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Home Safe Home

Did you ever wonder what your house looks like from your baby’s perspective? You need to find out before your baby starts crawling. The best way to see things from your infant or toddler’s point of view is to get down on your hands and knees and move through each room of your house. Look for objects that may attract your child’s attention and be hazardous to his/her health. The following indoor hazards are just some of the things to consider in your search so you can take preventative measures for each one.

Choking Hazards

  • Coins, safety pins, paper clips, pen caps, game pieces, crumbs of food, any small household item, and even hair balls or dust bunnies can illicit great curiosity in your child.
  • Infants explore their world with their mouths and that is the ultimate destination for everything with which they come in contact.
  • Take a class to learn how to perform CPR.

Traumatic or Crushing Injuries

  • Look above your head for any vines or drooping plants, dangling electrical cords, and anything else that may be within the grasp of little hands. Even a small child can pull on the edge of a tablecloth or other hanging item and pull items down on top of them.
  • All furniture needs to be secured to the wall and any items on top of furniture such as a television need to be secured to the furniture to prevent it from crushing a child.
  • A child learning how to stand or walk will pull themselves to a standing position by grabbing onto furniture or any other item within their reach. They don’t know which items will support their weight and which ones won’t so you’ll need to secure or eliminate those items that can’t support their weight.

Falls

  • All children will experience multiple falls and because little kids are top-heavy, their head is usually the body part that suffers. A parent’s job is to make those falls result in as little injury as possible.
  • Corner bumpers can be put on square tables, hearth gates can be placed around the fireplace and other non-movable hazards.
  • Rugs should have nonskid liners under them; stairs should have safety gates at the top and bottom.
  • Lucite and gated guards are now available for balconies to prevent kids from falling between or underneath the railings.
  • Toys and other kid magnets should never be placed in windowsills and cribs and beds should not be placed under a window.

Poisoning

  • Stores are full of safety latches and devices to prevent kids from getting into dangerous places. Be sure to choose devices that are easy for you to use because they are only helpful if they are always in place. Latches should be installed in every kitchen and bathroom cupboard because even everyday items like deodorant can be toxic when ingested. Better yet, a safety gate or door latch can prevent access to those rooms when an adult is not present.
  • Many indoor and outdoor plants are poisonous and should be out of reach or given away. It is important to remember that items which are out of reach this month may not be out of reach next month, especially if your child is a climber.
  • Poison control stickers should be on the phones in your house, the babysitter’s house, and anywhere else your child spends a great deal of time. Syrup of ipecac is no longer recommended to induce vomiting.

Drowning

  • Kids can drown in as little as two inches of water.
  • Everyone knows that swimming pools and hot tubs are potential drowning sites, but there are also several drowning hazards within the home.
  • Bathrooms contain a bathtub, toilet, and sink and all three of these water containers hold great fascinations for kids. Adults should never leave a child unsupervised in that room, even for a minute.
  • Older children should also not be expected to “watch” younger children. Other hazards in the home include cleaning buckets and pet’s water dishes.

Suffocation

  • Remove soft bedding items such as pillows, comforters, & stuffed animals from crib.
  • Plastic shopping bags & dry cleaner bags should not be accessible to kids.
  • Old toy boxes or other large furniture may allow a small child to become trapped inside, special latches can be installed to prevent automatic closure.

Strangulation

  • Any stringed items are potential hazards, such as mini-blind cords, tie cords on jackets, ribbons tied around the necks of stuffed animals, etc.
  • Mini-blind cords can be tied out of reach or cut to eliminate loop at the bottom that a child may get caught around his neck. Scarves and belts hanging in a closet are also hazards to consider.
  • Attention has recently shifted to fitted crib sheets that have shrunk in size after repeated washings and no longer fit the mattress properly. A few infants have actually pulled the sheet loose from the crib, become entangled in it, and died from strangulation.
  • Cribs themselves should have side slats that are no more than 2 & 3/8 inch apart, the mattress should fit the crib so that you can fit no more than two fingers between the sides, there should be no finials or other protruding parts that a child could hang on, and there should be no decorative cut-outs in the headboard or footboard in which body parts could become lodged.

Burns

  • Bottles should not be heated in the microwave because the heat is unevenly dispersed and can result in a “hot spot” that may not be detected until a burn occurs.
  • If you have not already done so, decrease the temperature on your water to 120-130 degrees fahrenheit to prevent tap water from becoming scalding hot.
  • Test the bath water temperature with your elbow or inner wrist before putting the baby or child in it.
  • Try to keep children out of the kitchen when cooking to prevent accidental spills of hot food or liquids.
  • Turn pot handles to the side to prevent curious hands from trying to see what’s cooking. Tablecloths may need to be put away for a couple of years to prevent kids from pulling hot foods down on top of them. Keep small appliances and their cords out of reach while in use & while cooling and put them away as soon as possible.
  • Smoking around children is not only bad for their health, but could result in burns from hot ashes, inadvertently coming into contact with a cigarette, or gaining access to matches or lighters. Fire prevention measures are also important to implement in your home.

Animal Bites

  • Most injuries occur with family pets, not strange animals.
  • Many pets do not look favorably upon the newest arrival in the home and a period of adjustment ensues. Interaction between pets and infants or small children should always be supervised.
  • Parents should take steps to limit the pet’s access to the baby’s room at night when everyone is sleeping and may not notice a problem until an injury has already occurred. Kids should also be taught not to bother pets when they are eating.

There are a lot of safety issues to consider with a baby or small child in the house, but with some advanced planning, your house can be a home safe home.