Making the room safe for baby

Since she learned how to walk on her own, Jamaine has been exploring every nook and cranny of our room.

She likes getting familiar with every appliance she can get her hands on: the TV, the aircon, the sound system and the electric fan. I have to closely watch her every move lest she gets an electric shock.

She has also moved on to chewing other things aside from her rubber mat like plastic cases, cellphone chargers and lotion bottles.

Of course, I can’t stop my baby from being curious about the things around her and just say “no” every time she touches something. Both of us would just end up getting frustrated since we want different things: I want to keep her safe while she wants to learn more about her environment.

So the best solution would be to exhaust all possible measures to make the room safe for baby.

Here are some tips:

  1. Move all appliances beyond your baby’s reach, if possible. For example, get a ceiling fan to replace the stand fan; place a speaker mount to support the sound system up the wall and put up a ceiling aircon. Just make sure everything is securely in place and check the fixtures regularly for loosening screws so you’re sure they will not be a falling hazard.
  2. Cover all electric plugs. One time, I was surprised to see Jamaine trying to put the fan’s electric plug inside the socket. I figured she learned it after seeing me do it a couple of times. The five pairs of sockets in the room (translated: 10 dangerous chances to get electrocuted) which used to be convenient for us have now become potential threats to Jamaine. So I immediately got some plastic socket covers and plugged them in all the sockets. Jamaine tried to pry them open the first time but they were really tight. She got tired of trying after a few minutes and resorted to the cabinets.
  3. Sweep the floor clear of all choking hazards. Since your baby still doesn’t know the difference between a coin and a cookie, you can count that she’ll gladly chew on both. So watch out for stuff you might drop on the floor like loose change, small safety pins, hairclips, metal screws, keys and cotton buds. Remember to keep other chewables out of sight like ballpens, cellphone chargers, electric adapters and everything else you don’t want your baby’s mouth on.
  4. Secure all cabinet doors and drawers. Babies love to pull things in and out so make sure your cabinets and drawers don’t open at the slightest budge. Put cabinet locks or stoppers. As a safety measure, make sure all the contents of your closet are pushed a little back into the shelf just in case your baby does manage to open the cabinet.
  5. Make a little play area for your baby inside your room. Since we co-sleep with Jamaine, we’ve cleared a space in the bedroom for her play area. We placed colorful rubber mats on the floor, lined up some books and toys on one corner and positioned some pillows on the other. She usually likes to stay in her area for a little while before she gets bored and ventures into the other “attractions” inside the bedroom. So I always try to find something new and interesting to place in her play area so she’d stay there most of the time. I think she has already learned that this is her special place in the room because when she gets tired of pacing around, she lies down on the pillows and falls asleep on her own.

Do you have some great tips to child-proof your home?

Posted in: Motherhood, Parenting

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 9:16 am and is filed under Motherhood, Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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