You might be expecting a baby with no spare room left in the house, save for the guest’s room.
You just purchased a home, and the terms of your mortgage do not allow you to make any structural change to the apartment.
You need this new room for your baby urgently. What do you do?
The answer is that simple, just that you might not have bothered to search for it in your regular DIY videos on YouTube. What you have to do is to make an existing room babyproof. By that, I mean tweaking a room and making the necessary adjustments to make the space suitable for a baby to stay.
So how do I go about making a babyproof room? Baby proofing a room is not as hard as you may think. You just need to make certain protective adjustments to existing features of the room.
This piece will discuss how to go about babyproofing a room and other vital topics with all the changes to make this a possibility.
Contents
When Should You Babyproof Your House?
Baby proofing of your house should commence at least three months before your expected date of delivery.
Some baby proofing measures like re-painting the nursery in baby-friendly colors can take as much as eight weeks to complete and dry off.
Once your baby starts crawling, you have to re-examine the house for any loopholes. Are there sharp edges exposes that need a softer covering on the edges?
Are the crib slats wide enough for the baby to put his or her head through? All these must be taken into consideration when cross-checking for baby proofing errors.
Do I Really Need To Babyproof?
You sure have to babyproof every room in your house, from the nursery, to the furniture in your living room, as babyproofing is non-negotiable. Babies are not as aware of the dangerous outcomes that could stem from something as harmless as stuffed animals.
Cords, toys, an open window, an electrical outlet, and small objects like pegs pose a significant and life-threatening risk to your little one.
Although you might think babies might not be able to climb to come in contact with such hazards, taking a risk by leaving the bleach on the tabletop might prove fatal.
There are already many baby deaths resulting from hazards in the house, especially choking hazards. If you wouldn’t want your baby to be another of those numbers, babyproof your home for the sake of their safety.
What Do You Really Need To Baby Proof?
When it comes to the parts of the house that really need attention, there is no predetermined checklist.
However, certain places hold more priority than others when safety for your baby is a significant concern.
Should you be babyproofing your kitchen? Yes, you should, as there are knives, breakables, and heat sources like your gas cooker or burner. Should you be babyproofing the bathroom?
Of course, you should. Your baby attempting to dip their head in the toilet bowl or suffocating on the plunger is the last sight any parent wants to see.
In a later topic, you will get to see the parts of the house you need to babyproof. From cords to the living room, bathrooms, and the nursery, there is always something that needs to be adjusted.
What Is The Most Effective Way To Babyproof A Home?
The most effective way to make your apartment babyproof is to work from room to room, using the guide in the subsequent topics.
You would have to take the stairs, sitting room, bathroom, nursery, and other parts of the house into full consideration.
You would be better off with the tips listed here before going ahead to check the web for further help.
The information here is enough to cover the basics and essentials of babyproofing to a great deal.
How Do I Child Proof My House?
Now pay attention, parents. This is the crucial part you’ve been waiting for. This is the part where I show you the potential hazards in your house you might not have noticed.
These areas might not be dangerous to you, but for a baby who barely knows how to walk, it sure is.
Below are the critical areas in your house which need to be inspected and made babyproof immediately:
1. Familiarize With The Water Heater Settings
For some unknown reason, toddlers develop this affinity for knobs, and shiny things, with taps being no exception.
It is strongly advised on several childcare sites to set your water heater below 120 degrees.
According to the baby care site, www.today.com, the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that most injuries caused by scalds are suffered the most by children younger than five and older people.
Besides the water heater, products like soaps and sanitizers could attract toddlers, thanks to the smell. Such products should be kept away from the reach of babies, as ingesting such could prove fatal. Close all doors within the bathroom, and never leave children unsupervised in the bathroom.
2. The Baby Crib Is Not Left Out
Not sure you were expecting where your baby sleeps to pose a threat to their safety, but a baby crib can be a massive risk if you do not consider it.
Get the best baby crib you can find and fix rails on it if it didn’t come with one. Try to see if the spaces between the slats in the crib can allow your baby’s head to pass through. Soft items such as pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals have no place in the crib. All these could pose suffocation hazards to your baby.
Lastly, get a baby crib with the appropriate rail height for your baby. These days, you can find convertible baby cribs and they can be adjusted with your baby till they become a toddler.
There are also mini cribs if you have small spaces. If you happen to be a petite mommy, you can consider getting baby cribs for short moms. See also our review of safest baby cribs to give you ideas and options for safe toddler crib. Looking for more high end, check our post on luxury baby cribs.
3. Install Gates Leading To Stairs And Stairwells
If you don’t put a measure in place to prevent babies from accessing stairs and other steep parts of the house, the probability of a fall is very high.
Get a handyperson to construct gates in areas that leads to stairs.
Children will attempt to crawl and explore and possibly put themselves at risk of injuries. It’s just their nature, and it’s nothing to be mad about.
Lock the gates when not in use. That way, the child will only be able to gain access with you around.
4. Windows Pose A Risk Too
Situate your baby’s crib as far as possible from all the windows in the nursery. The best way to reduce the occurrence of falls is to use a childproof screen on the window.
A better alternative would be a window guard. These metal frames would keep your child contained within their nursery. There is a lesser chance of a fall and a reduced risk of injuries.
