Back to the Basics: How to Babyproof your Home  

Baby proofing starts with you. Take a hands and knees tour of your home and look for things that your child can easily put in their mouth.  Sometimes what is most interesting to a child is something that an adult will overlook.  If you remain vigilant and constantly provide supervision you will ensure your child stays safe always!

It’s always possible for accidents to happen in the home and for things to fall off the top of a table or some appliance can be handled improperly by a baby, resulting in choking and suffocation injuries or death.  If you are the type to keep your house tidy, you can even have things tucked underneath furniture or hidden out of the way so you can’t see it but the baby can get back or under there and find it.

Having A New Baby Can Be Very Exciting And Fun For The Whole Family
Even so, there is a great deal of responsibility involved and you need to consider babyproofing your home before the baby even comes home from the hospital. There are a large amount of highly preventable accidents occurring in any given year.  There are laws out there that help you keep the baby and toddler safe that keep the products you buy for child safety as safe as possible.

Going Ahead with Baby Proofing
It’s hard to imagine the number of children that get injured due to preventable accidents.  Anything parents can do to keep these hazards out of the home will prevent these things from happening in your home.

Safety Around the Home
You can use safety gates, outlet covers, drawer and cupboard latches and anti-scalding measures to keep baby safe.  You also need to be aware of carbon monoxide and fire detectors and keep the batteries up to date.  Because of these issues, several organizations have been working toward child safety since the 1980s.  Parents, too, were given the tools they needed to keep the child safe as much as possible in the home.

Safety Takes Precedence!
Make sure all baby items you purchase are in compliance with the America Society for Material Safety and Testing Standards or the Standards Council, located in Canada.  Products should also be allowable by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

These are organizations that protect children from dangerous products.  You need to look over your home and use products to make it safer such as child safety gates, latches for drawers and cabinets, safety locks on the refrigerator and door knob handles for doors.  Window locks are important as are outlet covers for electrical outlets.