If you are a new parent, you know how overwhelming it can be to care for your baby. It can feel like infants simply do everything they can to put themselves in harm's way. Data has shown that the number of children admitted to hospitals due to ingesting small objects has doubled over the last decade.
As a parent, there’s nothing more frightening than such episodes, because at such a young age, there’s barely any communication happening. Seeing your baby in distress and guessing that they swallowed something because they were “crawling by the desk” is not a nice experience.
That’s why, we want to share three ways that you can keep such nerve-wracking moments from ever happening. So, let’s find out how you can start baby-proofing your home right now.
1. Get Down to their Level and Explore Your Home
When you do this, you might realize that a lot of your electrical sockets can be reached and that’s a no-no. If they aren’t being used, consider taping over them. Alternatively, consider arranging furniture in such a way that your baby can’t directly get to outlets.
Similarly, babies love putting stuff in their mouths, and some items can be quite dangerous. Everything from socks, stationary, and electrical cables is fair game to a baby. While you can remove most hazards from the floor, you also have to live your own life. That said, you can choose to opt for items that are less dangerous to infants.
For stationery, you have brands like Loddie Doddie that ensure items like dry erase markers aren’t toxic. You might be careful, but if you have older kids who leave things lying around, that’s a big risk as well.
Similarly, for electrical wires, you can buy gaffer tape and wrap them up for extra safety. You take these steps because it isn’t always practical to “baby-proof” everything. That’s what our next tip is about.
2. You Can and Should Block Some Areas
These days, it’s become increasingly common for at least one adult to be working from home. If so, baby-proofing a home office space can get frustrating and difficult. This is why you should seriously consider investing in safety gates. That’s right, you can find easy-to-install gates that attach to door frames.
With these tools, you can focus on baby-proofing a select few rooms and leave others as normal, adult zones. Not only is this a more practical way of keeping your baby safe, but it also ensures you don’t feel burned out with constantly being on guard. You have your own safe space where you can choose to leave beer cans on the floor and not have to worry about it.
If you are wondering which rooms to block, we got you. Most new parents find that the kitchen, bathroom, and access to the basement or garage are all worth blocking. Likewise, if you have a laundry room with a lot of cleaning supplies, it’s probably a good idea to block that off too.
Remember, if you are short on cash, you can also make your own DIY room blockers. A sheet of plastic that your baby can’t mount over wedged behind two heavy chairs works great.
3. Direct Attention to a Designated Play Zone
While one approach to baby-proofing your home is to remove or block access to hazards, there is another option. You see, babies are naturally curious and want to explore interesting places. If you can create designated zones just for your baby, you might never have to worry in the first place.
A great way to do this is by adding a lot of bright, colorful toys of different shapes and sizes to their play areas. The idea is to ensure that your infant finds exploring his or her dedicated spaces far more interesting than a gray TV remote. Of course, you will want to ensure these baby spaces stay interesting.
That means rotating toys out every week or two to ensure they find their little corners the most interesting parts of the house. Some parents choose to create a sort of mini walled-off area with a single layer of 2x4 wood planks. This doesn’t really stop them from leaving their zone if they really want to, but it works to keep everything contained in one zone.
All in all, baby-proofing your home is something that you can approach in different ways. If you feel like you can always keep an eye on your infant, then you might not even need to do anything. However, if that’s not the case, baby-proofing can help you avoid a lot of tense moments and unnecessary visits to the doctor.
