A
few years ago, after placing the family evening meal on the table and
commencing to sit down to eat, our four year old boy decided that running
around the coffee table would be a great pre-dinner game. After about 10
seconds, he tripped and hit his head on the corner of the table and cut his
eyebrow open (a common place for children to have their first stitches)...so
needless to say, dinner was off and a trip to our local hospital was on. There was
something we learned from this - corner cushions positioned on sharp furniture
corners are a good idea. Also many people think that home safety devices are just
for small children, but they can be helpful for adults and pets too.
According
to Kidsafe (an independent foundation dedicated to preventing unintentional
death or injury among children throughout Australia), ‘young children under the
age of five years are most at risk of unintentional injury, and account for
around half of all child injury deaths’.
So
how can risk of injury in the house be avoided or reduced? The best way is by
“baby-proofing” the home by assessing risk areas and installing appropriate
safety devices, with Dreambaby a leading brand in safety devices.
Corners and edges
I
don’t know many children that haven’t hurt themselves on the corner of a table.
Fortunately the risk can be minimised with protectors.
Corner
Cushions
and Corner
Protectors
are very popular, as are Glass
Table
and Shelf
Corner Cushions
, with all of them easily attached with adhesive.
Stairs, doorways and open plan
spaces
Speaking
from experience, it is not much fun to watch your two-year-old fall down concrete
stairs head first, causing a haematoma the size of a golf ball, 3 hours before
a long-haul international flight.
Baby safety gates are one of the more popular safety devices purchased by parents and
carers.
The
Valco Vee Bee extra tall extra wide gate is great for fencing off areas, and
Dreambaby sell a great range of black or white
sturdy
safety gates in varying widths that are
available in
standard
height (.7m)
or extra
tall (1m).
The great thing about these
gates are that they are pressured mounted, which means they don’t need to be
fixed to a wall with screws. There are 3 advantages here: (1) They can be
easily moved from room to room or house to house; (2) they are convenient for
people who rent (as tenants aren’t normally allow to put any holes in walls) and
(3) they can be adjusted by up to 200cm in width. There is also a comprehensive
range of
gate
extensions,
to match these gates, catering
from narrow openings of minimum 36cm to large openings of up to 308cm that are
so often prevalent in modern, open plan houses today.
Apart from gates,
Dreambaby also have a range playpens such as the
Dreambaby
Royale Converta 3-in-1 Playpen Gate and wide barrier
. While some parents don’t like playpens, they are a
great idea when you want to have a shower, go to the toilet, or get on with
housework without worrying that your child is getting into everything around
the house.
One
of my nieces lost the top part her pinkie when she was 3, when a door slammed
shut on her tiny hand (thankfully, it was successfully reattached). Door stops
installed on doors prevent accidents like this, such as a
Foam
Door Stopper
or Stop
Slam
.
If restricting access is necessary, try the Dreambaby
Door
Knob Cover.
I wish I had had access to
one of these restricting devices before our daughter decided to hide the
car/house keys in her Daddy’s shoe in the wardrobe, which took two frustrating
days to find!
Also,
if children venture outside on a balcony or veranda, there are
Wooden Safety
Gates
available, to blend in with wooden balustrades or outside decks (which are raw timber
that can be stained to match).
Cabinets and Drawers
I
recall another niece drinking some kind of cleaning fluid from under the
kitchen sink when she was 2, requiring stomach pumping and an overnight
hospital stay. It’s really important to secure all cupboards and drawers, as
they often contain things children shouldn’t touch (or in this case, drink). Luckily
there is a comprehensive range of cabinet and drawer safety devices, such
as:
Safety
Catches,
Drawer
Catches,
Sliding
Locks
, Flexi-Locks,
Spring
Latches
, Mag
Locks
, Slide
Away Catches
, Angle
Locks
, Secure
A Locks
and Cabinet
Glide Locks.
Note that some of these locks or catches are internally fitted
items, which require simple installation, while others are externally fitted
where no tools are required. There are also general and multi-purpose latches
that are adhesively attached, such as the
General
Purpose Latch
, Multi
Purpose Latch
or Mini
Multi-Purpose Latch.
