Watching your baby go from crawling to walking is one of the most exciting adventures. While you’re thrilled your baby is healthy and developing as he or she should, this is also a time of making a few changes around the house to ensure there are o accidents. Babies are not well coordinated when they first start walking so it’s common to see them take falls, grab onto anything they can to prevent a fall, put things in their mouths, and so on. While an exciting time, you will now have some new challenges in providing protecting to your baby.
Unfortunately, approximately 7,000 babies die and over 50,000 children are disabled every year due to accidents in the home. To prevent accidents in your home once your baby learns to walk, you will need to look at things from his/her eye level to see where potential dangers lie. For instance, medication on the edge of a nightstand, a dangling cord from the iron on the ironing board, and an open door suddenly become risk factors. I remember when I was a small child and my mom told me I had to have my stomach pumped twice because I ate an entire bottle of baby aspirin. I guess to me, they tasted good.
Before your child even starts walking, you want to begin the process of safeguarding your home. Even crawling babies can be extremely mobile and agile. Therefore, the best thing you can do is to go through each room of the home, treating them as individual danger zones. Most importantly, never underestimate the powers of your child. A determined baby who now can walk can accomplish great things.
In fact, many babies pick up walking so quickly that they are fast. You could be watching him or her and turn your back for 10 seconds, only to look up and find him in another room. By taking some preventative steps, your baby will be able to enjoy his/her newfound freedom of walking without the worry of injury.