Posted on 07/10/2016
Anytime you rearrange furniture, redecorate a room, or even clean or re-organize your child’s bedroom, it’s a good idea to double-check for any potential hazards. While we often hear of “baby-proofing” rooms, many household hazards can keep toddlers and even school-aged children from being able to cry out for help. We looked at several areas that can pose risks in Part 1, and now we’ll continue with a few more.
Tall or Heavy Furniture
Furniture can easily tip over onto children, causing injuries and sometimes death; in fact, about six deaths per year are the result of chests or dressers tipping over onto children age 10 and younger. While bookshelves can look like perfect ladders to kids, any tall pieces or those with multiple drawers can put your child at risk. We always recommend teaching them to use only safe stepstools to reach high shelves and to open only one drawer at a time, but you don’t want failure to heed instructions to result in tragedy, for your family. Here at The Bedroom Source, our white-glove professional delivery and installation comes with complimentary anti-tipping kits, which we install for any bookcases or furniture pieces with multiple drawers.
Other Furniture Hazards
Toy chests can become hazardous for little fingers, if they don’t have child-safe lids — or, even worse, a child could become trapped inside. Make sure any toy chests or other furniture pieces won’t become a trap in which your child can become stuck — especially overnight. Crib slats or other rails that are parallel to one another should be no more than 2 3/8 inches apart (about the width of a standard soda can) to prevent a young child’s head from getting stuck between parts of the furniture.
Medication and Cleaning Chemicals
Maybe you kept medication or some cleaning supplies in your baby’s room and never made the switch, or perhaps your child makes frequent visits to the bathroom at night, where you keep those items. Wherever it’s accessible at night, it can pose a hazard to your child, so you’ll want to make sure anything potentially toxic is either locked up or completely out of reach — even for your growing, adventurous child!
Fire Safety Measures
We don’t want to think about these kinds of what-if scenarios, but it’s wise to calmly discuss with your child the way to respond in case a house fire occurs. Drawing out a family escape plan and running through it can make the possibility of having to implement it someday a little less frightening — and easier to remember. In addition, you’ll want to make sure your child’s bedroom has no electrical hazards and that smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are in good working order. An additional measure you may want to take is to have your children wear flame-retardant sleepwear.
Here at The Bedroom Source, we want to do more than offer beautiful quality furniture: We want to help your child get a good night’s sleep, and that starts with being safe.