Baby Proofing 101: Creating A Safe Space For The New Addition

As a grown full-sized adult, you know (by experience) not to touch things that are hot, not to stick your fingers in electrical outlets or to get your head too close to a rotating fan. These are things pint-sized rugrats do not know, and as a new parent, it’s your job to protect them from sustaining any sort of boo-boo.

It’s quite really quite amazing what adults can overlook as hazards. A coffee table corner bump to the shins for you can be a trip to the ER for your toddler. If you’re not careful enough to baby proof your home, your child could get seriously injured. No one wants their baby to suffer a needless accident, that’s why babyproofing is an absolute must if and when you become a parent. And what’s more, if you baby proof your space you can qualify for a homeowners insurance discount! Since diapers will cost you as much as $675 year, those insurance savings can really help you out.

Tough Lessons: Don’t Wait ‘til It’s Too Late

Over 1,000 young children die every year because of an unintentional injury. This is a harsh statistic to read, but necessary in helping new parents to understand the importance of babyproofing the house. Take this video. Twin toddler brothers were playing together in their shared bedroom. The game they were playing was climbing the dresser. Suddenly, the dresser falls, pinning one of the boys. The free, quick-thinking two-year-old saw that his brother was trapped. He pushed and pulled against the dresser to free him and somehow was able to get the dresser off of his brother. Fortunately, both boys were okay.

There are ways to avoid these situations, and sometimes it takes tough lessons (such as the dresser falling on a toddler) to help the parenting public learn what to do to prevent accidents like this from happening to their own children.

Building Baby Protections

You may have broken into a cold sweat by now, fearing that your house is a deathtrap, it’s not. All it takes to welcome baby safely is a few tweaks:

The Baby Gate: Baby gates act as a sort of fence, they keep the child from entering a room, pool area or headed down the stairs. Install the gates in areas you do not want the baby to have access. Baby gates are easy to secure to the wall and parent latch-friendly.

Secure the Nursery Furniture: What might look like a dresser to you can look like a mountain to be scaled by the adventurous and imaginative toddler. Should you have to leave the room for even a second, you want to know that the furniture is going to come crashing down on your newly walking babe. Secure the dresser, crib and other large furniture items to the walls.

Block Access to Outlets and Cupboards: Who knew an electrical outlet or cupboard stuffed full with pots and pans could be so alluring to young minds everywhere. To keep the baby from harming himself, cover the electrical outlets with electrical outlet caps or sliding plat covers. The type of cover you get will depend on the design of your outlet, so make sure you know which you’ll need before you head to the store. To keep baby from slamming his fingers in drawers or cupboards, get cabinet locks and straps, they’ll keep him from opening up anything you don’t want him to!

Babyproofing your home is a good parenting necessity. It’s also a smart financial decision as it’ll get you a discount on your homeowners insurance. The safer the homeowner, the better the premium. For a free homeowners insurance quote, check out CoverHound’s offerings today.