Babies on the Go: 10 Safety Tips

Baby on the Go: First Safety Steps
Yes, your new baby will surprise you with how quickly he’ll learn to crawl or bum-shuffle his way towards stairs or a fireplace, but it’ll be a long time before he can reach up for dangerous things on shelves.
So at first it’ll be more important to identify any places where he might crawl or shuffle to when you are not at hand to stop him. You don’t need to fit stairgates to every doorway and set of steps in your home, just the ones you think he’s most likely to get to without you there to check he’s OK.
Plus at this time, if there are any fireplaces that get used, either decide to put them out of use (making sure gas taps are not accessible by small hands) or fit a fireguard around them.

Baby on the Go: 10 Top Tips
OK, so your little one is now able to get about on his own. Some of the tips below may be things you have already identified – for example, loose wires are a hazard for anyone, especially if you have been carrying your baby around for the past few months, often unable to see what’s directly under your feet.
Some of the tips will sound more obvious than others, but ticking your way through them should hopefully make you feel more confident about your home being a safe place for your baby.

• 1. Don't leave your baby on his own. Unless your baby is in his cot (without any loose fabrics or anything hanging within his reach which could pose a choking risk), never leave him on his own. And when he is in his cot, make sure his safety monitor is switched on and communicating with the monitor where you are in the house.
• 2. Have a major tidy up. Anything within reach (up to about a metre high) that is either breakable or which is small enough to be a danger if he puts it in his mouth, should be either boxed up and put away until he is much older, or put on a shelf higher up. Although right now he won't particularly notice much above his immediate surroundings, make sure that anything higher up doesn't look too tempting to reach for. For example, when he is older, sweets or toys shouldn't just be put on a high shelf but be put out of sight.
• 3. Check out your electrics. Are wires in a place where he could trip on them, or pull them so that a lamp or other appliance might fall on him? Buy safety covers for your electrical sockets (any supermarket will sell these and they're not expensive) and cover over any which are not in use so that little fingers won't get poked into places they shouldn't be. If you have plugs at a low level (in older houses some are still near the skirting boards), make sure these are out of sight as much as possible. And lastly, if you have lamps with lightbulbs that are easy to reach, bear in mind that these can heat up and will burn a child, so make sure they are not grab-able.
• 4. Get safety gates. Assess where your child is likely to get to – once he's crawling he'll move fast! – and fit a safetygate. If you have a problem with uneven surfaces (for example, some bannisters can be awkward shapes which make fitting a gate tricky), think about other ways you can ensure he can't reach the top or bottom of the stairs – for example maybe fit the gate to his bedroom door rather than the stairs, then always make sure he's behind this if you aren't nearby enough to catch him if he heads for the staircase. And with any gates you fit, make sure they fit properly – ill-fitting ones can fall over easily and this is even more dangerous.
• 5. Check bannisters. Are your bannisters' uprights so far away from each other that a small child could squeeze through them? Any standard designs should be safe, but if you have a upright in your bannister that's missing, or the gaps in your stairs' uprights are too far apart, think about having these refitted or cover them effectively for now.
• 6. Check out your furniture. If you have a coffee table, great - it'll give your new explorer something to hold on to when he's cruising. But make sure the corners and sides aren't too sharp or rough for him. You can buy plastic protective corners which can round off any sharp corners, but these don't always stick to all surfaces (eg they may be better on glass than wood) so you might be better off covering the table with a cloth or positioning the table so that sharp ends aren't in your child's pathway. Also, as your child grows and starts to climb as a toddler, shelves will become a tempting step ladder. Many baby stores and homeware shops stock easy-to-fit tags which will make sure your shelves or drawers can't fall on top of a child who is trying to climb up them. And one other thing to note - if you do have little cloths on tables, perhaps with lamps or vases on them, take these off if they are at a height where a baby or child could pull them and bring items tumbling down on himself.
• 6. What's in those bottles? Make sure any cleaning products (bleach etc) or even other items like fizzy drinks which are not safe for young babies and children to drink, are kept out of reach and out of sight. Additionally, think about anything you might have kept under beds or under cupboards – anything from alcohol to old polystyrene packing – which might look appealing to a small child, and move it to somewhere lockable or safely out of reach.
• 7. Keep the floor tidy. It's easy to trip on magazines or little toys.
• 8. Cover radiators. Some people buy special covers for radiators, but those which are out of reach – behind the sofa for example – are fine. However, radiators which might get hot and will be near where your baby sits, plays or sleeps, should be covered. Use a light blanket if you don't want to buy special safety covers, or simply switch these particular radiators off.
• 9. Check your cupboards. Overheard cupboards are fine, but are your lower kitchen cupboards accessible? If so, either make sure they only contain pots and pans, plastic cups etc, or put clips on them so that they can only be opened by an adult. These clips are really easy to fit and you can buy them at baby stores and homeware shops. They're not locks, but they do require you to lift the catch out of the way, thus making them hard for babies to get past.
• 10. Keep your eyes open! We don't want to scare you, this is an exciting time! But just learn to assess a room and how your child is growing and getting round on his own now. Some babies and toddlers never feel the need to climb up bookcases, others will be little terrors! And now your baby can move, watch where you're going – it's like having a cat for the first time, you might trip over him!