Making your home a safe place for infants or toddlers to sleep and play.
(PRUnderground) March 9th, 2025
When expecting a baby or planning to have infants or toddlers to visit your home, it is important to want to make sure it is a safe place for them to sleep and play.
“Children are curious, love to explore, and as a result are at risk of being injured at home,” said Michelle Jamison, community health programs manager at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital. “Supervising young children and childproofing your home are some of the best ways to prevent injuries.”
Here are ways to help keep babies safe in your home:
- Create a Safe Place to Sleep
- Use a crib, bassinet or portable play yard with a firm, flat mattress and a fitted sheet.
- Place infants on their backs for sleep, in their own sleep space with no other people.
- Avoid sleeping on a couch or armchair or in a seating device, like a swing or car seat (except while riding in the car).
- Remove soft items like pillows, stuffed toys, and blankets from the sleep space.
- Use an infant sleep sack instead of loose blankets to keep baby warm.
Safely Use Heating Elements
- Cover all radiators and baseboard heaters with childproof screens.
- Keep electrical space heaters at least 3 feet from beds, curtains, or anything flammable.
- Use a carbon monoxide alarm to help prevent poisoning.
Prevent Water, Window, Furniture and Fall Hazards
- Never leave your child alone in the bathtub, even for a second, to prevent drowning.
- Use anti-scald devices for faucets and shower heads and set your water heater temperature to 120 degrees Fahrenheit to help prevent burns.
- Use cordless window coverings to help prevent strangulation. For information, visit https://windowcoverings.org/.
- Use safety-standard-compliant gates on staircases, and replace older gates large enough to entrap a child’s head and neck.
- Keep children from entering areas with possible dangers.
- Use corner bumpers on furniture and fireplaces to help prevent injuries from falls.
- Install wall anchors to avoid furniture and appliance tip-overs.
Prepare for Emergencies
- Learn CPR and first aid.
- Install smoke detectors in every room, including the kitchen.
- Put emergency contacts in your mobile phone, including poison control and local police.
- Teach your school-age children what to do in an emergency.
“Additionally, you should always keep your firearms unloaded and secured, and store the ammunition separately,” Jamison said.
For more information about injury prevention, visit https://intermountainhealthcare.org/childrens-health/wellness-prevention.
About Intermountain Health
Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a not-for-profit system of 34 hospitals, approximately 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For up-to-date information and announcements, please see the Intermountain Health newsroom at https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.
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Original Press Release.