With the birth of your tiny human comes an awareness of things that could possibly go wrong. Suddenly, your home becomes a zone of veritable death traps, from power sockets to unsecured furniture. I once saw a post by a dad who quipped that parenting a baby is basically keeping your child alive while it tries all sorts of ways to shuffle off this mortal plane. “It’s like being on suicide watch!”

It is ideal to begin childproofing before your newborn starts crawling and natural curiosity imperils your offspring. A child health nurse advised us to lay flat on the floor and observe the world from a baby’s eye level. Then you can envision potential dangers for your inquisitive progeny.

Cupboards

We bought latches from Bunnings to secure our kitchen cupboards, toilet and laundry cabinets and TV stand, keeping prying little hands away from food, medicine, cleaning agents and electronics.

This worked for awhile, but over time, our clever tot worked out how to unlatch the “childproof” fasteners. One day, I heard a smash – he had pulled out a glass container and it shattered on the floor. Thankfully, he was not injured. So the best way to childproof the contents of your cupboards is to move all dangerous items to a higher perch or less accessible place.

Sliding doors proved a conundrum. I finally found some suitable child locks on Amazon. Growing up with a sliding door, I recall the pain of mashed fingers.

Be aware of tiny fingers slipping into door jambs. I had the linen closet door open one day and closed it, not realising my son had poked his little hand into the gap. His fingers were bent backwards briefly before I saw what had happened and swiftly reopened the door. His cry of pain was heart-piercing. Thankfully, he sustained no lasting damage. The same thing occurred with the fridge door, which nipped my daughter’s fingers.

We used to have ornaments and Lego displayed on our bookshelves as well. Over time, they have been stored away or moved to higher and higher shelves. Now our two-year-old can climb to the highest shelf of the Lego displays, so nothing is safe!

Loose Furniture and Electronics

As we rent, we cannot screw furniture into the walls. At first, we had an open shoe rack, but as our baby developed a puppy-like affinity for chewing footwear, we acquired a shoe cabinet to reduce temptation.

We shoved doorstops under the cabinet to tilt it backwards, hoping that it would be enough. Unfortunately, for our intrepid explorer, it was not.

One day he pulled the bottom drawer open and leaned on it, causing the entire cabinet to fall on him and rain shoes on his head. My husband heard my bloodcurdling scream and we rushed to lift the cabinet off our son.

That very morning, I had been reading an article to my husband about an unsecured TV killing a baby. Thanks be to God, our son was unharmed. We moved the cabinet into the narrow hallway outside our front door, where it has stayed ever since.

Our son also began patting the television screen, trying to interact with the images. My husband thought it was unlikely that it would tip over, but at my insistence, he bought fasteners from Bunnings and secured it to its stand. (Now, after terrible tantrums over a Wheels on the Bus fixation, the television has been banished to the garage, but that’s another topic.)

We gave away our ($5 off Gumtree) dining chairs when our toddler started climbing them and nearly tipping them over, not to mention peeling the faux leather off the cushions. We usually eat at the coffee table with our babies anyway. They sit on pint-sized chairs for meals, instead of a highchair.

White Goods, Sockets and Wires

Now our son has developed enough dexterity and strength to open the fridge. Fortunately, he brings items to us for opening, instead of tearing into the packaging himself. There are fridge locks available – we just haven’t got around to buying one.

We had to figure out how to put the child lock setting on the washing machine while it is in operation, as our son kept pressing the buttons and stopping the cycle. Still, it doesn’t stop him from pressing the “off” button, so we usually shut the door on the laundry now.

Besides outlet covers for the power sockets we only use occasionally, my husband purchased a plastic housing for the socket under my desk, to prevent our babies from pulling out the plug and electrocuting themselves. The babies still try to play with it, but they are not able to penetrate the protective cover.

Rolling and Crawling

When your infant begins to roll, then crawl, that’s when change tables, beds and couches become hazards. Our first change table had side rails, but when we upgraded to one with drawers, it did not come with side rails.

It can be tempting to dash to the sink and wash your hands before picking up your baby, but follow the instructions on the change mat and don’t leave your child unattended for a second – that’s how fast they can be in endangering themself!

Now our active toddler enjoys climbing up to the change mat by himself, and we can trust him to stay safely up there or climb down carefully. His little sister is another matter.

We purchased a bunch of bed rails off Facebook Marketplace for $5 each and barricaded our entire bed when we started co-sleeping with our baby. Later on, I noticed that they weren’t actually meant for use with babies, but they served their purpose for awhile, before he started standing and leaning over them.

Our second baby rolled off the bed a couple of times, but soon learned to wait and wail until one of us came to get her.

Our son fell off the couch and hit his head on the coffee table. We rushed him to the doctor, who reassured us that there was nothing wrong with him besides a split frenulum.

Babies are resilient beings, but vulnerable too.

Prevention is better than cure – act ahead of time to safeguard your precious little ones.

For more childproofing and child health tips, see Tiny Hearts Education. For car safety, see Safe in the Seat.

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Image courtesy of Ksenia Chernaya.

About the Author: Jean Seah

Jean Seah is a law and liberal arts graduate with a profound faith in God. She is a passionate supporter of Freedom, Faith, Family and Life. Jean is the Managing Editor of the Daily Declaration and looks after the Canberra Declaration's social media. Jean is a devout Catholic who lives in Brisbane, Australia. She also edits and writes for MercatorNet and Ignitum Today; and has written for News Weekly and Aleteia.

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