There’s a new guide to baby-proofing from Consumer Reports and it’s organized so you can get an early start to your checklist, especially if there’s going to be a young one around with visitors coming over for the holidays.
“We broke it down by age and by room,” said Jessica D’Argenio Waller, the baby reporter for Consumer Reports, who added that you can “pick and choose what’s most helpful for you because, of course, every child and every home is different.”
She said it’s the first time they’ve put out such a guide for baby safety in your home.
“We’ve tested baby gates for a while, and really wanted to branch out and test the other products that parents are seeing in the market — these kits that promise to keep babies safe. We wanted to check their real-world usage, their durability,” D’Argenio said.
And she said you need to start the process earlier than you think. Try to be one step ahead of your baby.
“It changes and you have to really stay on top of it. So my recommendation is that anytime your child hits a new milestone — maybe they’re starting to roll over or they’re starting to scoot or cruise — you want to take another look at the baby proofing checklists for the next age bracket,” D’Argenio said.
She said the key is to get started one room at a time and try not to do everything at once.
“I like to tell parents also that it’s really helpful to just triage baby proofing, because you want to just reduce risk as much as you can,” D’Argenio said. “Just creating some safe zones in your family home, where you don’t have to go really hard for an entire weekend and baby proof your entire house; but you can baby proof the bedroom or the kitchen and just take it room by room, take it slowly and adjust as needed.”
And she suggests changing the way you look at things around the house by getting down on their level.
“Get on all fours or shrink down to your child’s level to see what might be in eyesight for them,” D’Argenio said. ‘Look at the world through their eyes and their level. You might see hazards or risks that you might not otherwise have paid attention to.”
See the complete guide online here.
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