Celebrate Baby Safety Month by Childproofing Your Home

If someone were to ask how safe your home is for your child what would your answer be? The fact is that each year, more than 4.5 million children ages 14 and under are injured each year inside the home. Although parents and caregivers can't be at a child's side every minute of every day, there are important steps they can take to make the home as safe as possible for youngsters. Baby Safety Month, celebrated each year in September, serves as an important reminder to adults about this very important safety issue.

In 2001, approximately 2,500 children ages 14 and under died in the home from unintentional injuries. Fires and burns, suffocation, drowning, choking, falls, poisoning, and unintentional firearm injury cause the majority of home injury deaths. Nearly 70 percent of these deaths occurred among children ages 4 and under.

"One of the most important things parents can do to childproof the home is to see the home through their child's eyes," said Jan Stegelman, Coordinator of Kansas SAFE KIDS. "Parents should get down on their hands and knees and literally crawl around every room in the house. It may sound strange, but from that perspective, adults can get a true realization of the hidden hazards that exist for a child. It is also important to understand that childproofing can never be 100 percent effective. That's why it's so important to supervise your children at all times, especially around water, in the kitchen and bathroom."

Kansas SAFE KIDS offers the following suggestions to help reduce the risk of tragedy at home:

CHILDPROOFING STEPS

• Safety, not convenience, comes first when childproofing the home.
• Busy parents and individuals without children in the home are more likely to store household items with convenience, rather than safety, as the top priority. Curious kids can be very determined, so lock all potentially harmful products out of their reach.
• Parents need to examine everything in the home from the vantage point of a young child. Get down on the floor on your hands and knees and explore the home the way a curious young child might.
• Cover every room in the home. During your inspection, ask yourself, what looks tempting? What is within reach? Look for potential dangers between the floor and about 40 inches above the floor. Also, check floors and carpets for buried dangers like pins or coins. Remove or correct any potential hazards.

THE KITCHEN

• Keep hot foods and liquids away from young children. The vast majority (95%) of microwave burns among children are scald burns. Each year, nearly 24,000 children ages 14 and under are treated in emergency rooms for scald burns.
• Use the back burners on the stove and turn pot handles toward the back of the stove.
• Store dangerous items such as knives and potential poisons out of reach. If your child is visiting someone else's home, ensure dangerous items are stored out of reach during your child's stay.
• Keep appliance cords, placemats and tablecloths out of reach. Children are naturally curious and may pull on cords, unintentionally pulling the appliance and its scalding contents on themselves.

THE BATHROOM

• Set the thermostat of your hot water heater no higher than 120 degrees F. A lower water temperature will reduce the chance of scald burns. It takes just three seconds for a child to sustain a third-degree burn from water at 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Lock medicine cabinets. Even items as seemingly harmless as iron pills and mouthwash can be dangerous for a young child.
• Install toilet locks. Unlike adults, a young child's weight is concentrated in the top half of their bodies. When they lean into a toilet bowl, they may lose their balance, fall forward and drown in as little as 1 inch of water.
• Request child-resistant packaging. . Keep in mind that child-resistant does not mean childproof. These medicines still need to be locked up and out of a child's reach.
• Remove sharp utensils and appliances from the bathroom. Razors, scissors and blow dryers are better kept in an adult's bedroom, locked out of children's reach.

THE BEDROOM

• Beware of old cribs. Baby furniture built just a decade ago might not meet some of today's safety standards. Sharp edges, corner post protrusions and dangerously spaced slats can be deadly.
• Keep cribs and low-standing furniture (beds, bookshelves, toy boxes, chairs) away from windows and drapery. Children can unwittingly strangle in drapery cords or fall from windows that are accessible from the bed or crib.

AROUND THE HOUSE

• Check for fire hazards. Look for frayed electrical wires or flammable materials near heat sources such as space heaters. Never run electrical cords under rugs. Make sure your home, and any home your child visits, has working smoke alarms in every sleeping area on every level. Make sure to check the batteries on each alarm monthly and replace annually.
• Install carbon monoxide (CO) alarms in every sleeping area in your home and check batteries often. Exposure to even low levels of this poisonous gas can be fatal to a small child.
• Use safety gates at the top and bottom of stairs. Stairs falls tend to result in severe injuries.
• Secure heavy furniture, bookcases, and appliances to walls. Young children love to climb on furniture and use drawers and shelves as steps. Use broad-based carts for TV's and appliances. Avoid using pedestal tables to hold heavy items.
• Make sure children play with age-appropriate toys. Not all toys are safe for all age groups. When selecting toys, consider the child's age, interests and skill level; look for quality design and construction; and follow age and safety recommendations on labels.
• Cover all unused electrical outlets
• If firearms are kept in the house, keep locked, unloaded and stored out of reach. Secure ammunition in a separate, locked location.
• Post emergency numbers by telephones. Post phone numbers for the poison control center, 1-800-222-1222, pediatrician, police, fire department, medical services and a neighbor by every telephone. Make sure babysitters and other caregivers know how to respond in an emergency.
• Keep first aid supplies on hand. Make sure parents and other caregivers know where to find the supplies in your home and how to respond in an emergency.

Though it is impossible to remove all of the dangers from your child's environment, with the proper precautions, your home can still be your haven.

Kansas SAFE KIDS, Inc. is a nonprofit coalition of 67 statewide organizations and businesses dedicated to preventing unintentional injuries to Kansas children ages 0-14. Local coalitions and chapters are located in Anderson, Clay, Dickinson, Doniphan, Douglas, Ford, Franklin, Johnson, Marion, Montgomery, Osage, Pottawatomie, Rice, Saline, and Shawnee Counties, as well as Chanute, Hutchinson, Junction City, Leavenworth, Manhattan, Norton, Pittsburg, and Wichita. Kansas SAFE KIDS is affiliated with the National SAFE KIDS Campaign.