It won’t seem long before that helpless little bundle of joy that you brought home from the hospital is crawling around the home, investigating all that he can see and touch. Many parents feel that even precious goods should be left within baby’s reach so that he can learn not to touch them. This is not fair to baby or parents.
Baby’s physical development far exceeds his mental development and teaching a baby who has just learned to crawl not to touch breakables is destined to failure. It is not impossible of course, but it takes time and meanwhile those breakables are at risk – and so is baby’s safety.
It is far better to put expensive goods up out of reach and begin his training not to touch with things that are not breakable or expensive. Then when he disobeys or you don’t happen to see him touching, no harm will result. If breakables are left within reach they will nearly always end up broken, unless you have the time and patience to follow baby about all day long.
So place valuables or breakables up on high shelves and then you can relax and enjoy life as much as baby does. But there are other areas where safeguards will need to be put into place. Baby will soon learn to open cupboards and drawers. If they only hold pots and pans or plastic ware, this may not matter to you – but expect to find it all out on the floor quite frequently. Otherwise, install baby-safe knobs and locks on them.
Anything that is toxic or poisonous should be put up onto a higher shelf as well, just in case baby does find out how to open that child-proof latch. This includes cleaners, garden poisons, insect sprays and even some foods that would make baby sick if he should sample them. It is quite simple to re-arrange the contents of the pantry so that all paper goods are on the bottom shelf. Edibles that are stored in plastic or tins can go on the second bottom shelf, although heavy tins could cause injury if dropped on bub’s little toes.
If there are floor length vertical drapes in the home, take care to keep baby away from cords and pullers as it is possible for him to strangle or choke himself on such things. You may need to keep baby out of certain rooms with a baby gate, or by simply shutting the door.
When you are cooking in the kitchen, baby should not be allowed to crawl around your feet. It is far too easy for him to get burned, or cause an accident if you trip over him. If you cannot block the area off so that he can still see you, placing him in a play-pen will keep him safe.
If you use a sewing machine, make sure baby does not crawl under the table and insert his fingers into the foot pedal while you are using it. Some babies will also try and chew on electric cords and cables, so these must be placed out of reach. Steps and stairs are other hazards for the new crawler, although he will learn to negotiate them in time.
This is such valuable information. Baby Proofing products have come a long way and there is something for just about every household child safety need. You can find all of your baby proofing products online at The Baby Proofing Shop.