Babies are small, vulnerable, and totally dependent on other humans to ensure their safety. As they get older and become increasingly mobile they need even more protection from the many potential hazards they will experience in life. The horrifying reality is that more accidents happen at home than anywhere else – the very place you would think your baby was safe!

So how can you baby proof your home and make it safe?

First of all, even before you identify potential hazards in your home, it’s important to realize that nothing will ever take the place of adult supervision. Just because you have safety products in place doesn’t mean you can sit back and ignore what babies and children are doing in your home. But having safety products in place certainly does make life easier for everyone.

Identify Potential Hazards in Your Home

There are probably more potential hazards in your home than you can ever imagine. While kitchens are bathrooms are recognized as being high-risk rooms, even bedrooms that are considered safe havens need to be evaluated.

Generically, baby proofing your home involves identifying anything and everything that could provide a risk. These include:

  • Steps and decks that a baby could fall down or off
  • Smooth surfaces that become slippery when wet
  • Windows he or she could fall out of and/or break and result in being cut
  • Doors they could catch their little fingers or toes in
  • Drawers and cabinets they could open that might contain potentially dangerous items from medicines and household cleaners to nuts and bolts they could swallow
  • Fireplaces where they could get burnt
  • Electric sockets and outlets that provide power … a finger or other object poked into a socket will usually result in electric shock
  • Stoves, ovens, and cookers that also introduce the hazards of burns and either injury from electricity or gas
  • Taps that deliver hot water that burns
  • Water in baths, sinks, and basins … a baby can drown in just a couple of inches of water
  • Even the corners of furniture they could bump into and get severely hurt

Once you have identified the hazards in your own home you can take steps to minimize the dangers and in this way baby proof it.

Products That Can Keep Babies and Children Safe

Generally, limiting access to certain parts of the house will make it relatively baby proof. The best way to do this is with a gate that can be installed quickly and easily.

These may be:

  • Pressure mounted with customized clamps and gate latches
  • Wall mounted
  • Manufactured specifically for use at the top of stairs or in stairwells
  • Expandable for wider spaces including passages or access areas that lead into adjoining rooms
  • Designed for outdoor spaces, for instance at the bottom of stairs that lead to the house

There are also invaluable devices that prevent children from getting into or out of doors. For example, Cardinal Gates has various Door Guardian products that are used to child and baby proof exterior doors, inward swinging doors, and patio doors. Also invaluable for seniors who tend to sleepwalk, the Door Guardian has been recognized as one of the best “new child safety products” by the Washington DC-based National Safe Kids Campaign.

There are also safety drawer and cabinet latches, safety locks including the Window Warden, hearth guards, and corner and edge “cushions”.

Plug Guards, Cord Keepers, Socket Guards, and socket lock kits are invaluable when it comes to stopping little fingers getting access to electricity.

Cardinal Gates’ Safety Products

Cardinal Gates has a number of safety products that will make your home child and baby proof. Get your child ready for little ones with Cardinal Gates shop online.