Baby-Proofing 101: How to Prepare Your Home for Baby

Baby-Proofing 101

Babies are adorable and very curious! You’ll be surprised how they can get into a lot of random places in your home. While you don’t have to worry too much when you first bring home baby, once they start crawling, you’ll want to make sure your home just as safe for them as it is for you!

Here some straightforward baby-proofing tips to makes sure your home is a safe space for baby to explore.

Crawlers

When your baby begins rolling over or crawling (or creeping) the world opens up. This new mobility will bring up new safety concerns you may not have thought off. To start, get down on your hands and knees to get an idea of how your room will appear to the baby. This will make it easier to spot potential danger areas in your home.

  • Cover any sharp corners
  • Electrical outlets are right on baby’s level so covering them is imperative. You can choose from the typical clear plastic covers to sliding plate covers or full outlet shields. Be sure to invest in power strip covers and tie up any loose cables as well.
  • Install cabinet latches to keep your child from being able to open cabinets and drawers, especially the ones you keep your household cleaning supplies in. You may want to also lock garbage cans.
  • Baby gates are ubiquitous for keeping baby away are stairs, but you can also use them to limit access to certain areas of the house you don’t want your baby to venture. 
  • Unplug small appliances when not in used and keep cords out of reach of young hands
  • If you have a fireplace, install a grill and store logs, matches, or gas fireplace keys and tools out of reach
  • If you have pets, keep their food and water dishes out of reach of baby

Pulling Up

When your baby begins to pull themselves up, it’s time to consider additional safety measures. Now is the time to secure large and heavy objects and furniture to reduce the risk of them falling onto your child. You’ll also want to skip tablecloths for the time being and tie up window cords.

Also consider installing toilet locks to keep baby from potential drowning hazards and the temptation of putting in things that don’t belong, like your keys!

Walkers

Now that your baby is walking, the safety ante jumps a bit. Now is the time to consider putting a latch on the refrigerator and to use the rear burners on the stove as much as possible. If you need to use the front burners, turn the pot handles toward the way to keep small hands from grabbing them. You’ll also want to install safety knobs on the doors and stove/oven.

Best time to start

The best time to start baby proofing your home is before baby arrives! Babies change and develop so quickly once they’re born that you don’t want to be caught unprepared once you discover your once stationary baby is now mobile.

It takes some time and effort to baby proof your home but it’s worth everything if it means keeping your child safe.

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