Baby Safety

Always watch your baby very carefully and follow these simple tips from the Home Safety Council. They will help you protect your baby in and around your home.

Keep Your Baby Safe From Choking and Suffocation

	Put babies to sleep on their backs. Keep pillows, blankets and toys out of cribs. Do not hang anything with strings or ribbons over cribs.
	Children can choke on small things. If something is small enough to fit in a toilet paper tube, it is not safe for little children. Look in every room of your home. Pick up small items like buttons, coins, jewelry and small toys. Keep latex balloons out of children’s reach – use mylar balloons instead. Watch carefully for loose magnets. If more than one is swallowed, they can attract each other in the body and cause serious injury or even death.
	Read the labels of all toys before you let your child play with them. Make sure your child is old enough to use that toy. The label will tell you the safe age.
	Cut your toddler’s food into very small bites. Always make sure children eat while sitting down. Do not let them have round food like peanuts or hard candy.
	Window blind cords should not have a loop. Cut any loop in two pieces and place them up high where children cannot get them.

Keep Your Baby Safe From Fire

	Make sure a smoke alarm is inside or near every bedroom. Test each smoke alarm every month. Push the test button until you hear a loud noise. Put new batteries in your smoke alarms at least one time each year.
	If your smoke alarms are more than 10 years old, replace them with new smoke alarms.
	Practice fire drills to make sure everyone can wake up to the sound of the smoke alarm. Children will need help escaping a fire. Plan for this.
	In a fire, go to your meeting place outside. Call the fire department from there. Do not go back inside for any reason.
	Lock up all matches and lighters where children cannot see or touch them.

Keep Your Baby Safe From Falls

	Use safety gates at the tops and bottoms of stairs. For the top of stairs, gates that screw to the wall are more secure than “pressure gates.”
*	Always use safety straps on high chairs, changing tables and strollers.
	Wipe up spills when they happen.
	Have window guards or window stops on upper windows. But make sure you can open the window fast in case of a fire.
**	Cover the ground under playground equipment with a thick layer (9-12 inches) of mulch, wood chips or other safety material.

Keep Your Baby Safe From Poisons

	Know the things in your home that are poisons.
	Look at the labels for the words “Caution,” “Warning,” or “Danger” on the box or bottle. Remove all medicines and medical supplies from purses, pockets and drawers. Keep them out of reach of children and lock them away.
	Put cleaners, medicines, alcohol and other poisons in a cabinet with a child safety lock or latch. Have child safety caps on all chemicals, medications and cleaning products.
	Know to call 1-800-222-1222 if someone takes poison. This number will connect you to emergency help in your area. Keep the number by every phone.
	Have a service person check your heaters, stove and fireplaces every year to see that they work well. These are a source of carbon monoxide, a deadly gas you cannot see, smell or taste.
	Put a carbon monoxide (CO) alarm near the bedrooms. A CO alarm will tell you if the gas level is too high.

Keep Your Baby Safe Around Water

	Drowning can happen very fast. Most of the time you will not hear someone drowning. Stay within an arm’s reach of young children when they are in or near water.
	Have toilet lid locks and use them. Put locks on the outside of the bathroom door to keep children out.
	Store large buckets turned over, so water cannot collect inside them. Very young children can drown in 1-2 inches of water.
	Put a high fence all the way around your pool or spa. Always keep the gate closed and locked.
	Hot water burns like fire. Set your home water heater at or below 120 degrees F to prevent burns. Use a water thermometer to test bath water. The water temperature should be at 100 degrees F.
***	Babies and young children have delicate skin. Install special tub spouts and shower heads that prevent hot water burns.

* Photo Courtesy of DEX Products, Inc.
** Photo Courtesy of Swing-N-Slide
*** Photo Courtesy of H2otStop