Before your child could crawl, you likely looked forward to the day where he or she reached this developmental milestone. You set toys ahead of them hoping he or she would propel forward to reach for it and realize that crawling is now a snap. However, as soon as you get a crawling baby on your hands, you’ll soon realize that what you once thought would be cute is now a disaster on the move. Your priority is now keeping your mobile baby safe at all time. To help you with this, here are three tips for making sure your home is safe for your crawling baby.
Get On Their Level
The first and best way to start your baby-proofing for your crawling child, according to Linda DiProperzio, a contributor to Parents.com, is to get down on the floor to see the world from their level. While you may think that you can see all the dangers from up above, you could miss some things that would prove to be very harmful if you weren’t crawling on the floor yourself to see them. You should be on the lookout for areas where they could easily hit their head, reach for things they shouldn’t be, or getting into items or products that could either be dangerous for them or cause a mess for you.
Keep Harmful Substances High
Because your crawling baby is going to be down low on the floor, the best place to keep things you don’t want him or her to get into is up high on a shelf or in a closet or cupboard. This is especially where you should keep substances that could be harmful to them. Some of the items you should be sure to move either to high places or behind locked doors, according to BabyCenter.com, are cleaning products, prescription drugs, batteries, magnets, paints, and pesticides (like those you may use to on termites). Although moving all these items to new locations may be inconvenient for you, it is a much better alternative than having to either call Poison Control or take your baby to the hospital because they’ve ingested something they shouldn’t have.
Adjusting To New Habits
Along with giving certain items a new home within your house, you may also want to begin implementing some habit adjustments that will be helpful once your baby starts crawling. Mom365.com recommends practicing habits like keeping items away from the edges of tables or counters, avoiding wearing dangly earrings or necklaces, and possibly swapping your glasses for contacts in an effort to eliminate certain potential hazards for both your baby and yourself. You’ll be happy you made these changes once you hear stories from your friends about having their earrings ripped out or their red wine spilled all over their white carpet. Another new habit you should develop is to call Pest Control professionals regularly. It is no doubt that pests can spread disease and cause you many other troubles. And considering that the little one has a significantly weaker immunity than you, you’d want to see that your home is as cockroach, termite, ant, bed bug, and rat free as possible.
Watching your baby begin to crawl is an exciting and sometimes emotional moment. Make sure you’re able to savor it completely by preparing for your crawling baby now.