers are ones that cover the entire socket; I have found some that even I can't pull out easily.
• If you use an outlet so much that you get tired of taking off the cover: install a Tamper Resistant outlet. A simple process that can be achieved in less than 10 minutes. (I did two by myself in my son's room)

Power strip cover

• For all the power strips within reach, use a cover. I have one over the power strip under my desk.

Baby gates

• Use hardware mounted gates for the top and bottom of stairs
• Use tension gates to block room access.
• I took a couple tension gates apart, and zip tied them together to prevent my son from playing with the electronics and cords in our glass entertainment center.

Cabinet/drawer locks

• I have found the adhesive/magnetic locks very useful for the cabinets under the sink where I keep all chemicals and cleaning supplies. I loved the adhesive ones because I literally could not drill through my maple cabinets. I have had the adhesive locks on for over a year and they're still holding strong!
• Traditional cabinet/drawer locks are useful inside dresser drawers. I installed some in my son's dresser after I woke to find him standing in the top drawer one morning.
• It is OK to leave some kitchen cabinets unlocked... you might just get tired of shoving all the pieces back in. However, there is nothing wrong with letting your child play in the Tupperware cabinet while you make dinner, it keeps them in eyesight.

Multi-purpose Adhesive Latches

• Can be used on trashcans, dishwasher, and refrigerator. Basically, anything you don't want baby to open that you can't drill into.

Stove Guards

• For any stove with controls on the front, get knob covers. Especially if you have a gas stove.
• Consider purchasing a stove guard if you will do any cooking on the front burners. A young toddlers hand can reach just enough to burn fingers.

Tipping Restraints

• Use on all objects that can tip. Bookcases, dressers, armoires, stoves, etc.
• According to a new study, TVs cause about 7,000 injuries while scissors are responsible for about 6,000 (less serious) injuries a year. Mount flat-screen TVs to a wall if you can. Or, make use of vent holes in the back of a TV. Zip tie a hoop in the back and connect with a zip tie through an eye hook, that is screwed into a wall stud.
• Bonus: All case pieces (dressers, hutches, armoires, etc) from Baby's Dream come with a free tipping restraint kit.

Childproof Door Knob Covers

• I used one of these inside my son's room once he was in a toddler bed. With an open stair case next to his room, I was worried he would leave his room the one night we forgot to close the baby gate. The knob cover kept him safe in his room while I was sleeping at night.
• Also, great for closets (Where do you keep cleaning supplies?)
• Used on every exit door in my home. Never can be too safe on that one, especially with a pond in my back yard.

Solid Door Stops

• The kind with removable caps can be a choking hazard.

Safety Belts

• The belts on a high chair and changing pad were installed for a reason. Children are likely to fall and be injured when the belts are not used.

Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms

• Consider investing in a linked system; where if one goes off, they all go off.

Scald Prevention Tools

• H2ot Stop makes bath and shower fixtures to prevent hot water burns. Consider replacing the fixtures in your child's bathroom with scald stops. There are also valves that can be used in sink faucets too.

Window Locks

• Do not rely on window screens: they are designed to keep bugs out, not kids in. Open the top half of a window, not the bottom.

Window Blind Cord Covers

• If your blinds have a loop, cut it.
• If the cords are long, you can use a window cord cover to keep cords out of reach. Or, a clothespin will work in a pinch.

Drywall Anchors

• Simple? Yes. Use dry wall anchors when not screwing into studs. Especially, when you are hanging something heavy.

Crib Safety

• Do not hang anything heavy on the wall above the baby's crib; unless it is properly anchored and you are confident it will not fall.
• Once your child is tall enough to pull up, be sure to lower the mattress level down. 
• Baby's Dream safety-gate cribs provide an extra 5-6 inches of height on the front frame, so typically babies can stay sleeping in the crib an extra 6 months. 
• Be sure to convert to toddler bed stage when your baby starts to stand and climb. 
• According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CPSC: to prevent suffocation and reduce the risk of SIDS, practice the following for children under 12 months:
• Place baby on his/her back in a crib with a firm, tight-fitting mattress
• Do not put pillows, quilts, comforters, sheepskins, pillow-like bumper pads or pillow-like stuffed toys in the crib
• Consider using a sleeper instead of a blanket.
• If you do use a blanket, place baby with feet to foot of the crib. Tuck a thin blanket around the crib mattress, covering baby only as high as his/her chest.

It only takes a second of inattention for your child to find something dangerous. If you don't know what to look for, get down to their level and explore. While this list is not all inclusive, hopefully it has helped you see where you need to focus most of your childproofing efforts.

What safety hazard has your child encountered that you didn't know about until it was almost too late? What childproofing product have you found most valuable?