Flower Love
Since your baby first arrived, you have done the impossible to turn your home into a cozy, loving oasis for them to spend their first few months in.
As fun as the experience is, you need to remember that safety is the number one priority: once your bundle of joys sets in motion, every corner becomes a hidden danger.
The question of a child safe home becomes even more difficult when you rent a home knowing that you are not allowed to make all the necessary adjustments.
Even so, it’s not impossible to check your rented home for babies. With a few pool fences, cabinet locks, and baby gates, you’ll have a safe haven as long as you plan on staying in this condo.
Let’s suggest some baby protection tips that will protect your baby and keep you calm:
Think for sure before you rent
This is not always possible, but if so, take the opportunity. Share your concerns with the landlord and see if they have the flexibility to swap items and redecorate (e.g. anchor a bookcase).
This is a good opportunity to gauge whether you will have good communication with him in general.
Before actually consulting him, take a good look at the property and appreciate the “tolerance” of the place: are there drips or gaps or potential hazard that a baby gate (a gap between the stairs and) cannot prevent ? the handrail for example)?
Pool fences are a must
Image source: Design Unity
A pool and a baby are never a good combination. Children are naturally drawn to water, which means they will use every second of your inattentiveness to rush to the pool. To keep them safe, you’ll need a solid pool fence (if there isn’t one, check with your landlord or buy your own) and a child safety net.
Image source: Zugai Strudwick Architects
These can be expensive, but your children’s safety is priceless. If nothing else, activate the alarm on your door to notify you when someone tries to open the door.
Stairs must be blocked
Image source: Heavenly houses
Even the shortest flight of stairs can be dangerous for children who are learning to walk. This is why you need a stair gate, either hardware or pressure gates.
The first are safer as they are drilled into the walls (this is one of the things a landlord may not allow), while the later ones stand for toppling safety blocks at the bottom of the stairs. Before making a decision, ask the landlord if a hardware fence is an option and offer to fill / repaint the holes after they are removed. T.
There’s another handy tip you might want to consider: you can attach wooden planks to the railing cord and drill holes in them for the gate. Once your baby is grown, untie the strings and remove all blockage.
Image source: Dana Lauren Designs
Again, the safest option is hardware gates, assuming you’re willing to repair any potential damage (unless you’re willing to give up your deposit).
Cabinets must be locked
Ideally, there shouldn’t be a single closet without a child-proof locking system. This will prevent your baby from opening the closet and playing around with whatever you have kept in it.
There are simple lockers that allow you to manually open the closet if necessary, but also advanced magnetically sealed lockers that you can only open with special devices. The latter is a great option provided you can properly hide the unlock device.
Minimize corners and sharp edges
Image Source: Designing Solutions
Rectangular furniture with sharp edges is the worst thing that can happen to babies who are learning to walk. It is up to you to keep them secure and to cover any sharp corner or sharp edge with guards.
This doesn’t cost a fortune – a couple of soft foam belts will keep your toddler safe, and you can remove them and keep them for your next kids.
However, you should glue them to the elements, which means they can leave residue or even ruin the finish entirely. Get ready to deal with this damage as well.
Anchoring furniture and heavy equipment
This includes cabinets, shelves, cabinets, TV stands, machines, refrigerators and similar items. Babies have a strange habit of climbing furniture and you need to be sure they won’t harm themselves by doing so.
Your anchoring material can be an L-shaped bracket, a drilled strap, or some other solution that doesn’t damage the interior.
Prevent chimney falls
Image source: Liz Levin Interiors
We all know that fireplaces are amazing and create a special atmosphere for babies and toddlers to play with. At the same time, they are a hard surface to fall over or worse, a burn hazard.
Large protective gates are a cumbersome solution to such falls. However, if you think they take up too much space, you can replace them with interlocking playmats positioned on the sides and top of your fireplace and tied with no holes in those little fingers to pull them apart.
These mats act as natural insulators that protect children from falls. That’s why you can use them for any similar purpose.
Give your baby a completely safe room
Image source: Oliver Burns
Choose a room in the apartment and focus on it. Let it be the room your baby spends most of their time in. Clear them of large and enticing objects and keep the door closed.
You may think piling it up with toys is a good idea, but your toddlers can actually benefit from having an open space to wander and explore.
Smart positioning
Image source: Erinn V Design Group
The first thing you would see on Babycenter.com’s top accident locations list is windows. This may be one of your feng shui rules, but a crib by the window can do more harm than good.
If you place the cot far from the window, the negative effect of a strong sun is prevented, and the child can no longer get up, fall out of the window or even break the glass. Wherever you put the crib, don’t leave stackable items for the little one to climb and make sure that sharp objects are far away.
Sockets should be covered
Any outlet that is not high enough should be covered. This prevents the baby from inserting fingers or foreign objects.
If you need to plug a device into an electrical outlet, prevent the child from playing with the cables as best they can. There are many types of electrical outlets you can use (we recommend moving these around as they will automatically close when you unplug a device).