In the Kitchen
Kitchens
are probably one of the most dangerous rooms in the house for children, as they
have appliances which can make things really hot and most parents and carers
store a small chemical warehouse under the kitchen sink. The best solution is
to fence off the kitchen with a
Safety
gate
or opened play pen, but many modern homes today
are large and open plan. So if this option is out, there are a number of safety
devices that can be used to make it a safe place. The first place of protection
is the area under the sink, where cleaning fluids and plastic bags are usually
kept -these can be closed securely with
cabinet
locks
of varying strengths. Then
the stove area needs to be looked at. If you don’t have the luxury of an
induction cooktop, then gas and electric cooktops (which can be more hazardous)
can be baby-proofed with
Oven
Knob Covers
- preventing children from turning on the gas or an element.
While a
Stove
Guard
stops little fingers tipping over boiling liquids, it’s a good habit
to put the handle of a pot or pan towards the splashback, so children can’t
reach out to it. Children raiding the fridge is not necessarily a
dangerous thing, although drinking chilled antibiotics, alcohol or tasting
crushed chillies should be avoided. Dreambaby has a great
Appliance
Latch
that can be used for fridges, freezers and microwaves, and a Microwave
Oven Lock
is a great idea, considering that many modern kitchens now
have the microwave at kiddy level, below a bench. Modern ovens today have
child-proof knobs and glass fronts that stay cool, however if your oven is not
one of these, then an
Oven Front Lock is a must.
Electrical Safety and Lighting
Having
experienced an electric shock myself, you definitely don’t wish it upon a
child. For wall sockets,
try
Dreambaby
Outlet Plugs. If you have a power
board on the floor, covering it is the best option, with the
Dreambaby
Weatherproof Cord Clamp
, or Safety
1
st Power Strip Cover, which can expand to
cover large boards (also great at helping prevent pets from chewing through
leads). Most modern homes today have a flat screen TV...and they are
big and heavy. You might be surprised by the number of children crushed each
year by a falling free-standing TV. Flat screens are particularly susceptible
to toppling over due to their dimensions. Thankfully there is a
Flat
Screen TV Saver,
which secures between the
wall and TV. For big heavy furniture, try securing it with
Furniture Straps or Furniture
Anchor
. Finally, front load washers are another serious
potential hazard...remember the cat who got washed by a toddler in Australia 2
years ago? (and lived!) Or more disturbingly, the baby who was tumble- dried by
a toddler in England a couple of years ago? Avoid potential disasters by using
an
Appliance Lock.
Bathroom
Every
year there are horror stories of children who literally melt when their
delicate skin comes in contact with overly hot water. It’s a great idea to
reduce the maximum temperature of the household hot water system. Also, keep in
mind there are some devices to help parents and carers evaluate correct bath
temperature, if you don’t trust the ‘elbow test’. Safety 1
st offer
a cute
Buddy
Bath Thermometer
in the form of a duck and Dreambaby also supplies a Bath
Thermometer
in the shape of a fish, duck or crocodile. Children can also
be protected against the heat of a hot water tap with a Dreambaby
Soft
Bath Spout
. Not only is water temperature a hazard, but so is slippage in
the bath. This issue is not confined to small children, as demonstrated by a
sister-in-law, who at nearly full-term pregnancy, slipped in the bath and spent
an anxious night in hospital being constantly monitored. Dreambaby
have
Non-Slip Bath
Strips
, Bath Mats and Appliques,
and Safety 1
st have a cute Froggy Friends Bath Mat. Finally,
the toilet is not something to be overlooked. My eldest brother used to offer
glasses of water to my parents’ guests when he was 2. Mum thought this was
admirable at the time and didn’t discover until months later that he was
actually sourcing the water from the toilet (yuck). And I caught my daughter,
when she was 18 months, sucking on the toilet freshener (double yuck). While
these things won’t cause any real injury to anyone (but possibly boost the
immune system), it’s worth considering installing a Dreambaby
Toilet
Lock
. It’s a great, cheap device and will also prevent little
fingers from being jammed when the seat/lid gets accidentally slammed down.
Bedroom
Apart
from electrical sockets and doors, cords are a safety issue on a bedroom, and
these have been known to choke small children if caught around their neck or by
children grabbing the cord and pulling something on top of themselves. Try using
a
Cord
Shortener,
to
minimise these risks
. Also, children falling out of windows have been highlighted
recently in the press – and this is especially risky if a child’s bedroom is on
the second floor or above, as is this case with many modern homes and high
rises. If this is the case in your place, use a
Sliding Door & Window Lock device, which allows fresh
air but keeps the opening small enough so that a small child cannot crawl
through.
Final Note
If
you are not sure what to buy, try a
Bathroom Safety
Kit
or Home Safety Kit,
which have an array of safety devices to get you started.
The author has 2 young children, 13 nieces and nephews
and 8 great nieces and nephews.
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