Hazardous Items
to Avoid
• Baby walkers with wheels that allow a baby to use her feet to roll around on a floor or
carpet. This is one of the most dangerous items a baby can have.
• Swings or jumpers that are suspended from a doorframe can cause serious falls.
• Fluffy, soft bedding, (mattresses, quilts, comforters, pillows and bumper pads) can
cause suffocation, and is associated with SIDS deaths.
• Hazardous older items. Used items and older items can sometimes be unsafe,
unsanitary, worn out or damaged. They may even have been recalled for safety reasons.
Check the Consumer Products Safety Commission (“CPSC”) web site, to see if they’ve
been recalled. It’s quick and easy to look things up either by brand name or product type.
If the item has not been recalled, check it for signs of damage, that can make otherwise
safe items hazardous.
Then clean the item well. If a surface can tolerate a
disinfectant cleaner, you’ll be able to
remove some viruses and bacteria, and prevent the spread of infectious disease. Use the
cleaner as directed on the label, and then rinse well and dry if your child’s hands or face
will have contact with the surface.
• Choking hazards. Parents have to be vigilant all the time to make sure that infants and
children don’t get small items into their mouths and choke on them. Look for clothing
without buttons and other items that can be hazardous. If clothing has buttons, make sure
that the buttons are securely attached. Scan sleeping areas, changing tables, and floors
for choking hazards. The old rule of thumb is that if you can pass an item through a
cardboard toilet paper roll, it’s a choking hazard. These rolls are not
very sanitary. A cardboard roll for paper towels makes a better screening
device.
• Poorly fitting sheets that are either so tight that they really can’t be fitted correctly over
the mattress, or so loose that they don’t fit can come off the mattress and entangle a baby
or young child.
Setting Up Safe Zones for Feeding
Your Baby While Keeping Older Children Safe
Find comfortable places for feeding the baby while
simultaneously interacting with an older child or children. Since toddlers
are so capable of outsmarting locks and latches, consider using gates with
latches that will not open without the application of much more physical
strength than your toddler or preschooler has or will have in the coming
year or two. If you have more than one toddler or preschooler, you’ll notice
that they can collaborate in defeating safety devices, and that together,
they are extremely strong and impressively resourceful. Toddlers and preschoolers
like to climb and stand on things. To fasten a door securely, place whatever
you are using to secure the door so high that it cannot be reached by a
child standing on a chair or other piece of furniture.
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