Babies usually start crawling immediately after turning eight months – but sometimes even sooner! – so you need to be prepared in advance because you never know when your little one is going to decide it’s time to start investigating the surroundings. Many parents think their children will never put their fingers in electrical outlets or start climbing the furniture, but you’d be surprised how much they truly like touching and climbing everything they see. This is why you need to start baby-proofing the nursery before your youngster starts exploring it.
Start with the crib
Once your children start walking, everything will be within their reach and your little explorer is going to try to climb out of the crib all the time. The first thing you need to adjust is the position of the mattress and place it as low as you can. This will make the fence higher and your kid won’t be able to climb over it.
In addition to that, you need to position the crib away from windows and other furniture that can be used as additional climbing support. Remove all heavy items you’ve hung close to the crib because there’s a possibility this will be something that will capture your child’s attention. Also, adjust the furniture so that it suits the nursery perfectly, which means you have to stick to just the pieces you actually need. Remove all unnecessary furniture from this space and provide a safe area for your child.
Secure the room
Every item needs to be decorated in accordance with the style of the nursery and you need to create a balance between keeping everything secured and practical. Although having a huge rocking chair is great and romantic, this can cause a number of accidents if your child tries to climb on it, so you might want to avoid it.
Keep the nursery clean and organized
Another thing you shouldn’t forget is that your children will eventually try to touch and closely inspect everything that’s near them. This is why you can’t leave toys or any other items lying around the room because children especially love biting everything they can get a hold of.
Also, be sure to think about all the products your baby will use. You need to choose the diaper brand you’ll want to use and there are many pros and cons for every one of them, so make sure you do the research for diaper brands. In addition to that, think about lotions and everything else in order to make sure your baby is secured.
General safety rules
If you have a lot of area rugs, place non-slip pads under every slippery one and prevent your child from getting seriously injured while running around the house. Also, check all the coffee tables and see if your youngster can reach lamp cables because that’s going to attract their attention and they’ll try to reach them and investigate what will happen.
If you have a dresser with drawers, your youngster will probably love opening them and exploring what’s in there. This is especially dangerous with drawers you use for storing heavy items because it’ll only take a second for your child to pull the whole thing out. Make sure you have child-guard latche and think about what can you improve in your home in order to make it safer for your kids. Check them from time to time to see if the system still works or it needs to be fixed.
Once your baby starts walking, everything should become easier and you’ll be able to relax and enjoy this new period of your life. It’s better to prepare everything in advance and just make a few small changes when you notice you’ve forgotten something. Always pay close attention to your child and see which part of the nursery interests them the most because that’s where they’re most prone to cause accidents, but as long as everything is secured, you won’t have to worry about anything.
