Your home should both be and feel like a safe place for your family. But as a new parent, it’s sometimes difficult to know what’s a potential danger for your child. You’ll have to switch gears a little and inspect your home for items that are potentially dangerous. Here are some great tips at baby-proofing your home.

The Staircase

Each year, around 100,000 children are rushed to the ER for falling down the stairs. That translates to roughly one injury every six minutes. With that said, the stairs can be one of the most dangerous areas for a baby or toddler. Whether they are crawling or walking, they can seriously injure themselves or worse. To prevent a nasty fall, make sure you invest and install a baby gate.

Here is a vital note to make: never use a pressure-mounted gate; these can be pushed on can be made loose. Instead, you should install a hardware-mounted safety gate. Also, make sure your gate opens out and away from the staircase, this is especially important at the top of the stairs.

The Kitchen

It’s crucial that your child stays out of reach of detergents, other types of cleaners, as well as dishes. To ensure this, you should baby-proof all cabinets that are within their reach. One idea to keep in mind is to switch standard cleaning products, made of bleach, ammonia, etc. to more organic compounds made of vinegar, mineral oils and other natural ingredients. That way, if something were to potentially be ingested, the product is less of a hazard.

According to the Poison Control National Capital Poison Center, every 14.6 seconds, there is a reported poison exposure to Poison Control. In 2016, U.S. poison control centers gave telephone assistance to over 2 million callers, who were calling about human poison ingestion. Concerning child poisoning, out of 1,000 children (under 6 years of age), there were an estimated 41.3 poison exposures.

Also in the kitchen, you should make sure that any storage or grocery bags are kept out of reach, as these could become potential chocking or strangulation hazards. And it goes to say that all knives and other sharp objects should be properly stored and inaccessible to youngsters.

The Living Room

Living rooms aren’t normally decorated with young kids in mind. And it’s likely that some aesthetic sacrifices will be made in the name of safety. After all, there are plenty of dangers in this one room in particular. For instance, coffee and end tables have sharp corners. To ensure that your child isn’t accidentally injured on these edges, make sure you install edge and corner guards. Window blinds have long cords that hang. Make sure your child doesn’t accidentally strangle or harm themselves by adjusting the cord length. If you have hardwood floors, a nice area rug could soften a fall or tumble.

Electrical Outlets and Power Cords

Babies and small kids don’t mesh well where electricity is concerned. The National Fire Protection Association states that nearly 2,400 kids 

suffer from severe shock and burns caused by tampering with electrical sockets. As you can imagine, you’ll want to do all in your power to minimize the risk of electrocution. Make sure all unused sockets have socket guards or electrical outlet caps. You’ll have to keep a heavy that your child doesn’t play with cords. To help with this, try to tidy up your cords and safely organized/kept out of reach.

Want to better protect your kids? ADT Pulse provides the ultimate home protection. Learn more about ADT Pulse.

Sources:

http://www.parents.com/baby/safety/babyproofing/babyproofing-home-top-to-bottom/

http://www.babycenter.com/0_childproofing-your-kitchen-for-babies_755.bc

parent.guide/how-to-baby-proof-everything-electrical/