How to ensure baby's safety at home

Making sure your home is childproof is a key way to ensure the safety of baby at home. Childproofing can be anything from putting a safety gate at the top of your stairs, hiding medication, or installing locks on cabinets containing toxic cleaning products.

Potential dangers are everywhere

Before having children, we may not realize just how many things around our house can be dangerous for a baby or child to be around. Some things are no-brainers, such as stoves and fireplaces, but other regular household areas or items are not as obviously dangerous to a baby, such as a laundry room (which contains a very hot element in a dryer).

Here’s a list of other dangers in your home that may surprise you:

Before having children, we may not realize just how many things around our house can be dangerous for a baby or child to be around. Some things are no-brainers, such as stoves and fireplaces, but other regular household areas or items are not as obvious, such as a laundry room with appliances that heat up quickly.

Here’s a list of other dangers in your home that may surprise you:

1. Dishwashers: Not only are the sharp and pointy knives and forks dangerous, but dishwasher detergent can be deadly if your child ingests it. It’s best to put your cutlery in with sharp sides down, and maybe even put a childproof lock on your dishwasher.

2. Soft bedding: When your baby’s bedding is too soft, it could pose a threat of suffocation for your child. It’s best to ensure that your child’s bedding is firm.

3. Second-hand baby gear: It’s great to get hand-me-downs from family and friends, but we have to be especially careful with used baby stuff. For example, you may think that a used high chair is totally fine, but what if the safety straps are missing? Not so safe anymore.

4. Your friendly family dog: Even though your dog has never given you reason to believe that he can be dangerous, it’s still possible. That’s why as a general rule, dogs should not be left alone with babies or very young children. Animals can be unpredictable.

5. Pills lying around: Maybe someone in your house is on medication. Or maybe a grandparent visits regularly who has medication accessible in her or her purse. Either way, it’s a good idea to make sure that all medication is out of sight and out of reach from children (or better yet, locked away).

It’s a smart idea to ensure the safety of baby at home as soon as possible. If you’re either pregnant or already have an infant, you know child-proofing will be necessary in the near future. So why put it off?