Safety Measures For Infants All Parents Must Know

Having an infant at home can be exciting and exhaustive at the same time. While they will keep you entertained and happy with their antics, even the smallest things that you never gave a second thought about earlier can become dangerous. Children, especially young growing ones are natural explorers. They want to touch, feel and make sense of their surroundings on their own and yet are young enough to not be able to comprehend the imminent dangers. This increases your anxiety and responsibility quite a lot. You must be constantly worried about the safety measures for infants.

10 Safety measures for infants all parents should know:

When you have an infant or a toddler at home, it is critical that you are attentive at alert at all times to ensure that you keep your little one out of danger. Infant care does not, however, mean keeping them bound and still in one place. Let them move around, explore and make sense of the world around them. This helps build their motor skills and learning other important life skills. All you need to do is stay around keeping a watch to ensure they are out of harm’s way.

The other precautionary act that you can do is ensure that your house and surroundings areas childproof as possible. Ensuring that things are kept out of the reach of children or that they have adequately protected forms the backbone of infant care. Here are safety measures for infants including a list of some situations where you need to be extra careful and a little attention to detail can help you enjoy the growing up of your little one.

1. During bath

Yes, even an activity as simple as taking a bath can have a series of dangerous situations for your infant and you need to be careful. The first step towards avoiding any problems is to ensure that you have everything in place before you take your baby for a bath. Take out all the things you will need – towels, clothes, etc. before taking your child for a bath. In such a case, you will not have to leave them unattended for even a minute.

Next, ensure that the water temperature is proper for your child by testing it with your elbows. Too cold or too hot water can both cause a lot of trouble. Also, do not leave your child unattended near the filled water, whether in a bucket or tub. Children can drown easily and very silently. Supervise them at all times.

Also, once you are done bathing your child, ensure to remove all excess water from the bucket and the floor as the active child can easily slip. Take them out of the bathroom with you and lock them carefully. This is one of the most important safety measures for infants.

2. Safety in the kitchen

An increasingly dangerous area for adults and even more so children are the kitchen. Be it the fire or the electrical appliances, both are potential hazards waiting to happen if you are not attentive. Make sure that all the switches are at a height, where your child cannot reach easily. Also, keep the electronic equipment like mixers unplugged when not in use.

Make sure the child is away from the fire and fire causing articles. Have a fire extinguisher installed in your kitchen if possible and always keep the exit clutter-free. Also, ensure that all pointed articles like forks and knives are stored far from the reach of the children.

3. Safe sleeping environment

Another safety measure for infants that you must know is the maximum time your child spends is on sleeping and it is very important for their overall growth. Thus, it is imperative that you ensure that the environment in their sleeping room is safe and conducive to healthy growth.

To start with, ensure that your child is placed on a smooth and even surface without any sharp objects protruding from the surface. Also, make sure that the height of the bed or crib is not such that the child can roll over and fall. Put guards around to make sure that they are not able to roll over.

An important point to remember for effective infant care is that the kids can climb over smaller surfaces like pillows, so use them only when the child is not at risk of falling from a pillow and hurting themselves.

Make sure there is not much gap between the bars of the crib, between the mattress and the crib or the bed, where the child can put in their arm or leg and get stuck. This can avoid a lot of disasters and prevent your child from getting hurt.

As with the kitchen, ensure that the electrical switches are at a height, away from their reach and no sharp objects are lying unattended. Also, make sure that all the pointed edges are padded so as to avoid the children hurting themselves accidentally.

4. Safety doors at home

Install safety doors at home and ensure to keep them locked at all times. This will have the double benefit of stopping your children from slipping outside unnoticed as well as keeping the strangers away. You can always check the authenticity of the person before opening the safety door ensuring increased protection.

Installing a baby gate near the stairs is a good way to prevent your active infant from rolling down the stairs and hurting themselves. The safety lock ensures that your child is neither able to open it and crawl to the stairs, nor can they lock themselves in alone in a room.

5. Fire safety

One of the most crucial aspects of infant care is to ensure that your home completely fires safety compliant. Be it the kitchen or malfunctioning electrical socket, a fire can start anywhere. Ensure that you have a working fire extinguisher within easy access in your home at all times.

Also, don’t leave your child unattended, especially in the kitchen for even the shortest duration of time. Their curiosity and hyperactivity can lead to a serious accident.

6. Pet danger

While having a pet at home has its own benefit, including teaching children the value of bonding and friendship. It may also cause a lot of trouble. Your infant and the pet, both do not know how to show their displeasure or discomfort and resort to their natural reactions.

Children being the curious lot can poke the animal in the eyes, pull off the fur, or even hit them. The animal on feeling threatened may react with their natural instinct, i.e. biting.

Hence, at all times accompany your children when interacting with pets. Teach them to care for the animal and not hurt it, especially when it is sleeping.

7. Protect on the road

An extremely important part of infant care is to handle them outside the safe confines of your home and on the road. Your child may want to break free and run on their own to explore the oncoming vehicles.

Make sure that you are holding their hands at all times, however much they resist. Slowly introduce them to the traffic signals and teach them the meaning. Red means stopping and Green means moving.

Also, keep an eye at all times and teach them how to interact with strangers. Do not use mobile devices while on the road and teach your child to be attentive.

Hope you take care of these safety measures for infants next time you are around a baby.

Author Bio: A brainchild of IIT alumni Vipin, Abhishek, and Garima, Care24 offers professional care from trained caregivers that help the patient recuperate at home. Care24 has been in operation since 2014 and has successfully helped 40000+ families heal at home in Mumbai and Delhi.