The First Timers Guide To Babyproofing At Home

Who doesn’t like the idea of a newborn baby coming home for the first time?  What’s not to love?  Soft blankies lying all over the place, excited gurgles at feeding time and long naps on the couch with your newborn safely, warmly cuddled up on your chest.  It is at once one of the most exciting things that any new parent can experience…and one of the most terrifying.  Suddenly, everything that’s potentially dangerous to a baby that you’ve never noticed before is now so glaringly obvious it’s taunting you in your sleep and if that wasn’t bad enough – you still have no idea where to even start one the singular most important tasks that any new parents can undertake – baby-proofing your home.

Luckily for you, we’ve created a solid guide to help you get started.

#1 FIRST THINGS FIRST

This is a process that you’re going to want to start a good few months before the baby comes home, if you give yourself around 3 months then you’ll have ample time for any remodelling or physical changes that your home may need.

You’re going to want to take a long walk through your entire home.  Start from the entrance (seems like a good place to start), and walk through every area of your home and start auditing all of the potential hazards.  Remember, you only have about six months before your calm, sweet and serene baby turns into a human bulldozer, so you want to take note of sharp edges, areas where the floor is uneven, steps, sliding doors trails, electronics…yep, everything and if you’re doing this for the first time, it’s a really good idea to get one of your friends or family that has gone through this already, to give you a second pair of eyes.  If you have a little extra money to splurge, then try a babyproofing business.  

Once you’ve completed your walkthrough, give it a few days and do it all over again, except this time, endeavour to find all the possible elements that you didn’t find before.  Now, remember, this is now time to start wallpapering the walls with pillows, be smart and realistic but be thorough.

Once you have your baby-hazard audit in hand, you can start seeing where you’re going to have to start applying a little “tiny human hazard prevention.”

#2  ELECTRONICS, GADGETS AND THINGS

So we’ll start at the most obvious area and also the one where so many unnecessary accidents take place in fist time baby homes, all over America.  No, you don’t have to suddenly redesign the interior of your home but you are going to have to make some adjustments.

Electricity is bad for adults – for babies, it’s way worse.  

Power sockets:   In the United States we currently have two types of power outlets, type 

“A” and type “B”, so finding suitable covers for these is easy, a quick online search will reveal tons of good options.

Electrical Cables:  In this area, you’ll find that there are solutions from cable-ties for behind 

unit securing or if you’re going one step further, installing your TV, stereos cable in the wall.  It looks great and it’s pretty babyproof – but could also cost quite a bit if you don’t know how to do this type of work yourself.  

But, with some creative reshuffling of your furniture, you could achieve the same level of protection and it might be less than glamorous, but if you’re on a budget duct-taping cables under tables, display units, down the wall (in the same colour) or onto the ground can achieve a more than acceptable level of babyproofing.  Long chords are dangerous for many reasons, babies could choke on them, pull them out of the wall and subsequently something else attached to it – you get the picture, so this is worth doing very well.

Looking ahead, as soon as baby becomes more independent, you can start teaching them about the dangers of electricity.  There are toddler oriented programs on YouTube and even some for young babies – you’re about to discover just how quickly your little bundle of joy absorbs everything around them.

#3 KITCHENS AND BATHROOMS

Ovens and stovetops easily fall into the “most dangerous” category for babies.  How many times have you just turned around “for a second” to check on another dish or answer the phone and when you looked back, the milk was boiling over or something was burning?  From burn to flame in some instances, can be just a few seconds and boiling water, milk…whatever falling onto a baby, disaster.

So, never leave the stove unattended and always make sure that the handles of your pots and pans are facing away from you, that is to say – towards the stove.  Install babyproof grips onto oven doors, storage doors that are below the sightline and remove stove knobs.  Getting a stove guard is always a good idea.  

All storage doors need to have locks put on them too and from now on, you’ll only be buying baby/child tamper-proof detergents, cleaning materials and all of the other things you usually store under your sink.

Take a walk through your kitchen and everything that is below your waistline needs reviewing and if you’re as tall as a supermodel, go a little lower.

As for your bathroom, well those super shiny tiles that you had to save forever for, have suddenly become a slip hazard and all of the nice-smelling things that you’ve been leaving on the handy organizer over the bath, yep – they’re going to have to go to.  Higher, much, much higher.  It’s best that you start getting into the habit of placing things out of reach now because crawling baby turns into “climbs on things” toddler in no time at all and those expensive fragrances that smell so great you on you – don’t work so well in your child’s eyes.

A lot of the advice you’re going to pick up on through your babyproofing journey is going to seem like “common sense” and that’s what makes it dangerous.  We hardly ever see the things that are constantly in front of us, so don’t take it personally when your neighbour or worse (your mother-in-law) points out things that you might have thought should have been glaringly obvious.

#4 BABY PROOFING BABY’S ROOM

Your baby comes equipped with all sorts of divine qualities that range from smiles to sparkling eyes and noises that you will never be able to emulate (no matter how hard your other half tries) but they also come standard outfitted with the insatiable quest to discover and learn and this means that they’re going to want to experience everything, at the same time.  

Pimp my crib.  This may sound like a no-brainer, but as your baby grows, you may have to get a bigger crib.  Pay attention to this because corners of the crib that are not out of the baby’s reach could cause clothing or toys to become tangled and this could lead to strangulation or cause injuries as you try to lift your child up without noticing what’s happened.

Cribs must have fixed sides and you have to invest in a non-toxic crib mattress.  We know so much more now about how harmful certain products can be, so when you’re working out your baby proofing budget, this is a must-have.

Try to avoid sleep positioners and products like these, although they claim all sorts of miracle work results, there is precious little (if any) evidence to suggest that they have efficacy in preventing sudden infant death syndrome. (Cot death) and in some cases – have caused it.

Pillows, blankets and bumpers can be a suffocating risk so remove these from your baby’s crib, certainly before nap time.

Don’t place the crib in direct sunlight or next to a heater, this practice is widely linked with SIDS and speaking of which, get some really good information about SIDS here.

Remember to place your crib away from windows, ledges or other items that might be used to climb upon.

#5 BABY PROOFING OUTSIDE YOUR HOME

The same attitude you had when you conducted your first walkthrough on the inside of your house, you now do on the outside of your home and if you have a swimming pool, you are absolutely, 100% going to install a pool cover, fence or both.  There is no amount of over-cautious behaviour that you can employ here.  

Everyone’s home is different, so apply the same diligence to outside your home as you did to the inside and you should be OK.

Remember to install carbon monoxide detectors, smoke detectors and alarms on stairs and walkways for a little extra peace of mind (you should have had smoke detectors in already), so now you have even more of a reason.  Make sure that you have emergency contacts in quick reach and that it’s updated with all of your insurance information, GP, local emergency room, parents, friends and put your details up there – you’re going to have a babysitter at some stage and while you’re at it – make sure you have an updated first aid kit as well.

This can all seem a little daunting but just make sure that you do your best, but use the resources around you.  Ask friends, scour the web and take advice from your parents – you cannot be too informed.  The great thing about babies is that they’re by and large designed for new parents and they can withstand a lot.  But taking the time to do this and do it properly will stand you in good stead, and get you some sleep. (You’re going to need it).