Take a close look around your home. Look at your home from your point of view and from your new baby’s point of view – this does mean getting on your hands and knees and crawling about! If you are heavily pregnant – get your partner to do this bit! You will notice different things this way – the cat’s litter tray, the waste paper bin, the stone frog sitting by the fire…. 

Child and baby safety – 13 things to look out for in your home:

1. Where are chemicals stored? Bleach, household cleaners etc
2. Toilets – can a toddler get into your toilet?
3. Taps – can a toddler reach them and turn them on?
4. Staircases – this sounds obvious – but don’t miss it out. You don’t need to worry about staircases until your baby starts to move about on her own – but better to be safe than sorry
5. Sharp edges on tables and other furniture – look for furniture at child height and below – like coffee tables
6. Electrical appliances – does your toaster or kettle cord hang over the worktop, can any appliances or appliance power cords be reached? Where do you keep your electric razor, curling tongs, hairdryer, mobile phone charger, headphones. In the modern world – the list is almost endless.
7. Plug sockets – it’s amazing how many you have – count them and count again – it is easy to miss one or two out – and they are usually at a perfect height for little fingers.
8. Heavy furniture that could fall on your baby – bookcases, lamps, entertainment units, CD towers.
9. Window blind cords – do they have loops that can get caught round a child’s neck? I was alerted to this danger when my cat got caught in the cord of my window blind!
10. Sharp utensils – where do you keep your knives?
11. Doors that lock on the inside – like the bathroom or toilet.
12. Choking hazards – anything that is small enough for a baby or young child to put in their mouth, do you have any decorative stones, pot-pourri, candles.
13. Look for broken items – these could be your things, or your child’s toys. Throw away anything that is broken.

Once you are aware of potential danger-spots -  you can remedy many of them simply.

Sometimes de-cluttering and tidying up will eradicate many of them. Removing items (if only until your child is old enough to not use them as a toy) and putting things out of reach are two more ways of child/baby proofing your home (remember anything that is moved higher up like onto a mantle-piece – make sure it cannot fall). Any toys or books that are for your child – make sure they can reach them easily.

Using child safety products does help protect our children and gives us peace of mind. Try these great safety products

See our other articles on baby safety.
Baby and child safety in the home – useful information
Child safety products that can help prevent injuries to babies and young children

Safety latches and locks for cabinets and drawers

To prevent poisoning and other injuries check the contents of all your cupboards and drawers.

Especially check kitchens and bathrooms, but also remember anywhere that you keep dangerous items. Knives, gardening products, medicines, to name a few.

Remember toddlers are good at climbing – even when you think they can not do something – they often can! Toddlers are curious and determined – they will use things to climb onto to get to where they want to go.

Tip: In the garage or storage shed, store all weed killers and chemicals in a locked cabinet and place the key in a location where your child cannot find it.

Corner and edge bumpers
Check any item of furniture that a baby or young child could fall or run into. Coffee tables, fireplaces, TV stands

Plug socket covers
Little fingers will investigate given the chance use covers to help prevent electrocution. My toddler showed me where a socket cover was missing, and told me it was ‘all better’ when I had put a cover on. But what if he wanted to play with it and not be so safety conscious?

Safety gates (also known as stair-gates)

These help prevent falls down stairs and to also help keep children away from certain areas at certain times. You can use them on their bedroom for example to stop them venturing out at night, or on the kitchen to stop them wandering in where there are numerous dangerous things at the best of times, let alone when you are cooking.

Door locks and latches
These help prevent children from entering rooms and other areas where there are potential dangers. Make sure any extra locks or bolts you fit are higher than a child can reach.

Door stops
These can prevent a door from slamming or trapping small fingers

Don’t forget a fridge/freezer lock or toilet seat lock

Don’t answer the phone or the door if it means leaving your baby / young child unattended.

Smoke detectors
Even without a baby in the house, these are an essential bit of home safety kit. If you contact your local fire brigade, their fire safety officer will often supply and fit a smoke detector for you.

Remember to check your smoke detectors regularly to make sure they’re working – a detector that doesn’t work is as useless as not having one.

Carbon Monoxide (CO) detector
Use these if you have any gas products in your home to prevent CO poisoning.

Window guards and safety netting
These prevent windows from opening more than a couple of centimetres, (they probably are a good security measure too) to help prevent falls from windows, balconies, and landings. Netting will help falls into ponds and pools.

Remember to check windows that are close to the ground, like patio-doors and French windows – - could a running toddler or small child break them?

Cut window blind cords

There seem to be more and more horrific stories in the press of young children getting trappein window blind cords. Don’t let your child get caught – it is much better to cut the cord or replace it with a safer method like safety tassels.

This article is intended as food for thought only. It is every parent’s responsibility to make sure their child is safe. Please take home safety seriously – but remember – DON’T HAVE NIGHTMARES!

Using child safety products does help protect our children and gives us peace of mind. Try these great safety products

See our other articles on baby safety
Baby and child safety in the home – useful information
Child and baby safety – 13 things to look out for in your home

Remember that young children and babies still need to be supervised even if safety devices are installed. You’d be surprised at how inventive kids can be!! Our son tried bashing the newly fitted stair-gate with his toy hammer – that desperate he was to try and open the gate to get up the stairs! Of course I was alerted to him doing this by the sound of ‘bang, squeak’ ‘bang, squeak’ with the toy hammer going at full pelt.

The first thing I would recommend you do is take a close look around your home. Look at your home from your point of view and from your new baby’s point of view – this does mean getting on your hands and knees and crawling about! If you are heavily pregnant – get your partner to do this bit! You will notice different things this way – the cat’s litter tray, the waste paper bin, the stone frog sitting by the fire…. Have a look at our articles  on child and baby safety in the home and child safety products.

Once you are aware of potential danger-spots you can remedy many of them simply. Sometimes de-cluttering and tidying up will eradicate many of them. Removing items (if only until your child is old enough to not use them as a toy) and putting things out of reach are two more ways of child/baby proofing your home (remember anything that is moved higher up like onto a mantle-piece – make sure it cannot fall). Any toys or books that are for your child – make sure they can reach them easily.

No amount of de-cluttering will be enough though, some things will need child safety products fitting to make them safer.

Using child safety products does help protect our children and gives us peace of mind. Try these great safety products

See our other articles on child and baby safety
Baby safety products that can help prevent many injuries to babies and young children
Child and baby safety – 13 things to look out for in your home