Crawling Safety

Uh-oh, baby’s on the move? How can you make sure your house is a safe environment so you don’t have to be a helicopter parent? Well, we talk to Liz Purnell-Webb from A Mother’s Touch to get her top tips for baby-proofing!

It’s an exciting time for everyone when your baby starts to show signs of wanting to get on the go! Crawling is a key milestone in your baby’s life, and makes the world around them an even more exciting place to learn through discovery.

As we know, babies are naturally inquisitive and can get themselves into all kinds of tricky situations, but with a bit of careful planning you can stay one step ahead by providing good supervision and a safe environment for them to explore.

Baby proofing your home is not only essential for your baby’s safety but will also give you peace of mind too. A baby-proofed home will allow your baby to freely fulfill their natural desire to explore and will optimize your baby’s development.You should baby proof your home before your baby becomes mobile and review the situation regularly as your child goes through different developmental stages. The best way to do this is simple – get down to your baby’s level and crawl around!

 

Here are some useful tips to start you off:

• Take an infant first-aid course – Matilda Hospital offers a great infant CPR course.
• Cover electrical outlets with safety caps and make sure all appliances are unplugged when not in use. Mothercare and Bumps to Babes sell a good range of safety products in Hong Kong.
• Secure electrical cords out of a child’s reach.
• Make sure all furniture and heavy items such as televisions are attached to the wall or floor with appropriate fixtures.
• Attach corner and edge guards where needed.
• Staircases should have gates at the top and bottom which should be kept locked at all times.
• Put the cot base to the lowest position and remove mobiles and hanging toys.
• Use doorstops to protect your baby’s fingers.
• Install window guards.
• Cut off or tie up dangling cords on curtains and blinds.
• Lock up sharp, breakable, heavy, poisonous or other dangerous items out of reach of children.
• Move out of reach, or dispose of, toxic house plants.
• Install toilet seat locks.
• Control access to unsafe areas with gates, door and drawer locks, or knob covers.
• Keep pet food bowls and rubbish bins inaccessible to young children.
• Don’t use tablecloths.
• Keep purses and handbags out of children’s reach.
• Remove small items from reach that may be a choking hazard.
• Keep the floor scrupulously clean using nontoxic cleaning solutions and remove shoes before entering the house.

Baby proofing your home is not, however, a substitute for adult supervision. If your baby cannot be constantly supervised we recommend using a playpen when you are out of the room.

Liz Purnell-Webb

Following a 20 year career as a Registered Nurse, life presented Liz with an opportunity to take a career change, and she trained as a Reflexologist and Massage therapist with specialist qualifications in Advanced Pregnancy Bodywork and Hand, Spinal, and Pregnancy Reflexology. To enhance these skills, she has also trained as a Childbirth Educator and Doula.

Liz is continually updating her skills, and is always looking for new ways to promote well-being, health and vitality in her clients! More recently she became an Infant Massage Instructor, and Hong Kong’s only Baby Reflex Trainer through Baby Reflex UK.

Co-founder of ‘A Mother’s Touch’, Liz is from Australia and the UK, and along with her passion for natural health and maternity education, she is also a mother of 3 and has 2 grandchildren.

A Mother’s Touch offers Home Safety Checks which take approximately two hours. A home with up to three bedrooms costs $2500HKD and includes a recommendation report.  All safety items can be bought from Mothercare or Bumps to Babes.  Contact [email protected] or call (852) 9521 2347.