Is your home safe enough for your baby? | Lifestyle.INQ

OCTOBER 27, 2022

Simply watching over your baby is not enough to keep them safe inside your home. No matter how vigilant you think you are, there will be moments when you’ll be too many steps away to protect them from harm.

To secure your baby’s safety even when you’re briefly preoccupied by another household chore, childproof every corner of your home and make your dwelling place a harmless environment for your favorite tiny human being.

Here are simple ways how you can do so:

In the nursery

  • Don’t use soft bedding for the crib

Soft bedding materials are light and can be easily moved even by the fragile arms and limbs of an unknowing infant. Your baby can suffocate if any of these items accidentally cover their face, and this is the reason why doctors advise parents to create a firm sleeping environment for infants instead of soft and cozy ones.

  • Use play mats

When babies start crawling, they become extremely vulnerable to injuries caused by unintended headbangs to the floor. This can’t be avoided since infants are top-heavy, but you can protect them from the impact when you equip areas of the house where you stay in the most with play mats.

  • Secure doors with finger pinch guards

When your baby starts walking you’ll basically have no control over where they wander inside the house. This means they can stay near doors if their curiosity compels them to. Now if the idea of suddenly hearing an alarming scream of pain from your little one doesn’t sound appealing to you, buy finger pinch guards and place them in every door of the house (except in the main entrance door, the back door, and the bathroom doors).

  • Choose safe toys; Store them properly

Avoid buying toys with small removable parts that can end up in your baby’s mouth as they might choke on it. And don’t forget to store them properly after use to avoid slips caused by scattered toys.

  • Lessen furniture

 Clear the nursery of cabinets, drawers, and anything that can tip over when climbed by toddlers.

 In the bathroom

  • Always close the bathroom door

 The reason why we don’t advise attaching finger pinch guards to bathroom doors is because it’s not a good idea to make the room accessible to toddlers. When you leniently leave the bathroom open, you’re making it too easy for your baby to enter the room and explore stuff they shouldn’t play with inside, e.g. toilet.

  • Lock the toilet lid

You wouldn’t want to imagine what comes after when a baby loses balance in front of the toilet, so keep your toilet lid closed and locked especially during bath time. 

  • Clean up

Makeup, hair products, medicine, and anything that can poison your baby should be off limits to them. Organize your things in a cabinet and lock it using a latch.

In the living room

  • Put away your displays for the meantime, and lock cabinets and drawers

When your baby learns to reach for greater heights, literally, it’ll be perilous to leave decors like flower vases and picture frames on top of your living room furniture. If any of it falls off and hits your little one, it might cause life-threatening injuries. Box these items for the meantime and prioritize your baby’s safety over home interior.

Remember to keep cabinets and drawers closed and locked to prevent them from making a staircase out of it.

  • Ensure that all your furniture are bottom-heavy

Even if you lock your cabinets, however, your baby will still find a way to climb your furniture just to get somewhere higher. To ensure that all your furniture at home won’t easily tip over when climbed, fill the bottom part of it to make it bottom-heavy and sturdy.

  • Secure edgy furniture with corner guards

Any furniture with sharp edges inside the house should be covered with corner guards, so anytime your baby loses balance near these items, you can rest assured that they won’t be scratched even if they come in close contact with them.

  • Minimize use of glass furniture

It doesn’t take much to break glass furniture. A few toys and a curious toddler can definitely shatter them. Playing kids can even jump on them by accident. You can only avoid this unwanted scenario if you replace glass furniture with ones made with baby-friendly materials.

  • Cover electrical outlets

Don’t give your curious little one any opportunity to stick a finger into an open outlet. Cover all electrical outlets inside the house and don’t forget to choose durable ones that don’t easily detach.

  • Use cordless blinds

A simple wrong loop of cords around the body can strangle your baby. So consider going for cordless blinds if you prefer blinds over curtains.

In the kitchen

  • Make the kitchen off limits

The kitchen is another part of the house that should be completely off limits for infants. To make sure they won’t have the chance to freely roam around the area when no one’s watching, secure the entire kitchen with safety gates.

  • Lock your cutleries in a drawer

Don’t put your cutleries somewhere that’s difficult even for you to reach. Store them in a low drawer and lock them in instead.

  • Secure your cooking equipment

Put a safety lock on your stove and oven to keep your little one from opening them should you really need to be in the kitchen together.

  • Put away lighters and matches

Place them somewhere your baby won’t reach them or even see them.

Install a safety gate in every room

During the early stages of infanthood, it’s better to have a safety gate in every room of the house so you can limit the space where your baby will wander around. This way, you’ll never have to worry about keeping your eyes off them for a few seconds, especially if you need to get the phone, send an important email, or prepare food for you and the little one.

It’s true that giving your children independence is the best way to help them learn. But as long as their tiny hands still reach out for yours while they learn to walk, run, and talk, it remains your duty as parents to keep them safe.

Don’t let them down.

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Nurture your growing family in a community where work and relaxation effortlessly go together.

 At the Kasara Urban Resort Residences by Empire East, juggling your career and parenting is an easy task. The nature-inspired development is strategically nestled beside the C5 road, which is the most taken route to the business centers all over Metro Manila such as Bonifacio Global City (8km) and Makati CBD (10km) in one end, and Eastwood City (3.5km) in the other. It is also very near the business district of Ortigas Center (3.6km) where equally good companies and business opportunities abound.

Many of the country’s top academic institutions, health centers, shopping hubs, and kid-friendly recreational spots are also a few minutes away from the Kasara, making it a good choice of residence for families.

During weekends when you have the time to walk around and catch some sunlight with your little one, you can enjoy the community’s lake-inspired pool, complete with waterfalls, river rocks, and shrubs.

For more information about Empire East and its homes across Metro Manila visit www.empire-east.com; or call 810-3333 or 0917-8-EMPIRE. You may also like/follow @empireeast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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