Remember that your child’s bedroom is the one room in the house where they will spend the most time alone, so it pays to spend a little extra time ensuring their bedroom is safe. The following child proofing tips will help keep your child’s bedroom and play spaces hazard free.

• Secure all dressers and shelves to the wall to prevent them from tipping over if your children climb on them.
• Avoid toy chests that children could become entrapped in, or have the lid fall on their head. Use toy bins instead.
• Try to keep your child’s bed safely away from the window. Children like to jump and play on their bed, and can fall through a window if they lose balance.
• Consider installing a window guard on any window that isn’t a safety exit.
• Make sure that night lights are not touching any fabric, such as bedspreads or curtains.
• Sleep your child in flame retardant sleepwear.
• Avoid the use of bunk beds. If one is used, make sure the top level is safe from a child rolling off of it. Consider adding your own guard rail to the top, spacing any bars a distance of 3 1/2 inches apart. Do not place a bunk bed near a ceiling fan.
• If the bedroom is on a second or third floor, be sure to keep a fire ladder in each bedroom.
• Keep pillows and other soft cushioning on the floor near the side of the bed for children just getting used to “big kid beds.”

Child Proofing Your Child’s Playroom

• Make a habit of checking periodically on consumer safety web-sites to ensure that the products your child is using have not been recalled. We also suggest you follow the blog on our site, which can keep you up to date on important safety issues such as this. You can visit us online & subscribe to have articles & updates emailed to you. (www.keepyourchildsafe.org)
• Emphasize to other family members the need to keep your child’s playroom “sanitary” and free from potential choking hazards that could be brought in or dropped from a pocket.
• Avoid toys with strings that could pose a strangulation hazard. Strings and cords should be shorter than 6 inches.
• Buy only age appropriate toys.

Remember to monitor children while in playrooms. The playroom should not be used as a place to park the kids, leaving them child to their own devices.

Child Proofing In Other Bedrooms

• Keep hair sprays, cologne, perfume, nail polish and remover, make up, and other hygiene items out of the reach of children.
• If you have any firearms, keep them securely locked away in a gun safe. Never simply keep a firearm in a dresser drawer or under the bed.
• Never leave medications, razors, or other daily needs out where children can reach them.