Child Safety Hints

PROVIDED BY: Baby Protectors
A DIVISION OF SAFEWORLD, INC.
WWW.BABYPRO.COM

1. Install or have installed safety plates on all electrical outlets. Steer clear of plug in caps and other inexpensive devices that press or stick in place.
2. Use over the door locks to secure areas of danger. As an alternative, use door knob covers. You should keep a few door knob covers in the baby's traveling bag for use when at foreign locations.
3. Use door stoppers to prevent doors from closing on the child's fingers and to prevent the child from locking doors.
4. Remove rubber tips on all door stops as they easily come of and become a serious choking hazard. If you chose, you may replace them with a variety of door stops that are one piece or attach to the door hinge.
5. Install or have installed window locks on all second story windows to secure them in closed and open positions.
6. Window blind cords should be raised three to four feet above the floor. This can be done with blind cord winders or cleats attached to the window frame.
7. Check all areas in which the baby plays for furniture and objects with sharp corners. Any furniture with sharp corners should be protected or removed from the area. Fireplace mantels should have edge bumpers to keep a fall from becoming serious.
8. Route all electrical cords under baseboards or attach with baseboard clips. Hide electrical cords under furniture and behind tables. Use short extension cords to eliminate transformers from wall sockets and hide them behind and under furniture.
9. Rearrange furniture to strategically block off dangerous areas. Examples are floor lamps. These are usually unstable. Place them between the wall and chair or between furniture pieces for security.
10. Be mindful of fireplaces. The hearth accounts for almost one third of all admissions to emergency clinics for children under six due to falls on same. Us a good hearth guard to protect the sharp edges of brick and stone hearths. Try to avoid stick on materials for brick or stone hearths, as the child will quickly pull them off and the residue is difficult to remove from brick. The fire pit is a problem. Do not install a gas log set. The ashes are made of fiberglass and volcanic rocks. The prong ends of the grate holding the logs are very sharp. Wood burning fireplaces have additional problems from the fire to hot coals twenty-four hours later. If you must have a functioning fireplace, install a hearth gate around the entire unit. Otherwise, it is best to just clean out the fire pit and use it as a toy storage box.
11. Use installed gates at top and bottom of stairs. Never use pressure gates at these locations.
12. Use gates for securing dangerous areas. Be sure to use only gates inspected and approved by Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association. The best pressure gates are wood with lever arm pressure devices and small plastic mesh covering. Do not use any gate that offers foot or toe holds for climbing.
13. Install clear Acrylic along balcony railings where the spacing between posts is more than four inches. Alternatives are netting materials specifically designed for these applications.
14. Magnetic items on refrigerators that contain small round or square magnets glued to the front part are very dangerous. These tend to be knocked off the refrigerator. When they fall to the ground, the magnet separates from the front and is easily lost under the cabinets and refrigerator. The baby crawling on the floor will find it and place it in their mouth. Its small size will mean immediate swallowing to the child.
15. Keep children out of the kitchen when preparing meals. A crib or high chair in the immediate area is best. Children are fast and will get under foot quickly and at the most inopportune times.
16. Secure all kitchen cabinets and drawers. Remove all chemicals and cleaning items from below the sink. Move to a pantry or laundry area and secure the doors. Place the waste basket in the lower locked cabinet or in the pantry.
17. Be aware of items on the counter tops. The child will eventually climb up there. Knives, appliances and utensils should be placed in cabinets and taken out only when needed.
18. Secure the garbage disposal switch so that the child can not turn it on.
19. Stove knobs that are easily reached should be removed and placed in a drawer. One knob can be used to operate all the burners.
20. Use back burners when possible. Turn all pot handles inward to prevent the child from pulling them off the stove. If you can't remember to cook on the back burners, remover the front grates and place in a lower cabinet. That way, there will be no cooking surface unless you intentionally place them back on the stove.
21. A stove guard is excellent protection to prevent the child from reaching hot pots and burners.
22. If your oven has a glass front, turn on the oven light when in use. Teach the child that light means hot and leave the light on until the oven cools. With the oven cool and the light off, place his hand back on the glass and say lights off, oven cool.
23. Do not heat baby bottles in the microwave. The liquid heats unevenly and while the part you test may be fine, other areas may be scalding. Because of steam build up, glass and some plastic bottle can explode.
24. Keep the dishwasher locked at all times. A sign on the counter can tell you when the dishes are dirty or clean. Add detergent when ready to run. Wash dishes at night and empty the dishwasher in the morning.
25. Never leave iron and ironing board set up where the child could pull or knock them over.
26. Secure pantry doors with the door locks. Cans, bottles and other items pulled off the shelf can cause serious injury. Food ingested in large amounts can also cause serious stomach disorders.
