Baby care 101: Baby-proof the house before the little one starts crawling

While growing up, children start to sit, stand, crawl and walk in no time. In a blink of an eye, they start to move. While they have the whole house to move around, you need to assure every corner is safe for them.

Once the baby starts crawling, baby-proofing the house is a must. © Shutterstock

Baby-proofing the house is the most important aspects of bringing a baby home. You might also need to start early, may be before delivery, as some of the baby-proofing would take time. Also, you must know that baby-proofing for an infant and for a toddler is different. Thus, you may need to change few things after 8 to 10 months. When the baby is on move, there are many potential dangers around the house than when he's young. Every object in the house and every corner has to be checked for baby's reach, height and mobility. This aspect of baby care takes time and thus, you need to be patient and careful.

Baby-proof the corners and sharp objects

When a baby starts to move, the first thing that he does is to hold on to object and try to stand. Therefore, the corners of all the tables, chairs, side units, washing machine etc have to sealed with softer material. In fact, the bottom of each these units must be cushioned, if there's a space underneath for the baby to crawl and sit or stand under them. With that, make sure you keep all sharp object like pens, knives, pencil, forks, out of his reach. There shouldn't be any glass object in his reach, something that may fall and crack. If you have musical instruments at home, keep them out of your baby's reach.

Latch doors and cabinets

If you have drawers and cabinets at lower level, like in kitchen or living room, make sure to latch seal them. Your baby shouldn't be able to open them, get inside the drawers, or get things out of these drawers. This goes for your refrigerator door and grocery storage cabinet as well. Children are attracted towards exploring new things and believe us when we say flour boxes, cereals and grains, vegetables are what they like the most.

Baby-proof all switches and sockets

Well, to a 10-month old, those three cavities in the wall is unique. No matter how you try to stop the, they crawl to put their fingers inside the socket. Babies also like to switch buttons on and off. While it can be fun for them when you're watching them, they might get a shock when you are not. Switch boards are risky, you never know which wire get lose and current starts to slow in the board. With this, make sure they are kept away from match boxes, lighters and anything that has something to do with fire. Parenting is not easy, parents!

Keep toxic material away from babies

Any cleaning agent, garbage bins, cosmetics, perfumes should be kept at a distance from a baby. A baby can put anything and everything in his mouth. To avoid any poisoning, you must be careful with what a child can reach for. Cover dustbins with tights lids that they can't open. All plastic, like bags and cutlery should also be kept away from them. In fact, be careful that there's no ketchup bottles, sodas, oil containers lying around in his vicinity. You never know when he might open one to taste.

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