SmartHomeOwners

When you first bring your little "bundle of joy" home from the hospital, everything seems peaceful and wonderful (except for late night crying).  Your new baby can't walk or talk so you don't have to worry about him falling and getting hurt or trying to play around or touch dangerous objects.  But hold on because in just a year or two, he'll start to walk, run and play.  If you don't take precautions and start child-proofing potentially dangerous areas in your home, you will be on edge 24-7.

Enclosed Areas

Toddlers should not be allowed to roam around the home unsupervised.  A good way to prevent this is to use safety gates.  A safety gate will keep your little one in a controlled area while you go about your daily chores.  You can put the gate up at doors or any entrance way to the play area.  Playpens work well too for babies that are not able to climb out yet.  You can also place gates to keep your little one out of certain areas or away from stairs or any area where he can fall and get hurt.

Cover those Outlets and Cords

Many a child has stuck his finger or an object into an outlet and suffered or even died from electric shock.  Outlet covers can help prevent this so long as your child doesn't remove the cover.  These are very inexpensive but could save your child from harm, or even death!  Another helpful product is the cable cover.  Cable covers hide away your electric cables and cords from children and pets using durable plastic coverings.  These are inexpensive as well, but can keep your child from playing with cords around your computer, lamps, entertainment center, etc.

Put Away Dangerous Items

Every item that is dangerous or toxic should be kept far out of sight and reach of your child.  Even older children tend to be curious, so it's a good idea to hide or lock away guns, toxic cleaning chemicals, collector's knives, sharp objects, etc. so your child won't even think about handling these items.

Crib Dangers

Avoid putting toys and soft bedding in the crib with your baby.  These may seem harmless, but very soft bedding can suffocate your baby and toys can be unsafe when left in a crib, especially if your baby is in the stage of rolling around or picking up items.

Water and Heat

These two common elements are very real parts of our daily lives, but can be harmful to children.  Never leave your baby unattended in the bath, around swimming pools or hot tubs.  Also, keep him away from very hot items, such as a hot stove or grill, or a boiling pot of water.

More Safety Tips:

*Keep emergency numbers nearby, such as poison control, hospital, police, a close-by neighbor's number, etc.
*Learn CPR and the Heimlich maneuver (for your child's age).
*Keep first aid items on hand such as Band-aids, antibiotic ointment, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, allergy medicine, etc.
*Roll up mini-blind strings so these will be out of your child's reach to avoid strangulation.
*Be watchful at all times - you are your child's best safety defense!

These child safety tips may seem to be a bit overly protective at first glance, but you'll soon realize they are necessary once your child is old enough to plunder, walk and run!