Baby-proofing your home is an essential part of your journey as a parent. It’s a known fact that babies are active. They want to be everywhere, doing one thing or the other. Most times, it even seems like they are everywhere doing everything, and all at once! The moment they put on their baby walking shoes, they will use it to the full and they can’t be blamed for it. They are simply just curious.
However, a lot of the time, this curiosity can become very dangerous. That is why as a parent or guardian, it is important to always keep an eye on your children and make sure that their surroundings are as safe as possible. This is where baby-proofing comes in.
What Is Baby Proofing?
Baby proofing, also known as child proofing, is creating or providing a safe environment for your child. This safe environment must allow them to move and play freely while being free of hazards or danger.
These risks or hazards might be easy for adults to identify and get through or they might not even be dangerous to adults at all. This might be different for children altogether because something as harmless as small and harmless as a button battery can end up being life-threatening to a child.
When Should You Baby-Proof Your Home?
You can start baby-proofing your home either during pregnancy or after the baby is born. To help you decide when to start baby proofing, keep in mind that it is advised to start the process as soon as possible.
Baby proofing is also a continuous process because different challenges will come up as your child grows so it’s good to be aware of any safety precautions to take during each stage of growth.
You should always baby-proof with an active baby in mind. Their mobility may begin at 4 to 6 months and is not just restricted to when your baby starts crawling and walking but also to rolling as well.
Baby-Proofing Your Home
No home can be fully baby-proof no matter how hard you try. Nevertheless, here are helpful tips to keep your home as safe as possible for your baby:
- Make sure to always read the manuals for even the simplest baby toys and gear because even items made for babies can become dangerous if not fully understood or misused.
- Have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors installed and maintain them properly by checking them monthly and changing the batteries when needed.
- Secure electrical outlets and cords by hiding the cords and blocking access to the outlets.
- Ensure furniture and large household objects such as drawers, televisions, bookshelves and more are secured into place so that they can’t be pushed or pulled over when the baby tries to open a drawer or reach a higher shelf.
- Move cleaning products away from your children by putting them out of sight and reach from them.
- Install baby safety gates in front of anywhere you would like to keep the baby from. Important places include the kitchen, garage and stairs. When you install safety gates for the stairs, you should put them both at the top and the bottom of the stairs.
- Apply child-proof locks and latches to anything that you’d like to keep closed including cabinets, drawers and toilet seats. These will help greatly in hiding and securing dangerous items and objects from your children.
- Lay out carpets if you know that you have slippery floors or stairs. This will protect not only your children but you as well.
- Teach your children about the things that are and aren’t toys and things that they can and cannot play with. You should start doing this from an early stage. Even though they are still children, they need to have basic safety knowledge.
- Always check for and remove choking hazards. Make sure to check thoroughly because most choking hazards are small items. We may not notice but the babies will and they most likely will try to put them in their mouth. Pay special attention to the floors because that is where your babies will be the majority of the time.
- Have a baby monitor or two. Baby monitors are a great way to monitor your baby at all times. So it is good to have them in important places. You can keep one monitor in your baby’s room and another in their play area.
Take Home Message
It can be extremely difficult to watch a curious and energetic baby. To make your baby-proofing easier, you can create a personal baby-proof checklist. This will help you keep a check on the important things that need to be done.
However, even after doing your best to make your home as safe as possible, you may never be able to completely protect your little one from their curiosity. The only guaranteed baby-proof method is to never take your eyes off them! So keep your eyes, ears and nose open!
