Child Safety and Childproofing Tips

I learned today that Mike Tyson’s 4-year-old daughter died on Tuesday after a tragic accident. She slipped or put her head in the loop of a cord hanging under a treadmill’s console and was suffocated. I feel just terrible hearing this news, and it brings to light again that we as parents can’t be vigilant enough when it comes to our children’s safety. Here are a few safety tips that can not be mentioned enough:

- Don’t let babies or small children play with anything that is small enough to fit through a toilet paper roll to avoid suffocation accidents. L is 2 ½ years old, but I still cut up his hot dogs and grapes, I am too afraid he might choke on them.

- Cut blind cords that form a loop to avoid strangulation accidents. Look out for any other cords in your house that could be a hazard. I don’t let L put any cord around his neck while playing, like the cord that is attached to my keys.

- Pad corners of tables and counters with foam. I can’t stand the look of our baby-proofed coffee table, but every time L almost hits his head on the table, I am glad I still have the padding on it.

- If you have a child old enough so that you can leave him or her alone for a little while in another room, check in on your child every few minutes. If I am in the kitchen and L is playing in the living room, I call to him, asking if he is okay and make him answer me. If I don’t hear him, I immediately go to see him.

- Don’t leave your child, or pet, in the car. Cars can heat up to very high temperatures in minutes. I know it is tempting to just run into the post office without your child, but you don’t want your child to get overheated or worse.

- Make it a rule that your small child has to grab on to your leg or something else if you don’t have a hand free whenever there are cars around, like in a parking lot. It takes patience to reinforce this rule, but it is well worth the effort.

- Don’t let your child play with plastic bags and store them out of reach. Make a knot in any bags you are throwing away.

- Always have children wear a helmet when on bicycles or scooters. Don’t buy them electric or gas scooters, they are very dangerous for the child and other drivers, who might have an accident when surprised by a child on a fast-moving scooter, apart from being terribly noisy and polluting. Think green!

If you need more information of childproofing your home, I found this informative article.

And here are guidelines for safe co-sleeping.

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Tagged as: baby, childproofing, co-sleeping, Mike Tyson, safety, strangulation, suffocation, tips