PLAY IT SAFE at home

Babies and tolddlers just love exploring, but busy hands and a home that’s not been babyproofed are not a good combination! Here’s how to make safety a priority.

IN AND AROUND THE HOUSE

■ Cover exposed wall plugs so that baby’s fingers don’t end up in the small holes.

■ Install baby gates at the top of stairs or at balconies where a baby might fall. Ensure the bars are not so wide apart that baby might squeeze through.

■ Keep dustbins out of baby’s reach and invest in tightly fitting dustbin lids.

■ For now, take tall lamps out of your lounge. It’s not worth baby pulling the stand over and injuring himself, or breaking a window.

■ Remember that many common South African plants are poisonous when ingested, and others pose a choking hazard. Screen your potplants.

■ Keep all electrical cords and cables (from your landline, computer, lamps, stereos and other devices) well out of

baby’s reach.

■ Don’t leave plastic carrier bags lying around. Your baby could chew on them or pull them over his head and choke.

■ Tablecloths are a risk! If your baby pulls himself up by grabbing onto a corner of the cloth, he could upend everything on the table on himself.

■ Gym equipment can be hazardous

– a baby can easily hurt fingers in the spokes of an exercise bike or become jammed in an exercise machine’s moving part, or pull weights onto himself.

■ Glass-panelled coffee tables are a nono. It could shatter under baby’s weight and injure him. Remove the furniture for now or replace the glass in it with an unbreakable material.

IN THE KITCHEN

■ Don’t store toxic materials under the sink, where you always have done! Place your drain cleaners and bleaches in a high cupboard out of reach.

■ Consider baby locks on all drawers and cupboard doors to avoid baby opening them and possbly hurting himself.

■ When cooking, always move saucepans’ handles towards the wall and use the back two cooking plates on your stove instead of the front, if you can.

■ If your baby can reach the oven’s switches, inactivate them (perhaps by switching the oven off at the wall).

■ Wash empty cleansing agent bottles and containers out thoroughly before you place them in the rubbish or recycle bin. Even a drop could spell danger for a little baby.

IN THE BATHROOM

■ Keep medicine locked away on a high shelf where baby can’t reach it.

■ Remove razors, soap and shampoo from the edge of the bath.

■ Cover your bath’s taps with rubber protective sleeves to guard against burns or bumps while bathing.

■ Affix lockable clips to the toilet’s lid so you can stop baby investigating the toilet bowl.

■ Never leave baby alone in the bath.

■ Keep the bathroom keys on the outside of the door so your child can’t accidentally lock herself in.

IN THE NURSERY

■ Attach crib toys to the side of the cot that’s against a wall. If baby pulls herself up on these toys, she won’t fall out of the cot.

■ Don’t hang pictures or wall decorations right over the baby’s bed. If she pulls them down, they could strangle her.

■ Don’t leave baby alone on the compactum or changing mat.

■ Use fire-resistant bedding.

■ Don’t place heaters near the cot.

■ Babies under the age of one should not sleep with pillows in the cot.