Freddy has
just mastered the moving of both legs and arms into a crawl and is in fast
motion forward; into everything!
The
delicate vase that was Grandma’s heirloom. Crash!
Frantically
you race to rescue him from the glass before he puts it into his mouth or cuts
himself.
The dogs
water waiting enticingly on the floor. Splash!
Another
mess. The cupboard where your toxic cleaning supplies are and on to the toilet.
My goodness!
He moves so fast and while you are picking up one mess he is on to the next.
Sharp knives will need to reside in a
non-reachable location because as Freddy sees you chopping a salad for dinner,
he will decide that he should also and next thing you know he will have knife
in hand. Even things that aren’t dangerous in themselves become weapons of
danger when inserted into electrical sockets. My husband’s brother was flown
across the room when he inserted a fork into a plug in as a young child. Table
cloths with hot mashed potatoes waiting tantalizingly for the family to eat
become a burn threat as baby tugs on the material to get a closer view and it
tips over on the top of him. Hot tea on the counter, frying pans on red hot
burners and you wonder how on earth you are going to get this child to adult
hood!
Suggestions:
Put locks on cupboards with vitamins,
medicines and other ingestible hazards. Even those items you couldn’t imagine a
child drinking or eating, put safely out of reach and behind locked doors; such
as the cleaning agents, fingernail polish and remover, dishwasher soap, laundry
soap, bleach.
Outlet covers – protect from babies
fingers or objects inserted. Swivel outlet or Leviton’s Decora
tamper-resistant duplex receptacle - an outlet that requires no cover.
Furniture corner covers – protect for
sharp impact when they fall.
Cupboard locks – keeps contents safe.
Bolt bookshelf to the wall – for when
baby pulls on it to stand
Floor lamps out of reach behind other
furniture.
Install window guards to prevent baby
from falling through a window and window locks to keep them from opening
further than four inches. Also keep furniture away from windows so that babies
can’t climb up and fall out. (Many babies have fallen out of windows yearly)
Use blinds without pull cords and keep
the baby’s crib away from the window. (If there is a pull cord, cut it or use
shorteners or wind-ups to keep them far away from baby.)
*Caution* Window coverings are an extreme threat. The cords that
cause them to expand and retract can trap baby’s neck inside and not release
them causing strangulation. (One child a month dies from strangulation in the
United States from this situation. The children involved have been between the
ages of seven months and ten years of age.) http://www.windowcoverings.org
Great link with a
list - http://kidshealth.org/parent/misc/childproofing_cutout.html
Successful Solutions
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