The best time to childproof

Question: "When is the best time to start baby-proofing? I've heard that it's when your baby starts crawling. Is that right?"

Answer: When your baby starts crawling is certainly a good time to get down on all fours and scan the house for small and breakable objects (choking hazards) at your baby's level that he/she may have access to, but actually, we think baby-proofing should start much earlier — even before your baby is born, when you're getting ready for your baby. Your mission then, and after your baby is born, should be to choose the safest products you can find, such as a safe car seat, crib, crib mattress, stroller, baby bathtub, play yard, and changing table, and use them correctly. With a crib mattress, for example, we advocate buying one that's super firm and putting it in the crib with a mattress pad and crib sheet — but nothing else. No bumpers, blankets, toys, stuffed animals or pillows. When it comes to cribs, our motto is "bare is best." And since babies tend to spend lots of time in their cribs, making sure the crib is safe is a major form of baby-proofing. That's just one example. We have lots of baby-proofing tips you may find helpful. Visit our room-by-room baby-proofing guide for more information.   

Also keep in mind that child-proofing is a continuous process, not a one-shot deal. Reading up on baby-proofing can turn your radar on so you know what's a danger. An innocent plastic bag from your dry cleaning, for example, is a suffocation hazard when you've got a baby around.

It gets easier as your child gets older and learns the difference between right and risk. But even with my 5-year-old, I'm still childproofing to some extent. Just yesterday, I took away a necklace with a tiny medallion she'd been sucking just for fun (radar: choking hazard). But who knew that stick-on earrings could get lodged in the ear? Looking back — after a trip to the ear, nose, and throat specialist for an expensive, one-minute procedure to remove the tiny obstruction — I should have seen that one coming. Needless to say, we've sworn off stick-on earrings at our house.

See Also: Keeping babies safe with Jack Walsh, from Consumer Reports on Safety