Your baby safety must-haves

Is your little one on the move? Once your baby is able to get around by themselves, they will take a real interest in everything around them. Keeping them safe is an important part of parenthood and there are a number of products you can buy to reduce the likelihood of accidents in the home and when you are out and about.

When it comes to babyproofing your home, stairgates, furniture guards and baby guards will help make your home a safe haven and a baby monitor will ensure you can keep tabs on them when they are in their cot. A car seat is likely to be one of the first baby items you use and is a safety essential and once your baby is walking, you may also choose to use a baby harness or reins when you are walking outside.

Baby Monitors

Keeping tabs on your little one during naptime when you are in another room in the house is made easier with a baby monitor. They tend to consist of two units; one in the baby’s room and one that the parent can take with them, allowing them to listen or even see their baby.

There is a wide selection of baby monitors available on the market, which come with a wide array of features, from high definition video displays, intercoms, feeding timers and night lights, through to ones with temperature sensors, lullabies and movement sensor pads. Some will work with smartphones, tablets and computers. The simplest and least expensive model will have an audio feature only. Think about what features you want from your monitor.

Baby guards

There are many baby guards and gates that you can buy to keep your baby out of harm’s way and away from hazardous areas, like stairways and fireplaces. When blocking off stairs, put baby gates for stairs at the top and bottom of your stairs and use stair gates in front of rooms where there are hazardous objects.

Furniture guards

Sharp edges on furniture and other items around the house can present a hazard to your baby. You can make your home a safer place for your baby to explore with special baby safety products.

• Door stops: These clip over the edge of doors to stop them slamming against small fingers.
• Cupboard, cabinet, drawer, oven and fridge locks: These special child safety locks will keep your baby away from dangerous items, such as sharp knives or cleaning products in cupboards.
• Corner and edge protectors: These are designed to fit over sharp furniture corners and edges, to help stop bumped heads.
• Glass films: These can be stuck to large pieces of glass to stop them shattering if they are broken.
• Anti-tip safety straps: These can be fitted to large items of furniture to stop them falling on your child.

Baby harnesses

If you’ve ever been out in large crowds and your little one is on the move, you will know how handy a baby harness or reins are to stop your little one from running off or getting lost. These attach to your baby around their chest, wrist or waist or to a back pack and have a strap that you can hold.

Car seat

Children need to use a car seat from birth until they are 135 cm or 12 years old. It is important to have the right size, model and you need to be aware of i-Size legislation, a new European-wide car seat regulation aiming to make car seats safer by keeping babies rear-facing for longer, as well as improving safety features by introducing side impact testing standards.