What Are the Top 5 Ways to Keep Your Child Safe at Home? Let Our San Diego Child Injury Attorneys Tell You How the Mistakes to Avoid.
Children, especially babies, are naturally curious and are always exploring their world. For this reason, it is very important to child proof your home. You may be unaware of the potential death or injury traps that that scattered in your home. Everyday items, if not kept safe or used properly, could seriously hurt your children. The list is expanded due to the great outdoor weather we enjoy in San Diego and California and the natural and artificial objects our children encounter as they play outside.
While not an exhaustive list, our firm has compiled the 5 most common ways you can prevent your child from being injured in your home. If you address these dangers, your kids will be much safer:
1. Keep all bodies of water in or around your home secure. Kids at a young age are unable to swim, so there is always a risk of drowning if there is a large body of water in the home. It is easy for a child to slip into the body of water and drown. Large containers of water such as pools or spascan be deadly if they are not kept secure through fences or other devices, but so can small containers of water such as bathtubs and even buckets of water. A young child’s head is particularly heavy compared to the rest of his body and it is difficult for them to lift their head out of a drowning danger.
2. Make sure your child ALWAYS sleeps on their back. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) occurs when a young infant suddenly dies after they are put to sleep and there are no signs of suffering. The primary cause of SIDS is unknown, but a significant risk factor is when a child sleeps on their stomach. When a child sleeps on their stomach, the baby can smother themselves by because they are breathing their exhaled breath (C02). Babies are also less likely to roll over when they are sleeping, unlike adults. Therefore, always check on your baby while they are sleeping to make sure they are still sleeping on their backs.
3. Check the placement of your appliances and furniture. Not only can flimsy or old appliances hurt your children (such as unused refrigerators or washing machines), but so can your current appliances. Make sure that your appliances and furniture are not placed in an area that can be easily tipped over. Televisions, coffee tables, furniture, and cabinets are common objects around the home that could be easily tipped over and could harm the child if they are unsecured. Also, keep all electric cords out of reach of children. Not only can they cause harm if your child chews on it, but they could trip over the cords or cause the appliance to tip over as well.
4. Keep the child away from cords of any kind. Make sure you keep your child away from curtain cords or blinds because they pose a serious risk of strangulation. A great way to prevent this is to place the crib or your child’s bed away from these cords, and keep the cords from hanging too low to the ground. A child playing with the cord can easily wrap the cord around your kid’s neck, causing him to suffocate.
5. Check the status of your crib. Some cribs pose serious strangulation risks with the way they are manufactured. Not only examine the crib to ensure that there are no obvious bottlenecks where your child’s head may become stuck, but also make sure the crib you own hasn’t been recalled for a safety violation. There have been many crib recalls lately, so make sure yours isn’t one of them.
These are some of the most common ways you can prevent accidents from occurring in your home. The personal injury lawyers at the Jurewitz Law Group recognize that there are several household hazards that could be harmful to your child. If your child is ever injured, be sure contact our office at 888-233-5020. We are very experienced in child injury and products liability matters, and we would be happy to give you and your family a free consultation.
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