30 ways to baby-proofing your home

September is Baby Safety Awareness Month, and plenty of bloggers have posted about ways to keeping young children and babies safe around the house. Since it’s already half of the month, boy do I have some catching up to do! My 8-month old is beginning to crawl so I really need to get some baby-proofing done.

Family Resource has a 30-day checklist to making sure the house is safe. Definitely high on the checklist are fire safety, safe cribs/playpens and strollers. One of my to-do is enrolling in a CPR/First Aid class, which I know is a life-saver.

But my immediate concern right now is to separate the toys my preschooler plays with and the play area for the baby. There are just too many small items (including paper) that the baby can put into his mouth and cause choking.

Incidentally, do you know the 5 common food that are choking hazards for under 5?

Common choking foods for children under five years: Popcorn, hot dogs, chunks of meat, raisins, ice cubes, chunky peanut butter, peanuts (nuts of any kind), hard candy, grapes, raw carrots, potato chips and corn chips.

Tip #23 is something that makes sense but never thought of –

Get a piggy bank: this is a great place to put coins so they don’t end up on the floor, in the couch cushions and then baby’s mouth.