What are the essential ways to have baby proof homes? Expert reveals – PINKVILLA

Are you an expectant parent and want to know how to baby proof your home? Check out the expert's guide right here.

When expectant parents are all set to bring home the new-born, most importantly, you want to be sure that the home is securely set up to welcome your little bundle of joy. Parents must note that the best time for baby proofing your personal spaces is long before the baby actually arrives. Most parents and caregivers must comprehend the fact that what exactly is baby-proofing homes and why is it so vital. Baby-proofing is nothing but making your home totally baby-safe to avoid any unwanted hazards encountered by the baby, once he or she starts crawling.

Additionally, it is very difficult to gauge what will the baby get into once he or she starts to crawl, walk and becomes capable of climbing. Hence, it is prudent for new parents to make the home absolutely safe and sound for the baby by safeguarding that whatever he or she might try to open, pull on, or play with won't hurt the baby. Parents-to-be can learn how to baby proof your home room-by-room by leafy through the below mentioned ultimate baby proofing checklist:

Make your home safe normally first:

Before you baby-proof your home, you need to consider how normally safe your house is. You must primarily look into crucial aspects like ensuring your hot-water heater is set below 120 degrees F so that you will refrain from scalding your toddler during bath-time. You will require a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and will want to install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors on each floor of your home. While redoing your home to suit baby requirements, parents must ensure to place safety gates at the head and foot of your stairs, and seal all the electrical outlets with caps. Make sure to store all the chocking and hazardous substances in airtight containers on high shelves which are above the childs reach.Baby-proofing your living area:

Your baby might spend almost the whole day in the living area. Falls and accidents with furniture are the greatest peril to your baby in this room, so you will definitely want to add cushioned corner guards or appropriate edging to coffee and side tables and redo any sharp-cornered surfaces. Once your baby is capable of standing, he or she might also get the inkling to try to climb on the furniture pieces. Hence, as a precautionary measure, responsible parents must consider moving away from everything from your windows so the baby wont be able to climb up and fall out. Always mount bookshelves to walls so that your toddler will not be able to topple over. You must attach the LCD securely to an entertainment center or table so the baby is unable to pull it down on its own.

Always remember all the knickknacks are fair game for baby's play, so if you want to prevent your kid from touching something, you must store it away. While redesigning your family room for the baby, you can consider incorporating items like cordless blinds because the cords on blinds and curtains are usually strangling hazards for babies, hefty picture hooks to avert picture frames from falling off the wall and most importantly electrical tapes to shield electric cords from coming in contact with the baby.

The next stop should be your kitchen:The process of cooking and cleaning tends to keep you engaged; hence you want to rest assured that your child is not getting into any sort of trouble if you turn your back even for a second. Primarily you must consider reorganizing your kitchen once you have the baby on board. If your lower cabinets comprise of detergent powders and cleaning supplies you must without fail to move them to the top-most ones instead. Bottommost cabinets even if you make use of safety latches should hold things that are safe and sound for baby to scout like harmless plastic containers, paper products and pots and pans that are not heavy.

Even your lowermost kitchen drawers must not encompass any kind of plastic and paper bags which are suffocation hazards, these unsafe items must be moved to the upper drawers so that they are out of reach from the children. Place choking hazards and small items like magnets, up high too. Lastly, you must remember to unplug small appliances when not in use, but never allow the cords to dangle. Your kitchen must definitely have latches for cabinets and drawers that comprise of harmful products. This is necessary because once your baby learns to climb, he can reach out to almost anything. You must invest in stove-knob covers, to stop the baby from turning on the burners along with non-skid pads for rugs to avoid slipping and falling.

Finishing Up with the Bathroom:

Being the most hazardous place when kids are around, in the bathroom too you need to shift harmful products by designing high shelves and ensure to remove all electrical appliances and their cords to evade electrical perils.

Designing your babys room:

While setting up your munchkins room, you will surely require plenty of babyproofing to be done. Most importantly you need to take all steps to secure the babys cradle and ensure if it is meeting all the safety standards. For instance, while designing the cradle you must check that the crib bars must be no more than 2 3/8 inches apart. Always keep in mind till the time the baby is older than 6 months, he could possibly suffocate on the bedding such as pillows and blankets, and you should also make sure his sheets and mattress fit firmly. Additionally, you must consider using UL-listed night-lights and replacement bulbs along with finger-pinch guards for hinges on doors.

Once you have given a tick mark to the bigger aspects while designing your home as per baby requirement, you must now focus on the smaller details. Always ensure to place safety gates at the entrance or exit to any room that will be off-limits to the baby, such as a formal living room. Check your doorstops; many usually have detachable caps that pose a choking risk for babies.

Make use of the above-mentioned baby proofing checklist to facilitate you to keep your new-born safe and sound.

By Hemil Parikh, Founder, Elysium Abodes LLP

x Your comment has been submitted to the moderation queue

View original post here:
What are the essential ways to have baby proof homes? Expert reveals - PINKVILLA