TGIF, friends! There’s still snow on ground in Philly, but I’m convinced sprring is right around the corner – namely because Daylight Savings us happenings this weekend, so springing ahead HAS to mean sunshine + sandals weather soon, right? …right?!?!? With Daylight Savings Time comes the whole “Change your Clocks, Change your Batteries” motto for testing + changing your smoke and carbon monoxide alarm batteries. Remember that saying?? Turns out…you don’t need to anymore. SUPER stoked to be teaming up with my friends at Kidde to share some hella important tips that we’ve been implementing for babyproofing our house since Miss Olivia has been home. They’re not kidding when they say that a baby changes everything! I mean, I think about the state of the house before her – the horror. Don’t get me wrong – it was cleaner, and it was less decked out in Fisher Price. 😉 But talk about danger city – a corner to hit here, a blind to pull there…basically, disaster central for kiddos. We started to learn that the hard way when we had some friends of ours over…with their near-two-year-old. Without having fully baby proofed beforehand, we quickly saw how synonymous two-year-old is with tornado. I mean, girlfriend went from room-to-room touching ERRR’THAAAANG she possibly could, pulling everything out or down whichever way it would or could. J + I quickly set out to get our own house in order so that as Olivia grows, we’re not frantically chasing behind her to babyproof as we go. HA.
SO. Here are ten tips for babyproofing the house that we’ve started implementing, to be as prepared as possible, and for our house safety to grow with Miss Liv.
- Plug up your electrical outlets. I thought we had gotten a few plugs in a little baby-safe kit from my baby shower, but turns out, we didn’t – so that’s next on our list to pick up! Important to pop into place in any outlets, so that little baby fingers don’t find their way into shock-territory.
- Tie up cords and store away. As I sit here with my coffee, typing away at our kitchen table, it’s insane to me how many cords are hanging out in the living room just from a quick visual scan. There’s a cord for Liv’s Rock n’ Play, the charger for her NG tube, an essential oils diffuser, + an extension cord for it all – cords on cords on cords!
- Install cordless blinds. J was SO STOKED when he found these at Home Depot recently! We were badly in need of new blinds since a few of ours had just completely fallen down (whoops), and the house wasn’t all matching since they had been purchased at different times from different retailers. He did a total overhaul for us, getting the cordless kind with Olivia in mind. And y’all – they’re magical! I don’t even understand what kind of sorcery it takes, since you literally just lightly push in the center to make them go up, and gently pull to bring them down. Checked that one off the list for both Liv, and the kitties!
- Lock up cleaning products, medication, knives, etc. Especially important for when the babe is mobile + curious, reaching for cabinet handles. Basically anything potentially dangerous…lock it up!
- Put emergency contacts and pediatrician on speed dial. The American Association of Poison Control Center phone number is (800) 222-1222. Add to your phone now!
- Install 10-year battery smoke alarms from Kidde. Pop quiz…when was the last time you changed your smoke alarm batteries? And question #2: when was the last time you TESTED the batteries??? *hustles to test the alarm* The old rule of thumb was “Change your Clock, Change your Batteries,” to remind folks to change out your smoke alarm batteries whenever you were changing clocks forward or back. But ain’t nobody got time – half the time I forget the clocks are even changing, so I wake up dazed and confused and late from alarms all being wonky. No bueno. In getting our house safer with Olivia around, we recently switched our old smoke alarms out to Kidde 10-year smoke alarms, eliminating the need for battery changes altogether. (Woo!). You simply change the entire alarm every 10-years – no battery changes needed. Problem solved, folks! Bonus points because Kidde’s website shares super-helpful diagrams for where exactly to place your alarms on each level of your house for maximum protection (important). Kidde also offers alarms designed to detect carbon monoxide and help to prevent CO poisoning – and their website shows the difference in symptoms between CO poisoning and the flu (because they’re surprisingly similar – who knew?!).
- Get CPR certified – especially in the specific kind of CPR your little one needs right now. Infant, child, etc – there are slight differences in each depending on their size! J + I had to go through class together before Liv left the NICU, which was super important + helpful given her size and the complications she had been experiencing with breathing/oxygen levels.
- Put bumpers on corners. Luckily, we don’t have many low, sharp corners in this house; our coffee table is round! But we’ve got a few sharp edges especially in the bedrooms (ie, the bed posts) that may need bumpering once Olivia is more mobile.
- Vacuum more/10-minute tidy with attention. This one’s to watch out for any choking hazards that find themselves in Olivia’s line of vision/grabbing! They always say you should get down on the baby’s level to see their vantage point and eliminate any potential risks from there – and that’s where we end up seeing anything that may have fallen in her path. Nickels, earrings, those little plastic pieces from clothing tags – anything that can be grabbed and end up right in the mouth – should be spotted and scooped up before the baby gets it!
- Put in baby gates for stairs. One of my mom’s least favorite memories from my childhood was the time I tumbled down the entire flight of stairs from their kitchen to the basement. NO JOKE, YO. I think she lost a few years from her life and added a few more grays that day. The door had been shut – but apparently, the lock hadn’t fully clicked into place. And of course, as they say, it only takes a second…and there I went. She was hysterical and wanted my entire body X-rayed – ha! Especially since our cats go up and down stairs to get to the litter box, we have to make sure everything has is pet-friendly baby gated to let the big humans + cat gang in, while keeping the littlest human of the house out.
Have you had to babyproof the house before?
When was the last time you checked your smoke alarms? Are you due for an upgrade? Happy DAYLIGHT SAVING, Y’ALL!
Happy springing ahead! 😉
*Thanks to Kidde, a brand I lovelovelove, for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions + thoughts presented are entirely my own. Thank YOU for supporting the brands that support Coming Up Roses
