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Let’s touch on a few safety tips. Some of these are super obvious, and others may not be. Either way it is always good to have reminders. It only takes one time for a catastrophe to happen. Let’s talk about threats to your child’s safety and how we can avoid them.
1. Get a Proper Car Seat Fit & Installation
The most important thing with car seat use is to make sure it properly fits your baby as they grow. You can find the safest car seat on the market, but if you do not have the straps in their proper position relative to your baby they will not do their job.
Every time you strap your baby in you need to take proper care to make sure they are secure exactly as they should be. Do not get lazy! Your baby’s life could depend on it.
Find local or online resources to help you with both car seat installation as well as properly fitting it to your baby.
2. The Car Seat is Not for Sleeping
Car seats are not designed for your baby to sleep in them. Yes, your baby is going to fall asleep in them when you drive. You can’t prevent it. However, when you get to your destination you should remove them from the car seat.
When my baby was tiny I enjoyed using the headrest mirror to make sure their head wasn’t drooping down and possibly restricting their breathing.
3. Rear-Facing is More Safe
Keep your baby in a rear-facing car seat as long as you can manage. Other countries do it much longer than people in the US typically do. You can look up a few YouTube videos that show what a crash looks for both rear and front-facing. You will see the major safety difference!
4. No Bows or Headbands in the Car Seat
My final car seat tip is to remove bows from your baby’s head.
Our newborn photographer called us out on this as we were leaving. She gently asked us to remove the headband our baby was wearing before driving off.
Babies primarily breathe through their noses. It is easy for a headband-style bow to fall down or get pushed down by their little hands. If it gets caught under your baby’s nose it could restrict their ability to breathe.
No bow in the car seat when driving!
5. Hair Tourniquets
Watch out for hair tourniquets on your baby. I am sure you have seen when someone gets injured on a TV show and they stop the bleeding by tightly wrapping a belt around an arm or a leg. This is to cut off circulation and stop the blood flow to the area.
The same thing can happen to your baby on a smaller scale. A long piece of hair can get wrapped around the finger, toe, or even penis of a baby boy. If the hair gets wrapped tightly around and around it can first cause pain, but if left unnoticed cause true damage.
If your baby is clearly in unexplained pain look them over quickly to make sure there isn’t a hair tourniquet forming anywhere.
This could also occur with any loose string on their clothing.
One way to avoid this is by not washing your baby’s clothes with other family members, particularly those with long hair.
This is not a guarantee but a way to reduce the risk.
Once your baby is spending time crawling around on the floor make sure to frequently sweep and vacuum. You should be doing this anyway, but a friendly reminder never hurts.
Update: I am currently experiencing massive postpartum hair loss. Thank goodness I was blessed with thick hair! My baby is now between 3 and 4 months old and it is crazy how much hair I am losing. Make sure that you pay extra attention to the risk of hair tourniquets if you too are experiencing postpartum hair loss!
6. Breathing while Breastfeeding
When you are breastfeeding a newborn make sure their nose is clear to breathe. It is easy for it to get squished up against your breasts especially if they are large.
I realize this sounds like common sense. All parents should know their baby needs to be able to breathe.
It is easy though to get overwhelmed with breastfeeding. You are trying to do everything right and may forget to simply make sure your baby can breathe.
For those that are new to breastfeeding check out my article Help and Support for New Moms During the First 2 Weeks of Breastfeeding.
7. Choking Hazards
Anything relatively small is a choking hazard. I do want to bring a few specific things to your attention though.
Two of the most dangerous foods you can give a toddler are grapes and hotdogs. They are the perfect size to get lodged in a toddler’s throat. Always cut your grapes. Take a little bit of extra time to keep your little one safe.
When it comes to hotdogs make a cut or two lengthwise then you can continue to shop it up further or they can eat it on a bun. Just remove the danger of those perfectly round cylinder shapes.
If your child uses a sippy cup with a rubber straw dispose of it as soon as you catch them starting to chew on the straw and it starts to break apart. Someone told us a terrible story related to this and we went from a straw cup to a 360 cup that day.
