Child Safety Products
Child safety is something that is very important to me for many reasons. The main being that I have children and I always want to protect them. When I had my first child I felt a little lost when he started to crawl around. He was finding and getting into things that I had never considered being a threat.
There are things that we all think about like electrical outlets for example. These things are the most talked about and is most likely the first thing that we plan for when we think about "baby proofing" our homes.
Please continue to review my list of must have safety items for baby.
1. Outlet Plugs - We will start with this one since we already touched on it previously. These are a true life saver for any parent with small children. There is also an alternative to these if you don't like the look of the typical outlet plugs. You can purchase self closing outlet covers. The outlet covers look just like your outlets but are baby safe. I wish I had known about these when my oldest son was younger. They have a lot nicer look and if you intend to use this outlet often its much easier to slide it over and use it then it would be to take the plug out and not lose it.
2. Since we covered outlets lets go ahead and discuss power strip covers. This is where we can get into what works for my family may not work for yours. If your family is like mine we do have a few power strips in our home. Around our computer and behind our TV. The odds that our child can really get behind our TV to get to the strip to begin with is yet to be seen but I am not willing to risk her safety to find out. These power strip overs are made to cover the plugs that you have plugged into your strip. They block your child from being able to put anything into the sockets or pull the plugs out of them.
3. Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector - These are extremely important if you have children or not. I recommend having one on each floor and each side of the house if you live in a larger home. We keep one in our family room and one in our kitchen since we only have a 1 story home. The bedrooms are located between them. It's also important that if you have older children to make sure they know what to do in the event the alarm would go off. Plan a meeting place outside. Discuss stop, drop, and roll. Prepare them to know how to be calm and know what they need to do. This includes never going back into the house for any reason and finding a safe neighbor to call the police and fire squads.
4. Baby Monitor - Again not everyone is going to need a baby monitor. I did not need one with our first child. He slept in our room and we lived in a small apartment at the time. You can find these pretty cheap these days. A basic monitor can be found for about $20. Even the ones with cameras are fairly affordable coming in around $50. Granted you can buy more expensive ones and they do get pretty pricey ranging from $50 all the way up to $200 or more. The type of monitor you will need is going to depend on you and your family. The main purpose for a monitor is to be able to hear your baby when you are out of the room. If it eases your mind to be able to see him as well then I vote you go straight for the one with camera.
5. Trash Can Lid - Ok I know this one sounds silly and I had not thought about it until recently. I didn't need this when my son was younger but my daughter... My daughter is constantly trying to get in our trash can! The fear for me is she is going to get a hold of something that is going to cut or hurt her. Not to mention that's just nasty... So if you don't have your can somewhere like in a cabinet or the garage I highly recommend a trash can lid that snaps.
6. Baby Gate - Everyone uses baby gates differently. If you have stairs you will want to be sure to block them off so baby can't fall on them. If your like me you have a 'safe zone'. We have our family room and our daughters bedroom blocked off from the rest of the house. These two rooms are completely baby proof. There are no dressers in her room, TVs, or anything that can fall. We use a walk thru baby gate to separate the rest of our home so we know baby is safe when she is in these two rooms. We use the walk thru gate for convenience plus our 7 year old struggled to get over it. Now everyone can get where they need to go and safely.
7. Edge and Corner Guards - These are a must have if you have pointed edges on things such as counters and coffee tables. They also make finger guards. Finger guards are made to keep little fingers from getting shut in doors. Not everyone is going to need these items but if you do have a pointy edge coffee table I suggest them. Small children learning to stand or walk on their own are very clumsy. My husband still has a mark on his face from when he was a child due to a coffee table. We chose to remove our coffee table and store it in the shed until our daughter was better on her feet. Whatever works for your family.
8. Crib Sheets - A must for EVERY home! Unless you are bed sharing (which isn't recommended) then you are going to need crib sheets. The sheets should be tight fitting. There should be nothing else inside the crib besides baby. They make baby sleep sacks to replace blankets and spreads. Your baby should be safely snuggled in his/her sleep sack, alone, on back, inside crib. There are so many tragedies I hear about these days with new babies. Sometimes even older babies. This is very important for the safety of your child. I could never stress this enough. One of these tragedies has hit very close to home recently with someone I know. You never think something like that could happen to you or someone you know. Just be aware. It very much can.
9. Child safety locks - Oh how everyone could use these! Highly universal they can be used for cabinets, fridge, toilets, and so much more. If you have chemicals in your home be sure these are put in a high cabinet even if you are using these. If the worst should happen and these would fail or your baby would figure out how to use them it could be very bad. I remember once when my nephew was young my sister called me crying. Her son had got into her fridge and threw all of her eggs all over her kitchen. Ways to avoid this? :) Yes, child locks! Baby in your silverware drawer? Yes.. mine too. These are inexpensive and so useful! There are a ton of different shapes, sizes, brands, and ways they look. So look for the one that fits you best.
10. Door and Window Alarms - Does your baby play with the doors? Even if they can't open them yet... That day will come I promise. These are easy to install and affordable for any budget. These will save a lot of worry! Little ones are so quick if you look away just for a split second they can be gone. I never knew these existed until my oldest sister told me about installing them at her apartment. They lived in a complex and her son was so sneaky he could get out and be down the hallway before my sister even realized what had happened. Once she installed these. Problem solved. There is also door knob locks if you aren't excited about the idea of alarms. They fit around your door knob to keep baby from opening it.
Thank you for reading along. I know how important it is for your little ones to be safe and I hope this helped by providing you with things that you may have forgotten to consider when
thinking about baby proofing.
If you have anything to add to this list that I may have forgotten myself please feel free to leave a comment below and I will add it to the list along with your name! I greatly appreciate your efforts in helping others!
