30 Dec Safety Tips For When Baby Starts Walking
There are so many different milestones that your baby will reach, and each one can seem even more exciting than the last. However, when it comes to baby milestones, there is no denying that walking is one of the biggest ones. From the moment your baby starts taking their first steps, parents need to make sure they are keeping their homes safe for baby as they begin moving around.
Here are a few of the most prominent safety tips for parents with newly walking babies.
Keep Dangerous Things Out of Reach
There are so many things that your baby can’t reach when they’re crawling around on all fours. Make sure that things on side tables, ottomans, or low surfaces are completely out of reach. Also, pay attention to phone and laptop chargers that are out of reach and that all outlets that a standing baby could reach are covered.
Remove Floor Lamps and Vases
Once your baby is up and moving, you should remove floor lamps and vases. Your baby may try to pull themselves up or hold on to these things for stability, but they can easily fall on top of your child and hurt them. Broken porcelain or glass from a vase can seriously injure your child. Plus, cords from a floor lamp can be a tripping hazard.
Add Safety Gates
If you have stairs in your home, then you need to have safety gates. Stairs are one of the biggest fall hazards for kids, so you want to make sure that your stairs are safe. It only takes looking away for a moment for your child to fall down the stairs. A baby gate with a real childhood lock is the only way to keep stairs safe.
Baby gates can also be a smart addition to other rooms in the home when you want to keep kiddos out of certain areas and away from danger.
Rearrange Furniture to Support Your Walking Baby
When your baby starts crawling, you may move furniture around to create more space, but when your baby starts walking, you should move your furniture back to help them. Babies will need support to help them stand up and help with balance while they’re walking. Babies may stumble a lot at first, so low furniture that doesn’t have hard corners can be great for babies that need to hang on for support while they learn to walk.
It can be so exciting when your baby starts walking, but you also want to make sure that your child stays safe when they are up and moving around. If you have questions about your child’s walking or any other developmental milestones, the experts here at Continuum Pediatrics can help. Just call 817-617-8600 to make an appointment with one of our doctors today.
Baby Walkers
The American Academy of Pediatrics has ruled that babies shouldn’t be using walkers for two key reasons. One, they don’t actually help children learn to walk, and in fact, can delay walking. Two, they may increase a baby’s risk of rolling down the stairs, getting burned, or even drowning. Baby push walkers are another story. Using a push walker is a major step in your baby’s development of balance, coordination, and motor skills that eventually will lead them to walk all on their own. A good push toy can help your baby get their footing once they’ve mastered pulling themselves up and supported standing.