Baby Proofing And Child Safety Products

Most parents readily anticipate the day when their baby starts to move around but soon learn that the baby’s new milestones can expose them to a world of dangers. Baby proofing your home is a big must when you are living with an active baby.  Keep in mind that maintaining your baby’s safety at home becomes more challenging as your baby starts increasing their mobility.

Take all the precautionary measures and steps in order to make your home is the safest place for your baby. So, prepare yourself by childproofing your house especially the nursery, kitchen, bathroom, and other areas with baby safety measures before your baby’s crawling, reaching, and running.

What Are The Best Baby Proofing Products?

There are a lot of child safety products available on the market that can help protect your baby. Or, if you can afford, you can have a professional child proofer to install and place baby safety devices for you.

Baby Gates

Safety gates help you protect your child or baby with gate barriers to keep your child safe. It also sets a safe zone for your child to move. In buying a safety gate for your child or baby, you have to make sure that there are no hazardous gaps or openings, narrower slat spacing, finger and toe holds, and top edge protrusions. A good baby gate must also endure an impact with the gate not being destroyed or dislodged.

Baby Cot Safety

Baby cots provide a comfortable, safe place for your baby to sleep into. There is a wide array of available styles and options of baby cots these days, but picking a perfect baby cot can be a frustrating task. Make sure that the baby cot you are about to purchase meets the Australian quality standards.

• The bars or panels should be spaced between 50mm and 95mm apart – bigger gaps can trap a baby’s head, arms or legs.
• Check that there are no spaces between 30mm and 50mm that could trap your child’s arms or legs. Check that there are no small holes or openings between 5mm and 12mm that could trap your child’s fingers.
• Place the cot in a safe spot and use locking brakes on cots with castor wheels.
• Never use electric blankets or hot water bottles for babies or young children.
• Don’t hang anything like pictures or mirrors nearby, as there is a danger of the item falling into the cot. Do not leave mobiles or toys with stretch or elastic cords within reach of your child.
• Bumpers and toys placed in your babies cot may look appealing but these items have been identified as products that can reduce the air flow to a small baby which can be a contributing factor related to the cause of SIDS. They can also act as climbing aid for the child to climb out of the cot so best to keep the cot uncluttered.
• Do not use pillows for children under two years old. It is safer not to use a pillow at all for children younger than two or until they are moved to a big beg bed.
• Follow the SIDS recommendations when investing in linen and making your baby’s cot and definitely no cot bumpers to be used in the cot.
• Regularly check that nuts and bolts are tight, as per the maintenance instructions supplied with the cot.
• Before your baby can sit up you can adjust the cot to ‘baby’ (to the highest position) to avoid adult back pain, but lower the cot to the lowest position just before your baby starts sitting up.

Outlet Plugs

This product is a very good idea for baby proofing. It is a fact that it’s easy for babies to insert their little fingers into the outlet or babies are holding a stick or toys that makes it very dangerous. Outlet plugs are installed very easily and very cheap.

Child Safety Locks

Child safety locks are ideal for securing cabinet doors in situations where drilling into the cabinets is not possible. This is designed to prevent your baby from getting in contact with dangerous substances. Child safety locks and straps make it possible to provide a safe environment for children of all ages, by protecting them from electrical sockets, drawers with cleaning supplies, and just about anything that can be harmful to a child.

It is important that you choose the right kind of child adhesive mounted locks for the appropriate places that you want to secure for your child. In purchasing child safety locks, parents must take notice of the material of the lock itself. The advantage of this type of lock is it doesn’t need other devices for installation and they are easily removed without damaging the furniture.

TV and furniture tip overs

Every year many children are injured from furniture or appliances tipping onto them. Children are naturally inquisitive and will not always use furniture as it is intended – for example, they may use bookcases and shelves to pull them selves up on or as a ladder to gain access to reach an item that is stored up high.

Here are some simple measures you can take around your home to keep your children safe, including:

• Choosing furniture items with a broad and stable base
• Testing the stability of furniture to make sure it is stable (e.g. pull out top drawers of a chest of drawers and apply a little pressure to see how stable it is; make sure the drawers do not fall out easily)
• Securing any unstable furniture and items to the wall or floor with furniture brackets and/or anchors (some furniture products will come with these products, otherwise you can purchase them from hardware stores)
• Placing locking devices on all drawers to prevent children opening them and using them as steps
• Not placing heavy items on the top shelves or in top drawers as this can make furniutre unstable
• Removing items from the top of the TV or furniture that might tempt young children to climb, such as toys, lollies and remote controls.
• Anchoring your flat screen TV to the wall or cabinet
• Pushing the TV as far back as possible on the TV stand

Keep In Mind

Never leave your child unattended in a place where their curiosity can lead them into a dangerous situation. For further safety information see Kidsafe’s website.