Baby-Proofing Your Home: The Five That Matter

The footsteps of your baby taking his first steps are bound to bring out joy and pride in you. However, as he begins to discover the many beautiful things in the home through his little steps of exploration, danger also lurks in a dark corner, ready to pounce.

Baby-proofing sold as a product category is mostly latches and socket covers. The injuries that kill and seriously harm young children in Singapore homes are a different and shorter list, and they’re worth doing first.

The five biggest risks:

Falls from windows and balconies
Furniture tipping over
Drowning, including in buckets and baths
Scalds and burns
Poisoning, and swallowing button batteries or magnets

Do these before buying a single cupboard latch.

Windows and balconies

High-rise falls involving young children recur in Singapore, and the pattern is consistent: a child climbs onto something placed near an open window.

Nothing climbable near a window. No bed, sofa, chest of drawers, storage box or chair. This is the single most effective measure and it costs nothing.
Window grilles, correctly installed and maintained. Check them. Older grilles corrode, and loose ones are worse than none because they invite confidence.
Window restrictors limiting opening to a few centimetres where grilles aren’t fitted.
Keep windows locked when not in use, and keys out of reach but findable in an emergency.
Balconies: nothing climbable against the railing, and check the gaps: a child’s head can pass through a surprisingly narrow space.
Insect screens aren’t safety devices. They give way under a child’s weight.

Furniture

Anchor every tall item to the wall: chests of drawers, bookcases, wardrobes, and televisions. A toddler climbing an open drawer applies enough leverage to bring the whole piece over, and these are among the more common serious home injuries.

Brackets cost a few dollars. Do it for anything a child could climb, including things that feel far too heavy to move.

Water

Never leave a child alone in the bath, not for a second. Drowning is silent and needs very little water.
Empty the bath immediately afterwards.
Empty buckets and pails: mopping pails and laundry pails are a documented drowning hazard for toddlers, who overbalance headfirst and can’t get out.
Toilet lids down, and the bathroom door shut when not in use.
Bath seats aren’t safety devices.

Burns and scalds

Hot drinks are the most common cause of scalds in small children, and a cup of tea stays hot enough to scald for a surprisingly long time. Never hold a hot drink while holding a baby, and keep cups away from table edges and off low tables.
Turn pot handles inwards, and use the back rings.
Kettle and appliance cords pushed back, never hanging over a counter edge.
Turn the water heater down, and run cold first and last.
Rice cookers and steamers at floor or low-table level are a specific local hazard. Steam burns badly.
If a burn happens: cool running water for twenty minutes, then cover loosely with cling film. No ice, no toothpaste, no oil. Seek medical care for anything larger than a coin, on the face, hands or genitals, or on a baby.

Poisons and swallowed objects

Medicines locked and high up, not in a handbag on the floor, which is where a great many poisonings start.
Detergent capsules are particularly dangerous: brightly coloured, soft, and the concentrated contents cause serious injury. Keep them entirely out of reach.
Cleaning products, dishwasher tablets, cosmetics, alcohol and hand sanitiser all locked away.
Mothballs: don’t use naphthalene ones at all. They look like sweets and are seriously toxic, especially with G6PD deficiency.
Button batteries. Check every battery compartment a child can reach opens only with a screwdriver. If swallowed they can cause severe internal burns within about two hours. Go straight to A&E and say “button battery”.
High-powered magnets. Two or more swallowed attract through the bowel wall and perforate it. Keep them away from under-sixes entirely.
Small objects: coins, beads, marbles, nuts. If it fits through a toilet roll tube it’s a choking hazard.

Cords and strangulation

Blind and curtain cords: cordless blinds, or cleats keeping cords high and taut. Never a cot or bed within reach of one.
Nothing around a baby’s neck, including amber teething necklaces.
Bag straps, phone charger cables and drawstrings within reach of a cot.

Everything else

Skip baby walkers. They’re associated with injuries, mostly falls, and don’t help a child learn to walk.
Stair gates at top and bottom if you’ve stairs.
Get down to their height and crawl through each room. You’ll see things you can’t see standing up, and that exercise is worth more than any checklist.
Re-do it every few months. A child who can’t climb this month will next month.
Do an infant first aid and CPR course. Prevention fails sometimes, and knowing what to do is the thing you can’t buy in a hurry.

Frequently asked questions

What should I baby-proof first?

Windows and balconies, furniture anchoring, water, scalds and poisons, in that order, before buying cupboard latches. Those are the hazards that cause the most serious injuries to young children at home.

How do I make windows safe?

Move everything climbable away from them: no bed, sofa, chest of drawers or storage box near a window, which is the single most effective and cheapest measure. Then grilles, checked and maintained, or restrictors limiting the opening. Keep windows locked when not in use. Insect screens aren’t safety devices and give way under a child’s weight.

Why does furniture need anchoring?

Because a toddler climbing an open drawer generates enough leverage to pull the whole piece over, and chests of drawers, bookcases and televisions tipping are among the more common serious home injuries. Brackets cost a few dollars.

What are the drowning risks besides the bath?

Buckets and pails. A toddler overbalances headfirst into a mopping or laundry pail and can’t get out. Empty the bath immediately after use, keep toilet lids down, and shut the bathroom door when it isn’t in use.

What do I do if my child swallows a button battery?

Go straight to A&E and say “button battery” at reception. It can cause severe internal burns within about two hours, and the symptoms, drooling, refusing food, coughing, look like a mild illness. The same urgency applies to two or more swallowed magnets.

What should I do for a burn?

Cool running water for twenty minutes, then cover loosely with cling film. No ice, no toothpaste, no oil. Get medical care for anything larger than a coin, anything on the face, hands or genitals, and any burn on a baby.

The main things to do

Move everything climbable away from windows, and anchor the tall furniture to the wall. Those two take an afternoon and cover the worst of it.

Empty the buckets. Never hold a hot drink and a baby. Lock up medicines and detergent capsules.

Check every battery compartment opens only with a screwdriver, and then crawl through the flat at their height, which shows you what a checklist can’t.