45% of childhood injuries in Singapore occur in the home. Statistics show that the living room is the most common location for accidents due to the amount of time families spend in them trying out the latest technology. While children of all ages are prone to accidents in the home; they can be more severe in young babies as their bones aren’t as developed as older children’s. As such, for your baby’s safety, it’s crucial that you baby proof your living room, long before they start crawling and investigating everything.
Fix your furniture to the walls
Once your baby starts crawling, it’s only a matter of time before they’re pulling themselves up on objects such as your living furniture and holding onto them for support. However, when an infant does this, the potential for the furniture to fall over and injure them is high. But you can limit the likelihood of this occurring by using specialist anti-tip straps or cables to secure your furniture to the walls of your living room.
Floor safety
A crawling baby will spend a large proportion of his or her day on the floor. However, wooden and tiled floors can cause bruising and scrapes on your child’s arms and legs. It’s, therefore, worth laying down a large rug in your living room for your child to utilize. Alternatively, carpeting your living room floor will benefit the skin on their limbs too. Another item to consider is floor lamps. You’re best off switching these for wall mounted lamps or table lamps so your baby can’t grab on to them and knock them over while investigating the living room floor.
Block off heat sources
4.9% of all childhood injuries in Singapore are as a result of burns and scalds. So, you should take action to safeguard your tot from living room hazards, such as radiators, fireplaces, and living room heaters which could cause these injuries. Thankfully, radiator covers are a great way to shield radiators from your child’s grasp, while fire guards will ensure little hands don’t get burnt. Individual heater units should be mounted high up on the living room wall. 21.5% of Singapore living rooms have electrical appliances with dangling cords, so after mounting your heater, conceal the wire with a cable tidy or box it in to prevent your child tugging at the cord.
Cushion sharp corners
25% of childhood visits to Singapore emergency departments are due to children injuring themselves on furniture with sharp corners. You should, therefore, invest in furniture cushion covers which stick along the edge of nesting tables, television stands, sideboards, and similar pieces of furniture. When your baby starts crawling; this will prevent head injuries when they try to pull themselves up to a standing position.
Before you know it your newborn immobile baby will be effortlessly crawling around your home. As the living room is one of the biggest dangers in the home, you should prepare for the crawling stage long before your baby starts crawling as this will ensure your child is immediately protected.
