Infant and Baby Safety Guide

Infant and Baby Safety Guide

The complete guide including simple solutions designed to keep your baby safe. Guide includes simple inexpensive home modifications. This guide is mandatory reading for all first time parents and highly recommended for all parents, homeowners and everyone involved in baby care.

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	Sleeping on Back Infants should be positioned on their backs to reduce the possibility of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Babies should also never use a pillow or abundant loose bedding that could cause smothering.



			Crawling Once an infant starts to crawl it's time to childproof the house. Infants will develop extremely quickly so now is the time to get down on their level and look for any possible hazards.


	Electrical Outlets All electrical outlets should be capped to prevent the growing infant from electrocution.


	Walkers Baby walkers are a great way for infants to get not only exercise but stimulation. Infants should be under constant supervision from a caregiver while using these wheeled devices.


	Head Level Obstructions Many normal household items will now pose a hazard to your infant. Any item that protrudes at head level, for example could result in a collision injury.

Finger Collisions
Items that allow the infant to smash his hands or fingers are also potential dangers. They should be removed or guarded with soft edges.


	Stair Gates Once mobile either by crawling or in a walker it is very important to securely gate the top and bottom of each staircase.


	Reachable Hazards Many seemingly safe objects can become hazards to an infant. Consider the phone cord illustrated below. The cord could not only cause entanglement and strangulation but could also be pulled causing the phone to fall on top of your child. Look carefully around your household and try to eliminate anything that could cause an infant to be harmed. Cords from blinds should be tied up to prevent infants from entanglement. Contact 1-800-506-4636 for a free cord safety kit.


	Bouncing Seats Bouncing seats are a fun filled exercise giving activity. Look closely and it is easy to see that play in these fun toys must also be monitored very closely. Some infants like to lean their heads back causing a possible collision with the hard door frame. One creative suggestion that would allow continued bouncing is to attach padding to the door frame to prevent injury to the infants head or fingers.


	Choking Infants can choke on almost anything they can fit in their mouths. It is highly recommended that all parents and care givers get professional first aid as well as CPR training. Infants should only be given soft foods to reduce the risk of choking.


	Blenderize table foods Once your infant is ready for solid foods an alternative to store bought baby food is to blenderize table food. Please be sure to only introduce one new food every three days. This way if the baby has an allergic reaction the problem food can be easily identified.


	Flowers Although seemingly harmless, household plants can be not only very poisonous but also very attractive to an infant. Please keep all plants out of reach. The poison control emergency contact number and syrup of ipecac should be available.


	Age Appropriate Toys Infants toys are usually specially designed to be safe and stimulating. They are colorful and often textured. Please note that some older children's toys may also be very interesting but are not appropriate or safe for infants. Some of these toys have sharp edges. Others have small parts that could cause choking. In either case care givers should completely check an infant's environment and remove any potentially harmful items.


	Poison & Cabinet Locks Baby proof locks should be mounted on all cabinet doors and drawers. Household cleaning products are only a small sample of the many poisons that must be secured to protect inquisitive infants.


	Lead Poisoning Lead is a toxin long used in paint. Especially in older dwellings care givers should make sure infants do not have contact with lead paint. If lead paint is present it should be removed or at the least painted over.

Preventing Burns
1) Burns are just one of the potential injuries infants face. Look carefully at the above left image. Although not immediately evident to some, this infant could be severely burned by the instant hot water feature of this sink. Its a good idea to set hot water heaters to a maximum of 120 degrees to prevent scalding

2)Heating an infants bottle in a microwave oven could cause a portion of the liquid to reach scalding temperatures.

3) One recommendation to reduce burn injuries is to always cook on the back burners and rotate pot and pan handles towards the back of the stove. This way an infant or toddler is less likely to pull the pot and contents onto themselves.


	Mirrors Infants love mirrors. This visual stimuli is also very important for them. Please use only a baby safe mirror. No sharp edges and only made from plastic or steel. Glass mirrors that can break and cause injuries should never be used.


	Pets Many pets are fine with kids but even the friendliest pets can knock over, or scratch an infant. Evaluate all pet contact and try to foresee any potential problems. One creative suggestion for families with cats that are over friendly would be to put a screen over the infants crib. This way the cat could not smother the infant while sleeping.

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Baby Safety Contact Information

Red Cross www.redcross.org

Poison control 1-800-222-1222

Consumer Product Safety 1-800-638-2772


	The purpose of this text is not to be a comprehensive guide on infant safety. Rather, it is a group of suggestions that will hopefully encourage the reader to think about and eliminate, all possible hazards that an infant may encounter within the home. The end result or goal is keeping infants safe.

Please note that proper safety precautions were taken with each
photograph in this text. For example, the walker used has locks that prevent movement.