Health & Safety
Home safety at each stage
Injury risks change as mobility changes, and the most serious hazards are not the ones that get the most attention.
Unintentional injury is a leading cause of death and hospital admission in young children, and the pattern of risk changes predictably as a child becomes mobile.
Before mobility
Risks are about the environment rather than the child's movement.
Falls from raised surfaces — changing tables, sofas, beds — which happen the first time a baby rolls, always unexpectedly.
Never leave a baby unattended on anything raised, and keep a hand on them.
Sleep environment hazards, covered elsewhere on this site.
Scalds from hot drinks held while holding a baby, which cause a substantial number of serious burns — a hot drink stays hot enough to scald for a long time.
Bath water temperature, which should be checked every time.
And car seat use, including the airbag rule.
Once rolling and crawling
The largest change.
Get down at floor level and look, which reveals what is reachable.
Stair gates at the top and bottom, with the top gate screw-fitted rather than pressure-fitted.
Furniture anchored to walls, particularly chests of drawers, bookcases and televisions.
Furniture tip-over causes deaths every year and is entirely preventable with brackets that cost very little.
Blind and curtain cords secured out of reach or replaced with cordless, since looped cords are a strangulation hazard responsible for deaths in this age group.
Small objects out of reach, using the test of whether it fits through a toilet roll tube.
Button batteries secured, since swallowing one causes severe burns within hours — this is one of the most serious and least known household hazards, and any suspected ingestion is an emergency requiring immediate hospital attendance.
Cleaning products, medicines, laundry capsules, e-cigarette refills and alcohol locked away or high up.
Laundry capsules deserve specific mention because they are attractive, concentrated and cause serious eye and airway injuries.
Cords, cables and phone chargers out of reach.
Fireguards, and radiator and hot surface protection.
Once walking and climbing
New risks appear.
Windows: restrictors on any upper-floor window, and furniture moved away from windows so it cannot be climbed.
Kitchen: pan handles turned inward, hobs guarded, oven doors that get hot considered, and hot drinks kept back from edges.
Kettle flexes shortened or coiled.
Doors: finger guards, and awareness of slamming.
Garden: ponds and water containers, which are a drowning risk in very shallow depths, plus garden chemicals, tools and poisonous plants.
Trampolines and garden equipment used with supervision.
And gates and driveway access, since driveway run-overs are a recognised cause of serious injury in this age group.
Water
The risk most often underestimated.
Drowning is silent and fast, and can occur in a few centimetres of water.
Never leave a child unsupervised in a bath, at any age under about five, not even briefly and not with an older sibling as the supervisor.
Empty paddling pools, buckets and water butts.
Cover or fence garden ponds.
Bath seats and rings are not safety devices and do not replace supervision.
And supervision near open water means being within arm's reach and looking, rather than being present.
Poisoning
Common and preventable.
Store medicines and chemicals in original containers, locked or high.
Do not describe medicine as sweets.
Be aware of visitors' handbags, which frequently contain medication.
Be aware of grandparents' houses, which are frequently less childproofed and where a large proportion of poisonings occur.
Know the number for your national poisons information service or emergency line.
And if a child swallows something, do not make them vomit — get advice immediately, taking the container with you.
Fire and carbon monoxide
Working smoke alarms on every level, tested monthly.
A carbon monoxide alarm where there is any fuel-burning appliance.
An escape plan that everyone knows.
And keeping matches, lighters and candles out of reach.
First aid
The thing worth doing that most parents never get round to.
A short paediatric first aid course covering choking, resuscitation, burns, bleeding and seizures is widely available, takes a few hours, and is the single most useful preparation available.
Knowing what to do in the first minutes changes outcomes in exactly the situations where minutes matter.
General information only, not medical or safety advice. Seek emergency care immediately for suspected button battery ingestion, poisoning, or a child who has been in water. Consider a paediatric first aid course.
