No doubt you have gone to great lengths to keep your home and family secure. If you have a toddler, though, it is essential to take extra precautions to keep the little one safe. Babies and toddlers are curious creatures. Something captures their attention - a stuffed animal, a shiny object or a noisy rattle - and they're going after it. Just make sure they aren't chasing a teddy bear on top of a dresser, the blade of a knife or a pill bottle.
Babyproofing is key to keeping children safe at home. The most common injuries are burns, cuts, bruises and head or other injuries from falls. In fact, injuries are the leading cause of death in children over one year of age.
Safety conscious parents can hire professionals to child proof their home, or they can do it themselves. New parents have some time before they need to babyproof, since newborns aren't going anywhere just yet. But time passes quickly. Experts recommend staying ahead of a baby's development by a milestone. So, block the top and bottom of the stairs before your child is on the move.
Eventually you'll need to lock up cleaning products, medicine and plastic bags, clear the house of choking and strangulation hazards (including the cords of drapes and blinds) and block access to dangerous areas, among other things. Furniture or TVs that could topple should be anchored to the walls. Toddlers might use dresser drawers "like stepladders," and an accident can happen in an instant.
If you are not comfortable with drilling holes in your wall to install gates and such, by all means hire someone who is. Professional childproofers are familiar with safety products and can determine which ones are right for a home, saving parents multiple trips to the store. Pros also can teach parents about dangers they might not think of. Children grow and develop very quickly, and sometimes parents don't realize what they are capable of doing.
To take on the task yourself, experts recommend the age-old trick of dropping to all fours and looking for hazards from a child's vantage. To learn what you're looking for, check online sources such as www.healthychildren.org , babyproofing checklists and do-it-yourself books. Choose products certified by the Juvenile Products Manufacturing Association. Avoiding products recalled by the government is also important. Check www.recalls.gov or sign up on the site to be notified when recalls are issued. Be sure to send back product registration cards to be notified of company recalls.
Once the home is proofed, don't put your feet up for long. Safety experts suggest reassessing periodically because the hazards change as a child grows. Most of all, remember that gates, latches and locks are no substitute for a parent's watchful eye. No child safety device is 100 percent perfect.
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