Button batteries, magnets, and other electronics are serious safety concerns. These can all do terrible damage to your toddler’s body. Companies are actually going so far as to start making batteries that have a funky taste on them to deter children from ingesting them.
If you ever have a moment where you think your child may have swallowed any of these items take them to get checked out. Any hospital bill you incur is worth knowing your child is safe.
My final thought when it comes to choking is reminding you that choking and gagging are slightly different. They can of course go together and happen in the same situation, but for the most part, they are different. Choking is silent and deadly. Gagging is noisy and means your baby or toddler is preventing themselves from choking, or at least their body is trying to do so.
This is something I learned when researching baby-led weaning.
This is why when you are feeding a baby or toddler you need to stay close and watch them. You can’t be in another room thinking you will hear them if they start choking. You need to see them.
8. Blankets in Hot Weather
Do not put a blanket cover your baby’s stroller in hot or even warm weather. The blanket doesn’t allow airflow and they can quickly get overheated. Instead, use the stroller sunshade and face them away from the sun as much as possible.
9. Back = Safe Sleep
We can’t talk about baby safety tips without touching on safe sleep.
Safe sleep boils down to a few simple things. When your baby is a newborn up to one year old put them on their back to sleep. Eventually, if they learn and choose to roll over that is fine, but you should not place them on their stomach.
10. Quit the Swaddle Once Rolling Over
If you swaddle you need to stop doing so once your baby can roll or is getting very close to rolling.
11. Keep the Sleeping Space Clear
Do not put anything in the crib with your baby. It isn’t difficult. Dress them warm enough to sleep without a loose blanket.
Swaddles help keep them warm and then you can move on to a wearable blanket.
With my first child, we waited a long time to give her a blanket. And even then we just gave her a small receiving blanket. Those are not very plush at all and are not large enough for her to be in any danger.
Babies do not need toys or special items in their cribs with them. This is all about sticking to your routine and the environment you create.
Once you let them bring one toy into the crib it will spiral into more items over time.
Our daughter didn’t get a pillow until she was 2.5 years old.
Sleep guidelines are important to follow. They give you peace of mind when you are trying to rest. I never wanted to be worried about my child’s safety. I wanted to sleep soundly knowing they were safe.
Most of these guidelines are about safety. When it came to items in the crib we did that for safety first, but also to make sure our daughter knew this was not a play zone. Good sleep is important and we wanted to keep that environment minimal.
12. Keep Bath Time Safe
Never leave your newborn, baby, or even toddler unattended in the bathtub or bathroom when there is water in the tub. I say it this way because some parents might think their child is safe outside of the tub, but it only takes a second for them to climb in.
Before starting bath time make sure you have all supplies ready in the bathroom and have clothing and other supplies ready in the bedroom.
For more on bath time check out my article 10 Simple but Effective Tips for a Fun and Stress-Free Baby Bath Time.
13. The Side Walks Aren’t Safe
Once your toddler is ready to take walks or ride a car on the neighborhood sidewalk you need to remember they aren’t safe.
So much time is spent teaching them to stay away from the road and on the sidewalk, but it isn’t completely safe.
People often go flying out of their garage backing out onto the road. Once they get close to the road they slow down to check for traffic, but that could be too late.
We had a close call once where our toddler was about 10 to 15 feet ahead of us heading home riding her toy car. A car started backing out. Our daughter had cleared the driveway at that point, but it really shook me up. What made it even more dangerous was it was an electric vehicle and therefore very quiet. It took us longer to notice it and I don’t think she even heard it at all.
Conclusion
I am sure there are many other areas of safety with newborns and babies that I have not touched on. Hopefully, these few areas provide you with thoughts to keep your baby safe.
Even if you only learned one new safety tip it was worth reading this article.
And if you already knew each of the tips a reminder is always a good thing when it comes to safety.
Check Out My Articles
The Ultimate Guide to Baby Care: 8 Essential Tips for New Parents
Smart Purchases for New Parents: My Top 11 Favorite Baby Products
7 Smart Ways to Cut Costs and Save Money when having a Baby
From Birth to Baby’s First Birthday: My Top Takeaways as a New Mom
How A Strong Night Time Routine Can Improve Your Mornings Each Day