The Ultimate Guide to Baby-Proofing Your Home – Putting a home you can be proud of together takes a long time. Getting the feng shui and decor just right requires a keen eye for detail and a strong sense of personality. Finishing the job is one of life’s great joys. However, when you start bringing little ones into the equation, things get a little more complicated. This is where baby-proofing has to become a priority.
Get down on your hands and knees in the middle of the rooms in your home. It might sound silly, but take a look around from that angle and think about how much potential there might be for hazards. Cords could be pulled, coffee table corners are primed for your eyes and the bottom of the bookshelf looks like a ladder to climb. The goal of baby and child proofing is to give your kids an environment that supports their natural exploration.
The big three of a baby-proof home
Setting up a baby-proof house is not about panicking over every little hazard; it’s about knowing where your major risk areas are.
- Ingestion. Loose laundry pods, medications and batteries are all choking and poison hazards, so keep them firmly out of arm’s reach.
- Gravity. Unanchored furniture, such as televisions and heavy dressers, can tip over when climbed.
- Water & heat. Burns from small kitchen stove splashes or drowning in as little as 2 inches of water are very possible.
Remember, even with all this guidance, most baby and toddler safety comes from action and behaviour, rather than interior design alone.
Room-by-room plans
Go room by room to ensure that no stone is left unturned in terms of safety.
Living room safety should include:
- Anchoring down high-risk furniture (bookshelves, TV stands, dressers)
- Applying soft corner guards to low tables and edges
- Looping and tying up any cords well out of reach
Comprehensive kitchen safety requires:
- Securing the oven, fridge and dishwasher with latches
- Moving all chemicals and bin bags out of the under-sink region and locking the cabinets
- Installing a stove guard and using safe cooking technique
Bathroom baby-proofing calls for:
- Locking the toilet lid to avoid headfirst falls
- Setting the water heater to a maximum of 49°C (120°F) to prevent accidental scalding
- Placing non-slip mats in and out of the bath
It’s also worth remembering garden safety if you have outdoor space for when your children get to an age where they can explore more freely:
- Investing in quality tool sheds and good locks to prevent mishaps with splinters and tools
- Creating barriers around any standing bodies of water
- Ensuring to demarcate any poison or thorny plants to prevent ingestions and injuries (this goes for indoor plants as well)
Taking this sort of step-by-step approach helps to ensure that you don’t leave any major blindspots where hazards can take place.
Managing the balance as a logical parent
When putting together your child-proofing kit, you should always try to be sensible about what you can and can’t protect them from. Children have to go through little bumps, slips and tumbles to develop proper spatial awareness, risk assessment and basic motor skills. Wrapping them up in a cushioned bubble won’t serve them any better as they start to develop into proper people.
Put your primary attention towards handling the hazards that could cause severe or fatal injuries, while still offering them the opportunity to explore safe, child-friendly areas. As they get older, they’ll appreciate it and become more well-rounded through their journey into personhood.
Take things one step at a time, go room to room and enjoy the journey back to a house where aesthetic design can take precedence again in a few years time!
Lilly Light