Baby-Proofing Your Home (Adapted from Healthy Steps)

It is the job of every baby to explore. But sometimes this can be dangerous. Balance your baby's drive to explore with your concerns about safety. Get down on your hands and knees in each room of your home to look at it from your baby's perspective.

Do:

• Buy a fire extinguisher
• Change the batteries in the smoke alarms every six months
• Have emergency numbers next to every phone
• Have your address and phone numbers by the phone
• Put covers on all electric sockets
• Use toy chests with a lid that comes off or stays up well
• Use car seats properly, every time you are in the car
• Put gates on all stairs
• Keep a portable gate in the trunk of your car for visits with others
• Have furnaces and fireplaces checked for carbon monoxide
• Lock cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom
• Use back burners when cooking, and turn handles away from reach
• Keep chairs away from kitchen counters to stop climbers
• Take the plastic cover off the crib mattress
• Use plastic guards for sharp corners on furniture
• Remove all cleaning supplies from low cabinets

Don't:

• Ever leave the baby unattended
• Put crib near blinds, curtains, or anything with cords that hang down
• Use pillows or bumper guards in your baby's crib
• Tie a pacifier around your child's neck
• Let the baby sleep in a necklace
• Drink hot beverages while holding your baby
• Let kids play in the bathroom
• Leave breakable items within arms reach
• Put car seats or children under 100 pounds in the front seat of the car
• Put high chairs too close to counters

Adapted from Healthy Steps. Edited and compiled by the Center for Promotion of Child Development through Primary Care 2011