Yes...the time has come when your baby started pulling themselves up on to anything they can find and cruising around the furniture, cleaning up everything they can possibly find and causing Armageddon in the house. Their curiosity has no limits and they enjoy exploring every corner, every surface and every cupboard they can stumble upon. You most likely find yourself constantly worried about the things they will find, places they will go and dangers lurking from every corner of your house. To restore some peace to your life I have prepared a few suggestions of things that you can do to ensure health and safety of your baby and better mental health for you. Here are a few simple steps to risk assess your home environment: Start at the floor level: cover sockets with socket protectors (here is a good selection to look at Amazon.co.uk : socket covers ) secure rugs and carpets to prevent them from moving and having corners turned which could be a tripping hazard for your baby examine the furniture you have for any sharp corners or edges i.e. coffee tables with sharp edges (a see-through protective tape can be used on all edges or simply use protective corners, a good set can be found here Safety Corner Guide Protector set ) remove loose cables as these are not only attractive for babies to pull but are a dangerous tripping hazard check your floors for any small items that could be a choking hazard check your floors for spillages secure curtains (babies love pulling at things so make sure that your curtain fittings are robust and can stand vigorous pulling, otherwise tie them up) have a look at how you position your furniture on the floor to allow your baby to move around and have enough space when they fall when taking next steps to avoid them bumping into furniture which is not spread around reposition plants on stands and check whether your plants are not toxic if consumed by children (you should always think that impossible could be very much possible with a baby around) 2. Examine what you can find on top of your cupboards and secure cupboard doors I always suggest to look at your environment through the eyes of your baby so I suggest that you sit on the floor and look around, check for any heavy or glass items that your baby could easily pull down from shelves and reposition them to a safer place If you have tables initially remove your tablecloths to avoid your baby pulling at the table cloth and eventually removing the whole content of your table with it (yes, they are small but mighty especially when they are on the mission to achieve something they want) fit your cupboard doors with safety latches ( you can find some here Safety Latches ) and position any chemicals on higher level and out of reach of children 3. Stairs and bannister insert stair gates in places where your baby could climb and fall check your bannister for big gaps, assess whether your child could put their head through the gaps, if yes then you should think of installing a mesh protective cover 4. Doors insert finger guards on doors The above are just a few most common things to look at when thinking about your child's safety. As every child is different, it is best to observe your child and see how they interact within your home environment as they may be other necessary changes to carry out to ensure safety. Below you can find a few useful websites with thorough checklist of all home areas. I hope you will find these useful. Baby Proofing Your House | Pampers UK Baby Proofing Checklist (thebump.com) Babyproofing Your House: A Checklist for Every Room (parents.com) It is also worth remembering that although we focus on our child's safety we should ensure that our baby proofing does not limit our children's ability to become independent. It is worth thinking about safe areas that will allow your child to practice being independent and grow confident in their skills. I have included below a video from Montessori at Home that shows how a safe environment could also be accessible and enabling for your little one.
