Here are some simple safety tips to help make sure you and baby will have a happy and healthy life.
- You should always put your baby in a car seat when bringing her home from the hospital and anytime she's with you in the car. Car seats lower the chances of an injury in an accident by over 80 percent. Check with your doctor, hospital, car dealer, baby stores, or local consumer safety group about buying or renting one. Be sure the seat is approved for newborn babies.
- Never place her on a waterbed, sofa, or soft mattress. Be very careful when sleeping in the same bed with an infant. Suffocation is a major cause of deaths in the home for children 0 to 4 years.
- Set your hot water thermostat for 48.3° C. A baby's bathwater should be 37.7° C. Always check bathwater temperature with your wrist or elbow before bathing a baby. Don't let children go into a whirlpool, Jacuzzi, or hot tub. Their bodies are more sensitive to hot water.
- Never leave a child unsupervised in the bathtub. If you have to leave the room for any reason, wrap the child in a towel and take her with you.
- Keep toys with long strings, cords, loops, or ribbons away from infants and young children. A cord can get wrapped around a baby's neck and cause strangulation. Pacifiers should never be attached to strings or ribbons around the baby's neck.
- Use child safety gates at the top and bottom of all staircases and be sure they're installed correctly. Avoid safety gates with large openings that children could fit their heads through.
- Choking is a common cause of unintentional death in children under the age of 1. Avoid foods that could get stuck in a child's throat like popcorn, grapes, raisins, nuts, hard candies, raw vegetables, small pieces of hotdogs, and foods with pits.
- Keep all electrical cords and wires out of the way so toddlers can't pull, trip, or chew on them. Cover wall outlets with safety caps.
- Make sure floors, tables, and cabinets don't have any small objects that could be swallowed like coins, rings, nails, tacks and deflated balloons.
- Put childproof locks on cabinets near the floor. Lock up dangerous cleaning products and kitchen tools, like knives, in high cabinets.
- Don't smoke, use matches, or drink hot beverages while holding an infant. Don't leave burning cigarettes unattended.
- Remember that stoves, space heaters, fireplaces, and hot water faucets aren't always hot. Children can touch them when they're cool then get a very bad burn the next time.
- Make sure to put soft pads or cushions on a sharp table or chair corners. If you can, get tables with rounded, smooth edges.
- Invest in a fire extinguisher and keep it in an easily reachable place.
- Post emergency numbers next to your phone or put them on your speed dial. This could include 10111 and 10177, your pediatrician, the poison control center, and work numbers for you or other caregivers.
- Make sure your home is lead-free. Older homes and/ or furniture that have not been painted for a long time may still have lead in the paint.
