Designing a nursery with safety in mind

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Designing a nursery with safety in mind

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Designing a nursery is so much fun and really a special time for every mom and you should definitely enjoy it. But make sure that you keep some safety tips in mind as you're creating your nursery. The first would be – make sure that you choose products: furniture, any different device that you have in the nursery, that are JPMA approved. Start there. Next, the proper placement of all of the furniture in the nursery is very important. For example, you don't want to put the crib right underneath the window, because of a climbing hazard. Additionally, if the window has blind cords that could pose as strangulation hazards, you want to make sure that that is safe. Anchor those cords while you are in that nursery. Move the crib over to a wall where there's nothing going on. That said, when you're decorating above the crib, make sure that you don't put shelves and all sorts of wonderful things over the crib so that in the event of an earthquake or the house shaking these items don't come toppling down. Now remember, the house can also shake when a toddler is pounding on the wall making the wall shake and everything can come down on top of your child. So be very mindful of that. Your child also will grow while in that crib – they're usually in a crib until they're age 2 – so their reach will also grow. So keep that in mind when you're placing the baby monitor, because you don't want your little one to be able to grab the monitor. And then the cord there is, of course, a strangulation hazard. And then when you are anchoring devices, meaning making sure that they don't fall on top of your child, make sure that you also address the dresser. Some people think that the dresser is wide and low and it's not coming down. Well, if all the drawers are open and you have a toddler on the front of it, it will come down. So make sure that everything is anchored including the changing table, any high bookshelves or the dresser as I had mentioned. There are also electrical hazards in the nursery. Make sure that every outlet in the room has been child proofed with a switch plate, a sliding outlet cover. Don't forget the outlet behind the crib, if there is one there. When you drop that crib as your child gets older that outlet can be there. Make sure that that is child proofed as well. The closet door is also a safety conundrum for many parents. My choice as a parent and as a child safety expert is to have you keep it locked until your child is old enough, maybe kindergarten, to be able to go into their closet and not risk the hazard of pinching their fingers. As far as crib safety, please see my crib safety video and for more crib safety tips go to keepingbabiessafe.org.
BABY, Baby Safety, Baby Proofing

Watch Kimberlee Mitchell's video on Designing a nursery with safety in mind...

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Kimberlee Mitchell

Child Safety Expert

Kimberlee's callling is to be a wife and momma to two amazing kids. As a national child safety expert, in the unintentional child injury prevention industry, her mission is to educate parents as to how they can arm themselves with critical informaiton and the best practices to keep their children safe from needless serious injury. She hopes to help curb injury and death due to parents overlooking both common and hidden child safety hazzards in the home, yard, and car. The best protection is prevention....get ahead of the curve and childproof during pregnancy!

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