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Baby Proofing:

When your child begins trying to crawl, scoot, or become mobile in any other manner, it is time to baby-proof your house. This is a very important task that must be accomplished, and there are two goals you will need to have in mind while doing it:

• Protecting your child from harmful objects
• Protecting your objects from your harmful child

When you first begin to baby-proof your house, your child will have limited reach, and you will need to eliminate all harmful objects or areas that are within that reach. It may seem like enough to simple look around on the floor and walls, etc., but unfortunately it's not. The only true way to be able to baby-proof successfully, and keep your little one as safe as possible, is to get down on their level. You might be surprised to learn how much more you see when you get on the floor and crawl around. It is always much more than you will ever notice by just standing and looking for places or things to protect your child from.

While crawling around looking, it is important to change your perspective of the things around you. Adults tend to look at the world in general a lot different than babies do. Babies are interested in everything, and they learn by exploration. This means that they also notice everything, and they will be interested in whatever it may be. So, for a parent to efficiently baby-proof a house, we must try our hardest to think like a baby. Sure, to an adult, that little hole under the trim near the floor under the end table in the corner of the living room is hardly noticeable. But to a baby, it is an excellent place to crawl to, stick their finger in, get it stuck, scream for mommy and then bump their head on the table as they are getting pulled out. If you can try to think as much like a baby as possible, you will begin to notice a lot more that would be appealing to a baby, which means you are able to protect them from a lot more.

Granted, no matter how much you baby-proof your house, your child will still manage to find things you missed, and this will include places or things that might be able to hurt them. But, if you try to eliminate at least the most dangerous, including such things as electrical sockets, you will at least be preventing them from the most harmful situations.
A few of the most important ones to watch out for include the following:

• Electrical outlets—there are plastic plug-ins that you can buy in the baby isle of almost any store that can prevent your baby from sticking their fingers or any other objects in the holes. If at all possible, it is very important to keep all sockets that have cords plugged into them hidden. Since there is already something plugged into them, you will not be able to cover them with plastic clips, so you should try to keep them inaccessible. For example, you can keep the television in front of the outlet in which it is plugged in.

• Any small items—about crawling age, babies will also reach the stage where they begin putting everything they can in their mouths. Making sure that there is nothing little on the floor (including under tables, chairs, couches, etc.) can help prevent them from possibly choking.

• Rubber bumpers—when babies start crawling, they often bump their heads on the corners of coffee tables, end tables, etc. It is a good idea to get rubber bumpers to place around the corners of these. Your baby may still bump his head, but it hurts a lot less when it's not into the pointed corner of a table.

• Bathrooms—there are so many things in the bathroom that can be dangerous for babies, that it is often best to keep bathroom doors shut. The floors aren't always extremely clean (after all, nothing can be spotless all the time), there are often chemicals, soaps, etc. in the cabinets, and toilets pose innumerable risks. You can take steps to insure that each individual bathroom danger is addressed, or you can keep the door shut at all times.

• Cabinets and drawers—there are safety latches you can buy that make it impossible for a baby or small child to open them. This can help prevent them from getting into harmful products.

• Objects within baby's reach—usually, it's not long after a baby starts crawling that they begin pulling up on and standing. Anything that could possibly hurt a baby should be moved to a higher location. This can include medicines, hard objects such as ceramics, sharp objects, such as scissors, change laying on the coffee table, etc.

• Cleaning supplies—obviously one of the first steps you will take to insure your baby's safety will be to keep all cleaning supplies out of reach. Knowing that your baby will put everything they get their hands on into their mouth makes this one of the first preventative measures that most parents take. The only bad thing is that, while parents try to keep these things stored in safe places, some parents don't think about the times that they are using them. If you use a bucket filled with water and cleaner to mop your floor, you will want to do this while the baby is sleeping or is in a play pen. There have actually been cases where babies have drowned in these buckets. Another situation is when the parent pours what they need and then set the product on the table or counter. A lot of people do this, because they will be using the product again soon, and they don't think about putting it up since they aren't done with it. This isn't necessarily a big problem when the child is still a baby, but as they get older, and start pulling up and then walking, it can become an issue.

• Strings/cords/straps—if a baby's bed is near a window, and that window has mini-blinds on it, it is very important to keep the cord up out of reach. This is one of the worst strangling hazards in a house. Similarly, you will not want to leave anything lying around that could pose a strangling risk, such as purses with long straps, belts, etc. These items may not seem dangerous, but they definitely can be.

As mentioned above, no matter how safe you try to keep your house, there may still be things you don't think about, or simply don't notice, that can harm your child. This is why it is best to get down on a baby's level, both physically and mentally, to try to prevent the worst from ever happening. This is also why it is so important to keep an eye on your little one at all times.


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