Nov 4, 2009 7:12 pm US/Eastern
How To Make Your Home Safe For Babies
Reporting
Cindy Hsu
YONKERS (CBS) ―
If you have a baby on the way, now's the time to child-proof your home, and there are lots of little things you can do that'll pay-off in a big way.
Kimberlee Mitchell of the Safety 1st Squad is known as the baby-proofer to the stars. Her clients include everyone from Tom Cruise to Britney Spears. On Wednesday she was in Yonkers helping Tricia Walsh, who has 15-month-old twins and a baby on the way.
"I'm definitely always worried and with two, they go in different directions. As you can see, they don't stay in the same place for long," Walsh said.
The solution: a room barrier to keep your kids in one area. Next is a safety gate to keep the kids away from the kitchen.
"The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that your child either be out of the kitchen completely or be put in highchairs or a play yard," Mitchell said.
Inside the kitchen, the stove knobs are covered and dishtowels on the oven door handle are a no-go. "This (oven door) could frightfully come down right here into the bridge of the nose, so we put an oven lock on this right here," Mitchell said. "And because this range is not built in, it can fall forward and little ones have lost their lives due to the entire range falling on top of them."
All magnets should come off the fridge as well as the dish towel on the door. A refrigerator lock is the best way to go.
Mitchell said magnetic locks on the cabinets are the most secure. "As you see, when I wave the magnet over the front of it on the outside of the cabinet, it opens and closes the lock that catches on this catch, so there's no getting into this cabinet."
Open toilets are a drowning danger. Locking them takes no time at all. Also, watch for loose cords that kids will want to grab. Just cover them and secure them to the wall.
Mitchell said old outlet plugs easily pop out, so she replaces them with a sliding outlet cover and the challenge is to anchor tall furniture to the wall.
Check your furniture. Anything that can topple over needs to be anchored to the wall, "So when your little one crawls up the front, it's not going anywhere," Mitchell said.
Now once you baby-proof your house, don't let your children see how everything works. If they watch you unlock the gate or open the cabinets with magnets, they'll likely figure it out pretty quickly.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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