BY far the most important piece of furniture in the bedroom is the crib. Its walls must be solid and high enough to keep the child from rolling off the bed or through the railings. It should also not have any hard or sharp edges which a toddler can injure themselves by falling on top of. A well-padded bed would work well.
KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN: Small objects such as loose change and batteries should be kept away from easily accessible spots where a child could pick them up and accidentally swallow them.
The mattress should fit the bed well, and there should not be any space between the mattress and the bed in which the child could get trapped in.
Olivia Ling, director of a retail company in Kuching and Sibu that specialises in care products from babies, young children and mothers or mothers-to-be, recommends parents to invest in a good mattress, preferably one with channels built into it which can funnel liquid such as vomit and urine through the mattress and away from a sleeping child.
She strongly advises against using plastic to line mattresses as there have been cases where very young children have suffocated from the plastic or drowned by liquid trapped by the plastic because they were not strong enough to turn themselves over.
The sleeping area should be kept clear of any unnecessary items like stuffed toys, pillows and bibs as babies don’t have the physical ability to push away these things if they are suffocating them.
Parents should also look for good quality cottons and dyes when choosing bedsheets and blankets.
Olivia also suggests getting baby monitors which allow parents and caregivers to monitor a child’s bedroom from another room in the house, such as while entertaining guests in the living room as the baby is sleeping upstairs in a crib.
Once the child begins to be mobile, the entrance to the bedroom should be secured with a safety gate with a child-proof lock.
Quality of toys
With the recent scandals of tainted toys still fresh in most people’s minds, Olivia, a mother of three, advises parents to buy toys from reputable retailers who acquire their goods through proper channels from reliable manufacturers.
These retailers should have a return policy they will strongly stand behind, be vigilant in keeping track of manufacturer recalls and proactive in informing customers of any such recalls.
Toys should also be appropriate for the respective ages of children, Olivia recommends.
Meanwhile Dr Tan Poh Tin, who runs a private clinic at Green Heights, Kuching, stresses that parents should be careful about older siblings giving their toys to their younger siblings to play with, or of “hand-me-downs”.
“What may have been appropriate for one child may not be for another”, she notes.
When it comes to any toy or baby equipment for that matter, Olivia advises parents and caregivers to “always read and follow the instructions”.
Worn toys and used batteries should always be disposed of properly.
Baby walkers and bouncers
Poh Tin strongly recommends against using baby walkers for children. Contrary to popular belief, studies have suggested these walkers do very little to help a child learn to walk and may even delay the process.
Children in baby walkers have the ability to move around more quickly than they otherwise would and thus, can be harder to supervise. It can cause death in certain cases when the walker caused the child to fall over.
There have also been situations where children have slipped through the walker or strangled themselves in it.
As for baby bouncers, Olivia says these can be good if used properly. Babies should be harnessed properly in them at all times.
“Some people forget as children get older, they can flip themselves out and hurt themselves. Never leave them unattended.”
In the car
Babies and newborns can be cradled by passengers who should be seated at the back, she adds.
Young children should be in car seats installed in the back seat. Car seats should always face the rear of the car and suited to the child’s size and weight.
Children should never sit in the front passenger seat, even with airbags, as they can get injured when the bags are deployed.
That is not to say airbags are not good but children need to be harnessed properly to their seats, Olivia emphasises.
“And always use good car seats which adhere to international safety standards.”
Educate adults and caregivers
Olivia firmly believes to make a home child-safe, the most important quality parents and caregivers can have is commonsense. To develop this, such adults need to be aware of things that could potentially go wrong, and learn to see things from the child’s point of view.
Olivia recommends parents read more on the subject or go online to educate themselves more on child safety and read about other parents’ experiences.
She also recommends asking for advice from qualified and knowledgeable people such as child-care experts and retailers.
However, equally as important is to educate other adults in the house (other than the parents) such as domestic help so that they know what to do in an emergency.
“Keep a list of emergency contact numbers where everyone can see it, and train your domestic help what to do should an emergency arise,” she advises.
“Get a basic First Aid kit and maybe even go for a First Aid course so that the adults know what to do when a child is choking.
In such a situation, there is only a very short window of opportunity in which to respond.”
Educate other siblings
In addition to educating the adults, Poh Tin also advises parents and caregivers to pay attention to the other siblings in the family.
Sometimes in an attempt to play with or take care of their brothers or sisters, older siblings may unwittingly cause them more harm instead such as giving babies medicine, thinking they are giving them sweets. Or sharing their favourite toy with their younger siblings, not understanding it could cause the younger child to choke.
Parents and caregivers need to ensure babies and young children are never left unsupervised. When it comes to looking after younger children, the other children need to understand what is okay for them to do and what is only okay for adults to do as soon as they (the children) are old enough to understand. If they see something which does not seem right, they should inform the nearest adult immediately.
Be vigilant
Don’t take child safety for granted. Even when parents and caregivers have put in place all the child-safety precautions and procedures at home, it is important to stay alert to new potential dangers, in addition to conducting regular checks on existing child-safety measures to make sure they are still in place and working as they are meant to.
“Having the right gadgets is not enough. Audit regularly to make sure everything is working. Parents need to be vigilant,” Olivia emphasises.
“It costs nothing to be vigilant.”