Child-Proofing Your Home

People without young children must have thought I had the worst sense of interior design on the planet. When my children were babies, my house looked like I just moved in and hadn’t yet put out the knickknacks, plants, and other decorative touches that make a house a home. But I learned very quickly that it was far better for all of us if breakables were packed away, sharp objects were moved to higher ground, and cabinets and drawers were locked tight. I also learned that it’s never “too soon” to start child-proofing. While your daughter is between four and seven months, take a good look around your home and begin to think about safety. Because you can’t predict the day she’ll learn to roll over to the electrical cord, or scoot on her behind to the edge of the stairs, or eventually crawl across the room to the hot stove, take time now to prevent accidents and injuries by making a few simple changes in your household. Here’s a list to get you started: Survey your house for hazards, then search again. Walk slowly through the house looking for potential danger. Then, crawl through the house to get a baby’s perspective. Move all sharp objects, including knives, forks, vegetable peelers, and sewing or hobby implements out of reach or get latches and locks for drawers and cabinets. Drawer latches of various designs are widely available through stores, catalogs, and websites that sell baby products.Move anything that could be swallowed into high or locked cabinets or closets. This includes medicines, vitamins, cleansers, cosmetics, detergents, stain removers, air fresheners, candles, and pet food. Regular human food can also choke a baby and should not be easily accessible. If you have drawers that can be pulled out all the way without stopping, install latches or stops so your daughter doesn’t pull them out onto herself. Put outlet covers on or plugs in unused electric sockets. Check for hanging wires, blind cords, and similar objects that could be pulled down or could choke a baby. Move any objects that could break or fall. Move high-risk furniture or make it safe. Tall bookcases and dressers should be secured to the walls with brackets, so that if a child climbs on them they won’t tumble over on top of her. You can buy elasticized padding to put around the hard edges of tables that might be in a toddler’s path. Be prepared to install gates to block off staircases. (Use the kind that mounts to the wall with hardware.) You won’t catch all potential hazards (and so you should never leave your daughter “loose” and unsupervised). But this list should prevent the most obvious dangers. You should repeat this process every time your daughter moves up in mobility—when she starts to crawl, walk, run, and climb.Lead paint was banned in 1978 because it was found to cause lead poisoning. But if your home was built before that date, you should have painted areas, both exterior and interior, checked by the local department of health to see if your child is in danger of lead paint exposure. Lead paint is seductively sweet. If young children eat paint chips or inhale lead dust, they can suffer lead poisoning. Milder forms of lead poisoning have been associated with learning problems, and severe cases can cause mental retardation and many physical problems. If lead paint is found in your home, ideally it should be removed or covered with paneling or plasterboard before your daughter arrives. (Lead paint is best removed by professionals who know how to contain the lead dust it produces.) It is also important to identify areas coated with lead paint if you plan to renovate rooms because such work can create and spread lead dust.If you are a renter and your landlord refuses to have your apartment checked for lead, contact your local health department. Rules about if and when landlords can be required to remove or cover over lead paint vary from place to place. If your landlord resists following the rules, you may need to seek help from the health department, tenants’ groups, or health advocacy groups.