One of the biggest parts of being a mother is ensuring your child is safe. When they’re still a baby or toddler, this safety will be entirely at home. You want them to grow up in a protective environment where they can have fun and feel safe, which makes sleep and play much easier. If you’re expecting your first child, you’re probably terrified about how safe your home is and notice dangers everywhere. So, you can ease your worries by understanding the best ways to make your home safe for your newborn.
Fix the Major Problems
There’s no point in focusing on the small things because this leaves several dangers around the house. Every home has something that could severely harm your child if they go exploring unsupervised, such as heavy bookcases or ornaments on cabinets and shelves. As your child becomes more curious, they will reach out and grab things. If they tug a little too hard, there’s the risk that everything topples over, which could injure them. If you have free-standing shelves and cabinets, it could be worth securing them to the wall.
Technology Is Your Friend
While you’d love to be with your child at all times, you need to go to work or spend time in a different room to unload the dishwasher or fold laundry. However, technology ensures that you can still keep a close eye on them even if you’re away. In-home security cameras mean you can check in on them while they’re sleeping, while a low EMF baby monitor provides a simple and safe way to listen to your child in another room and act as soon as possible if they start crying because they need feeding or changing.
Consider The Kitchen
Your kitchen is arguably the most dangerous place in your home. After all, where else would you keep many sharp objects of various styles? While it’s unlikely your kids will get their hands on your favorite Japanese chef’s knife, you should still consider how your curious child could hurt themselves. Invest in baby-proof door locks so they can’t access lower cabinets. You should also take care when feeding your baby if your counters are damp, as it makes it easier for them to slip.
Check Your Living Room
Similarly, your living room is where you are likely to spend a lot of time with your child. You don’t want to confine them to their crib all day, so ask yourself if any dangers could cause problems. Your television and game consoles could be a major issue as long cables might trip your child if they are not managed correctly. Likewise, vacant plug sockets may seem too inviting, so cover them to stop your child from sticking their fingers inside.
Practice Self-Defense
One of the main ways you can keep the home safe is by knowing some essential means of self-defense. In fact, we would recommend that all parents have a pretty solid basic understanding of how to practice good self-defense. A good first step is to make sure you have access to some small self-defense weapons, and that these are stored somewhere that is both safe and yet easy and quick for you to get to – without being somewhere your baby can reach. Then you have a good approach to take if your home is broken into, for instance.
Create A Functional Environment
If you have enough space for a nursery, it is a good idea to invest in multi-functional dressers that grow with your child. Here, you have everything you need for your child’s first few years and you can store everything in one convenient place. If you double this nursery as a playroom, it’s worth investing in plenty of storage for toys, games, and more. You can put together a basket of their favorite toys they can access easily, but anything else should be out of reach, ideally on a shelf or in the closet so only adults can get to it.
Keep Your Hazardous Containers Out of Reach and Sight
Whether medicine bottles or cleaning products, you need to keep them out of sight and out of reach so your kids don’t let their curiosity get the better of them. Thankfully, many products come with child-proof caps, so they couldn’t open them even if they wanted to. Still, you want to be as careful as possible, so it’s still worth storing everything in a cabinet they can’t access.
One Last Sweep
You may think you’ve done everything you need to babyproof your home (and you can even write a checklist to make sure). However, it’s still worth doing a final sweep before the baby arrives. There is always the chance you’ve missed something important, such as a sharp edge on a coffee table, so one final sweep will give you and your partner the peace of mind your home is ready for a baby.
Safe and Sound
Everyone babyproofs their home when they’re expecting, and the sooner you start, the more comfortable and confident you’ll feel about becoming a parent. Over time, you’ll see your child explore and understand more about your home, and you can gradually remove things until your next child comes along.
