• Safety in the home
• Healthcare Q&A

Safety tips for children & babies in the home

Children instinctively bring out our protective side, but at times it is good to refresh our knowledge on safety in the home, especially with products evolving all the time introducing new and perhaps unexpected risks.

So the Child Accident Prevention Trust have been kind enough to put together some of the simple things that grannynet members can do to avoid accidents in the home.

Although terrible to contemplate, these accidents do happen to the unfortunate few, forewarned is forearmed!

1. Detergent capsules and concentrated detergents are really convenient but pose new risks to young children. If yours are under the sink, take a couple of minutes to move them to a high cupboard or one with a lock, away from little hands. Use products with child safety caps and look out for products containing a bittering agent such as Bitrex®. 11 children are admitted to hospital every day because it's thought they've swallowed something poisonous.
2. Remember some 3-4 year olds can open child 'proof' caps in seconds, so keep medicines in a locked or high cupboard too. Don't forget the painkillers in your handbag too!
3. Hair straighteners stay hot enough to badly burn a child 8 minutes after being unplugged. So take a moment to lift them off the floor or the door handle and put them where they can't be reached.
4. Take the time to fit a window lock so it will only open to 6cm (2.5 inches). Falling downstairs can damage your babies brain as well as their body so make sure you use safety gates on stairs.
5. Thick, black smoke from a fire can fill your home in minutes and kill your child in seconds. So get a smoke alarm fitted on every level of your home and test it regularly.
6. At least 1 young child a year dies after getting caught in a blind cord and being strangled. It takes seconds to tie yours back round a hook to keep loops out of reach of climbing children. Move children's cots, beds and highchairs away from window blinds too.
7. If a child is hit by a car at 40 mph, there's an 80% chance they will die. If the car is travelling at 30 mph, there's an 80% chance they will live. Leave a bit more time for your journey so you're not tempted to speed.
8. In five seconds a toddler's skin can be burned so badly by hot tap water that they need to go to hospital. So take a second to put the cold water in first and top up with hot, then test the water with your elbow, to reduce the risk of your child being burned.
9. Toddlers can choke on food that's too big, even just the size of a grape. Take a minute to cut their food up into small pieces.
10. A hot drink can burn a young child even 15 minutes after it has been made, so put your baby down before you pick up yours and don't pass hot drinks over children's heads.