Mummascribbles – Baby proofing with the help of SunLife – Mummascribbles

There are so many things that come with being a parent. Dirty nappies, potty training and tantrums are the initial ones that spring to mind but probably the most important of all is keeping our children safe. From the moment they are born, their safety is down to us, how we keep them safe and how we teach them to be safe.

In those first few months it’s less challenging. They lie in the same place that you left them, they aren’t eating food and they sleep a lot. And then? Then comes that first roll which leads to moving onto all fours which leads to crawling which leads to walking. Or if your child is like my son, they’ll skip the walking and go straight for running! With each stage comes a little extra height and suddenly they can reach things that just yesterday they couldn’t get to. All of this happens over a period of time but it always feels like you’ve just got used to one stage and suddenly they are at the next.

As soon as they begin to move, it is time to start baby proofing the house. When Zach was small we lived in a one bedroom flat that was all on one floor and without too many hazards. There was one step that led down from the hallway to the kitchen and that’s where we stuck up the only stair gate that was needed. It was quite a big step so it was important that we had that safety barrier to stop him tumbling down it when he was running at speed down the hallway. Unfortunately, there was one instance in which the gate had been there a long time, I had left it open while I was making tea and cutting cake for a friend and Zach decided to come running like Usain Bolt down the hallway, tripped over the gate and went flying down the step, chomping into his lip as he did so. There was a lot of tears, a bit of blood and a very guilty feeling mummy! Of course, we are only human and these things happen. It’s impossible to have every single injury that could happen covered but it’s good to try and get as much done as you can to prevent it.

Now with baby number two on its way, we will of course be going through the baby proofing again in the near future and this time we have a two bed house with rather steep stairs, a downstairs bathroom and a large garden. Baby proofing is going to be whole lot different this time around as there will be a lot more potential hazards to consider.

There is of course a whole heap of information on the internet about what to look out for, what borders to create and what could go wrong but in all honestly it’s a bit of a minefield. That’s why I absolutely love the baby proofing advice tool that SunLife have created. It visually shows how to baby proof the home and highlights the reasons why it is essential to keep the baby safe and protected in the house. Each room on the tool has a selection of hazards highlighted and all you have to do is hover over it so it tells you exactly what you need to do to make it safe. It really does make it easier to spot things in the house if you have a visual aid.

This little tool will be really helpful when I’m going around the house sometime next year making sure it is safe for baby to start moving around in. The only question I have parents of two (or more) children is, when the four year old has had complete access to the kitchen for a long time, do you put a stairgate up in order to stop baby getting in and therefore blocking the older child, probably resulting in massive tantrums?! I’d love help with that one! 

This is a collaborative post.