27. Separate all plants from the child. Many plants are poisonous and the leafs present a choking hazard. This is true of plastic plants too. Most of the soil is full of phosphates and chemicals. Any contact with the child could be fatal. Plastic plants usually have a moss covering in the pot. This too is a potential choking hazard.
28. Wicker and babies do not mix. Wicker may be picked off by the child. A small piece becomes a lethal item when stuck in the throat.
29. Do not place gliders in the child's bedroom or areas where the child plays. Many of the new gliders have complex mechanisms with leveraged moving components. The child's fingers, arms and other limbs could easily be broken when trapped in these mechanisms. Conventional rockers have the danger of the rocking arm rolling onto the child's hands or feet. For this same reason, recliners become a potential problem.
30. Exercise equipment should be out of the baby's environment. Babies can get their fingers in many areas of the equipment or they can pull weights onto themselves. They also present a climbing hazard.
31. Stereos and other electronics knobs can be pulled off. These area easily swallowed. Access to these items should be controlled or eliminated. VCR's are a great storage device for cookies and toys. Place a guard on the cartridge door.
32. Tablecloths hanging over any table can be pulled down and anything on the table comes with it. Try to eliminate these type of decor items in the baby's environment.
33. Keep all trash containers out of the babies environment. Place them in closets and behind locked doors. Wash all cleaning bottles before discarding or take them immediately to the garbage trash cans. Small amounts of these fluids can be fatal.
34. Never do anything in front of the child that he/she may emulate later. Examples are the taking of pills or shaving. Children emulate their parents and the action could lead to serious injury. Up to 26 months is the age this should be observed
35. Keep all items attached to the crib on the wall side so the child can not use them to climb out of the crib.
36. Remove all pictures and wall hangings above the crib to prevent the child from pulling them down. When they come lose, their attachments will fall into the crib and become a swallowing hazard. Pictures also present a hazard by falling on the child.
37. Due to the danger that a child may climb out of the crib at 2:00 AM after 16 months, keep all diaper pails, disposable diapers and babies changing materials in the closet and locked from babies access. Do not leave even talcum powder on the changing stand. Almost all items used for the baby are highly toxic if swallowed. Plastic bags containing the disposable diapers can easily suffocate the child.
38. Do not leave the child lying on a high surface such as a changing table without being secured. Make sure there are no sharp corners the child can scoot into.
39. Do not use any five gallon bucket in the house. This is the most dangerous area for drowning of small children as it is not viewed as a threat. Children are to heavy to 26 months. Once a child tips over into the bucket they can not extract themselves. The same is true for the toilet
40. Place toilet lid locks on the toilet to prevent drowning and the flushing of items down the toilet.
41. Never place more than two inches of water in the baby's bath tub.
42. Never leave the child unattended in the bath tub, even for a second. Be sure you have all bath materials at the tub before placing the child into the water. If you must leave during the bathing period, take the child wrapped in a towel with you.
43. Turn the hot water heater to a temperature that is below 120 degrees. If your bath tub has knobs that can be removed by removing the single screw holding on the knob, do it! It is easy to just sit the knob back on the shaft when you want to use the tub. But the child will not be able to turn on the water with just the shaft sticking up.
44. Remove all medicines from the drawers and medicine cabinet. Place them in a locked tool or tackle box and then lock this in a closet.
45. Secure all drawers and cabinet drawers with latches. Do not use flimsy and inexpensive latches or latches that only require pressure to release. They will soon break or be defeated.
46. Keep a poison antidote kit handy along with a list of emergency numbers for various types of help, Poison Control Center, Fire department, Ambulance, etc..
47. Use inflatable soft spout covers to prevent bath tub fall injuries.
48. Install covers to prevent the child from bumping onto drain valve stems.
49. If you must use electrical appliances in the bathroom, insure they have fault isolation grounding and unplug them when not in use.
50. Over the door bumpers will prevent the child from locking themselves in the bathroom
51. Do not keep small bars of soap. If soap gets small from use, throw it away. A child can easily swallow a small cake of soap.
52. Do not keep bottles, shampoos, soaps, etc sitting around edge of tub. Besides the danger of swallowing, they can also break, causing serious injury.
53. If you live in a two story house, keep an emergency fire escape ladder handy. Be sure the ladder has wall stanchions for step stability and is sturdy when unfolded. Some chain and rope ladders are almost impossible to climb down while holding a baby.

Baby Protectors is pleased to present this helpful hint list. We hope that it helps you in keeping your child safe and preventing any accidents. We also provide free delivery on orders of fifty dollars or more, Custom solutions for difficult areas are available on a case by case basis. All our products are supplied with a one year guarantee and best of all you do not have to leave your home to find the very best product and child proofing advice. Child proofing of homes has been our only business for fifteen years.

Baby Protectors
1-800-622-4320
FAX: 1-800-859-0657