Keeping Your Home Safe for Your Crawling Baby
Adapted from the Babycenter article ''Developmental milestones: Crawling" and JOHNSON'S® Baby and Child Safety, DK Publishing Inc., 2004
A crawling baby can get into a lot of mischief. Make sure your house is childproofed, with a special emphasis on stairway gates. Your baby will be drawn to stairs, but they can be dangerous, so keep them off-limits until she's really mastered crawling (usually by about 12 months). Even then, supervise her closely.
One of the easiest things you can do to safeguard your child is to simply look around your home. Sit on the floor for a child's-eye view, and think about things that are likely to attract her natural curiosity.
As your child grows, continue to reevaluate things from her perspective, and revaluate safety requirements. At the same time, teach her to become aware of potential dangers by, for example, explaining in simple terms when things can burn or hurt.
Be sure to remove sharp items from your kitchen's floor-level cupboards, install safety locks and electrical outlet covers and secure any unsteady furniture. The measures you take should help make you - and your child - feel safer and more relaxed.
The kitchen can be the most dangerous place in the house for your child. Ideally, you should keep your baby out of the kitchen at all times, but often this isn't practical. Try at least to keep her out when you are cooking. Installing a stair gate at your kitchen door will help. Make sure there are catches and locks on all the windows in your home and be sure to tie up all curtain and blind cords around wall brackets to keep them out of reach. Turn all pot handles cooking on the stove away from your baby to avoid spills. Be careful of hanging tablecloths - your baby could pull a corner of it and spill hot coffee or tea on herself.
There's a lot to know about childproofing your home. To learn more, visit babycenter.com.