5. Store Harmful Chemicals Away From Their Reach
Store chemicals like bleach and detergents far away from where toddlers can access them. Lock all laundry-related products behind closed doors, and keep the key as high as possible where kids can’t reach it.
Store medications away from your toddler, so they do not mistake it for one of those sugary treats you get them often. All it takes is one second for your child to grasp your painkillers and shove them down their throat.
6. Cover Outlets And Keep Cords In Place
From 2007 till 2009, an average of 11 deaths caused by electrocution was reported by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Cords plugged directly or indirectly into outlets in the home pose a significant risk to the safety of your baby.
Keep longer cords in tighter positions using a cord holder. It makes it harder for babies and toddlers to tug on wiring, especially computer desktops and extension cables.
Electrical outlet covers are also an excellent means of protecting your child from the dangers that cords could pose.
Plus, if they (toddlers) cannot pull at the cord, they can’t possibly trip whatever the cords are connected to. That way, you also avoid a falling hazard that could cause injuries to your child.
7. Unplug Home Appliances
Certain home appliances generate a lot of heat during use and could retain the heat for a while. Toasters, heating rings, and pressing irons are appliances that can cause injuries through a fall and dry heat.
When done with home appliances that generate heat, unplug them and keep them as far as possible from children.
8. Get On Your Child’s Eye Level And See What They’re Seeing.
How can you know what Junior will attempt to play with next if you cannot see things from his point of view?
Get on all fours, crawl like a baby, and get a better line of sight to see what could be the next potential deadly attraction for your baby before it’s too late.
9. What About The Kitchen?
Substitute a glass top table for a wooden table, as wooden tables tend to be more stable. Stove-knob covers are essential because once your babies start climbing, they will get their hands on anything possible. Let’s hope it’s not an active hot plate, a boiling ring, or a fire.
Store knives and other sharps away from babies and use childproof cabinet locks and drawer locks.
All glassware and breakables should be kept under lock and key and out of reach from where your baby can access them.
How Do I Toddler Proof My Nursery?
Your baby’s nursery is where your child would spend a considerable amount of time, so this area has to be in the best shape possible. Not just in terms of space and ventilation, but also safety.
Do the following to make your nursery babyproof for your toddler;
1. Place the baby crib as far as possible from windows, cords, and electrical outlets.
2. Ensure that the crib slats are not wide enough for the baby’s head to pass through. A popular test is to pass a soda bottle across the slats. If it passes, get a crib with tighter slat spacing.
3. Cross-check that all the screws, nuts, and bolts supporting the baby’s crib are fastened well enough. Get a company technician if you don’t know your way around.
4. Place a thick carpet in the nursery to soften falls, lest any happen.
5. Tidy up on painting, and other decorative procedures involving chemicals, at least two months before moving into the nursery.
6. Use a storage box to keep your baby’s Lego blocks and toy soldiers in place to avoid clutter. Ensure you use a box without sharp edges and one that does not slam quickly.
7. Be sure to install smart baby monitors to track your little one. Honestly, we can’t stay in their room every minute and we have to do chores or attend to personal matters in another part of the house. There are simple options you can choose that you can easily install at the nursery like baby breathing monitor, non-wifi baby monitor or Bluetooth baby monitor.
These tips are sure to transform your guest’s room into a baby proof room where your child is at less risk of injuries and potential hazards.
How Do I Baby Proof My Living Room?
Being the part of the house where a great deal of time is spent, your sitting room must be babyproof. Here are the ways you could make the living room safe for your toddler;
1. Switch to cordless blinds, like curtains, and the cords on traditional blinds are a choking hazard to your child.
2. Use childproof coverings on electrical outlets.
3. Soften up edges on furniture, especially tables. Invest in edge guards, corner protectors, and plumbing foam to make edges less harmful.
4. Ensure you always declutter surfaces. The less stuff there is to pick and nibble on, the less likely things are to go wrong.
5. Invest in a non-slip rug if your existing rug or carpet isn’t already one.
6. Test the stability of different pieces of furniture. Wobble the TV, shake the couch, and center table for weak legs. If any of the vital supporting structures are found wanting, replace them immediately.
Conclusion
Safety is of utmost importance in a home, and we all know how vulnerable babies are. Never leave your baby alone ever without adult supervision. If they happen to fall asleep which gives you some time to leave the room, be sure there’s a baby monitor to track them in real time.
Therefore, we as parents must take it upon ourselves to make the home safe by babyproofing it.
All the tips given in this article would come in handy when your little one arrives. Soften those sharp edges, get a crib with high rails, hide the laundry products, and adhere to other tips given here. Stay safe, and make are your baby also remains safe in the home.
If you like to learn more about baby gears and other baby care essentials, please check our homepage.
Sources:
- today.com/parents/how-babyproof-your-home-it-s-not-hard-it-sounds-t109555
- parents.com/baby/safety/babyproofing/babyproofing-your-home-from-top-to-bottom/
- parents.com/baby/safety/babyproofing/
- webmd.com/parenting/baby/ss/slideshow-baby-proofing-essentials
- nytimes.com/article/babyproofing-guide.html
