New baby in a family is such a blessing. This tiny human is the symbol of new beginnings, love and happiness. However, parents have some more thoughts on raising a child – care, caution and safety. Moving into a new home with a baby can be quite stressful, as relocations are big changes in lives of both adults and children. On top of all the moving tasks, parents have one more thing to do – adjust their new home to make it as safe as possible for their little one. So, if you’re expecting or moving into a new home with a baby, read this post and learn how to baby-proof your new home.
Be cautious at all times – but don’t overdo it
When it comes to raising a baby, you should leave nothing to chance. Sure, sometimes you can’t prevent an accident, but you can do as much as possible to maximize the safety of your home. Of course, parents should panic about everything and go over the board with baby-proofing their living space. This can be overwhelming, leaving you no energy to play and be happy with your small one. But there are certain things that everyone should be careful about, as it’s always better to be safe than sorry. These are the easiest way to make your home safer without stressing too much about it.
Outlets
Babies and toddlers explore the world around them by simply touching, tasting, and smelling everything. It’s the way they grow up and develop. However, there are certain things they shouldn’t explore yet – and those are electrical outlets. Be sure to protect them with easy plastic covers that can be only removed by a small key. Kids won’t be able to put their tiny fingers in, but you’ll still be able to use them whenever possible.
Make sure heavy furniture pieces don’t move
As babies start crawling, they tend to grab anything around the house to be able to stand up and later learn how to walk. This is such an exciting time, but also quite dangerous. As they grab shelves, TV stands, and other pieces of furniture they risk pulling those items on themselves. Make sure heavy pieces of furniture, especially tall ones, are safely mounted to the walls. Experts from Zippy Shell Louisiana advise you to mount furniture as soon as your movers bring it to the new house. It’s easy to forget to do it afterward, so these safety measures should be taken right after the move-in.
Babies love exploring, so it’s important to make their new home as safe as possible. Alt.tag: a baby’s hand playing
Babyproof the kitchen
The kitchen is the room where we spend a lot of our time, especially when preparing baby meals. This is also the place little ones love to explore the most. There’s so much to open, close, turn on, and off. There are also a lot of opportunities for them to get hurt, s baby-proofing your new kitchen should be the top priority. Here are some things to do:
- Use secure locks on cabinets that contain cleaning chemicals, sharp objects, and food that’s not appropriate for a baby;
- Keep all the breakables, sharp objects, and matches in higher cabinets and shelves
- Use special covers to protect knobs on your stove so a toddler can’t turn them on.
- Don’t use tablecloths for a while. Kids love pulling them from a table or kitchen counter, not knowing what could fall on them.
Bathroom baby-proofing tips
Bathroom doors should have an exterior lock, as small kids shouldn’t be able to enter the bathroom on their own. Also, install cabinet locks, too – bathroom cabinets often include dangerous chemicals, medications, etc. Here are some more tips on baby-proofing the bathroom:
- Be sure to know how the settings on your water heater – set it on a lower temperature to prevent any possible burns;
- Install a toilet seat lock to prevent little ones from peeking inside;
- Find a way to stop young ones from playing with the garbage bin – keep it on a higher shelf or secure it with a cabinet lock.
Don’t leave your little one unsupervised in the bathroom and do everything to baby-proof it. Alt.tag: mother and baby in the bathroom
Other easy ways to make your home safer
Apart from the bathroom and kitchen, other rooms can be potentially dangerous. Here are some useful tips on how to make your home safer.
Stairs gate
If you live in a home with more than one floor, it will be necessary to install a gate at the top and bottom of the stairs. Babies find it fun to climb, which can be pretty dangerous when they do it on the stairs.
Edges
Coffee tables, tv stands, and other pieces of furniture are potentially dangerous because of their sharp edges. There are rubber corner protectors you can easily install and make sure the phase of learning how to walk goes as smoothly as possible.
The crib
Cribs are places of peace and sleep for your newborn. However, you need to be careful with this piece of baby furniture. Firstly, the crib shouldn’t be placed next to a window. Once they start standing up, babies could reach and open the window, so it’s best to keep the crib away. Finally, make sure you place the mattress in the lowest position as your baby starts to pull up and stand in the crib – falling over the cribs is one of the most common injuries with little ones.
Make the crib a priority when you need to baby-proof your new home. Alt.tag a baby in a crib
Working from home?
Home offices are more and more common since the beginning of the global pandemic. Moms usually start working from home to be able to take care of their little ones at the same time. However, these often contain many hazards for babies, so they need to be made safe once the baby arrives. After they start crawling, babies can easily reach some of your desk’s drawers and get small choking hazards such as push pinks, paper clips, etc. It’s important to place locks on the drawers, but also start teaching your child that certain areas of the home are off-limits.
It’s not difficult to baby-proof your new home, you just need to look at it through a child’s eyes to notice potential dangers. Once you make sure your living space is secure, you can be relaxed and truly enjoy raising your bundle of joy.