10 Key Safety Tips All New Parents Should Know About

baby holding parent's finger

More than 8000 cases of non-fatal baby-related falls are reported each year in the United States. Children are vulnerable to many hazards, which threaten their safety. Ensuring your baby’s safety from such risks is a parent’s core responsibility.

Educating yourself on how to protect your little one from recurrent hazards is critical. It is imperative that you take every precautionary measure to ensure that your child is safe. Most times, as new parents, determining what is hazardous and what is not can be difficult.

It’s important that all new parents follow these safety tips.

Keep reading for 10 key safety tips all new parents should know about.

1. Ensure Crib Safety

Your child spends a considerable amount of time sleeping in the initial stages of life. Ensuring your baby crib’s safety can be the first step towards keeping your babe from harms’ way. Before buying a baby crib, consider the most current safety standards.

You need to assess the comfort and the security of the crib. Aspects such as the crib’s slats can determine whether the baby’s body can fit through. This child safety tip is in a bid to address the risk of falling from the crib or being caught up in between the slats.

2. Car Seat

Babies are often fans of long-drives especially when fussy. Seeing your baby fall sleep in your rearview mirror as you cruise away is encouraging. However, this is can be a risky affair during the initial stages of the baby’s life.

New parents need a car seat that is able to ensure that your’ baby’s head, neck, and spinal cord are not subject to injury. Your baby’s car seat should be fitted in a way that accords the child maximum safety.

How the car seat’s settings are set can determine the safety of your baby.

Aspects such as functional seatbelts, tethers, and anchors are important to consider. Ensure that you only deal with trusted dealers when buying a baby’s car seat.

3. New Parents Need to Avoid the Risk of Suffocation and Chocking

The process of growing up presents endless hazards for your baby. Your baby’s propensity to suffocate is highest at infancy. Blankets and bumpers top the list of potential hazards.

This child safety tip focuses on the need to ensure that your baby’s sleeping position is not subject to the risks of suffocation.

Avoiding having objects around the crib can save your child from possible suffocation. Being a parent means that you must view every object around the child as a potential hazard. When your baby is in the oral stages, keeping your home safe from objects that fit into their mouth is important.

4. Stair Case Safety Measures

The crawling stage takes every parent by surprise. Your baby begins to make sudden dashes that can cause safety concerns, especially where staircases apply. One minute you baby may be playing with their toys.

Before you know it, they are rolling down the staircases.

Having a baby gate or play- fence restricts their movements. You need to ensure that your stairway is also monitored whenever your baby is playing. Most times, your baby’s curiosity will take them where there seem to be restrictions, you need to stay alert in such cases.

5. Your Baby and the House Pet

We all have fond memories of family pets. Dogs, in particular, are a common pet in most households. No matter how cultured your pet is never, forget that it still an animal.

More than 100, 000 children get treatment for dog bites inside their homes each year.

Never leave your baby unattended with the family pet. You may also need to train your child on how to be gentle with the animal. Making sure that the family pet is safe from animal-related health –hazards are important.

6. Secure Your Sockets and Other Connections

A crawling baby is an experimental human being. Having open sockets or open live wire connections can be the beginning of trouble. At times, you may not even notice such issues because some sockets are hidden away behind home furniture.

How your baby gets to such unexpected corners is forever a mystery. However, you need to get there before they do. You need to cover such sockets and live wires in a manner that reduces the risk of electrocution.

7. Secure Your Television

The number of children who die each year due to falling televisions sets has increased over time. Your baby’s curiosity will often take them to unimaginable extents. It is not a surprise to find your baby dangling over a lowly mounted TV.

This may be the last thing in your minds when securing your baby’s immediate environment. Given your child’s attention to sounds and images, mounting your TV higher up the wall may be important. When mounting is not an option setting up the television set in a secure cabinet may reduce the extent of hazards.

8. Co-Sleeping Concerns

Sleeping with your baby can be reassuring. Most new parents prefer this setting because of the need to monitor the baby all through the night. However, sleeping with your baby especially at infancy can be risky.

Consider having your child sleeping in a separate crib or bassinet at the initial stages of life. The idea is to ensure that you avoid the risk of rolling over them or suffocation. This safety tip will keep your baby safe and guarantee you adequate rest through the night.

9. Door Safety

If you have ever had your fingers slammed by the door you know the feeling. Now imagine the same experience in the case of your child. Well, it may be traumatizing.

Purchasing components such as pinch guards can save your child from such risks. This should be an important consideration for your home and fixtures.

10. Fire Place Safety

Fireplaces add glam and warmth into your home. However, you also introduce a constant risk to your baby if ever left unmonitored. Having a fenced –play yard inside your house will save your baby from the risk of being scorched by the hot furnace.

Consider securing your fireplace to ensure that both you and your baby enjoy the heat without worrying about safety.

As New Parents, You Are Now Better Equipped with These Tips

New parents learn how to adjust to many different changes as soon as the baby comes into the picture. Child safety tips form the core of these lessons. Baby safety is at the center of your parenting role.

These safety tips will be an important guide for you as you embrace parenthood.

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