More than 2 million children younger than age 4 wind up in the emergency room every year because of accidents at home, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Keep your new little loved one safe and sound by inspecting every item that enters the room for kid-friendliness. Here are 10 ways to create a safe bedroom for baby:
- Remove cords from blinds and drapes, or at least place the crib far from any window that has them. A playful baby can wrap the cords around his neck and never figure out how to get untangled. In fact, it’s a good idea to keep any piece of furniture that a toddler can crawl on top of away from the windows.
- If you borrow baby furniture, do not accept a crib or any type of furniture with missing slats or any old models with wide slats. A rule of thumb: If you can squeeze a soda can between slats, they’re too far apart for safety. And know if borrowed furniture has been recalled; call the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s hotline at 800-638-2772 to ask.
- Take the lid off of the toy box. The Home Safety Council says a bin with a lid can trap a child or snap shut on their little fingers. If you must have a lid, choose a toy box with a spring-loaded mechanical arm that closes slowly without slamming and that’s easy to open from the inside.
- While you’re decorating, choose water-based paint with low or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and let the room air out for several days after painting before you move the baby in. Same goes for carpet: The Carpet and Rug Institute estimates that carpets “off-gas” for the first 24 hours or so. Open the windows and let a newly carpeted nursery air out for 48 to 72 hours before the baby will sleep there.
- Plug plastic inserts into electrical outlets so little fingers can’t find their way in. Buy the kind that forces an adult to use two hands to remove them; they’re especially hard for even the most determined toddler to pull out.
- Keep electrical cords out of reach and out of view; bunch up the slack and hide it behind a dresser or changing table. Do not use extension cords in the nursery. If you don’t have outlets where you need them, call a licensed electrician to install more.
- The nursery is often a small room, so there’s little space to keep lotions, extra diapers and other changing-table necessities. Add out-of-reach shelves to store your supplies or hide them in dresser drawers that nobody but the adults can find. Never place shelves on the walls near the crib; anything you put on them could fall onto your sleeping baby. Same goes for artwork on the walls: Keep it light so it won’t fall from the wall and bang baby on the head.
- Anchor furniture to the wall so it won’t topple onto a toddler who tugs on it. Screw the anchor into a wall stud, which is solid and study enough to hold heavy pieces. Drywall alone isn’t.
- Install a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide detector outside of the baby’s room. While you’re at it, put one on every floor of the house, and mark your calendar to change the batteries every year on your birthday.
- Convert the light switch for the overhead light in the baby’s room to a dimmer switch, and make sure it’s near the door so you can turn it on when you enter the room, which will allow you to move around safely after dark without turning on a bright lamp.
- Choose water-based paint with low or no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and let the room air out for several days after painting before you move the baby in.
- Same goes for carpet: The Carpet and Rug Institute estimates that carpets “off-gas” for the first 24 hours or so. Open the windows and let a newly carpeted nursery air out for 48 to 72 hours before the baby will sleep there.
- Choose a natural-fiber carpet with the CRI label, which means tests have proven it will have less chemical emissions.
- Stay away from particleboard furniture that may have been made with resins containing formaldehyde, which can irritate the nose and throat.
- Hang paper- or natural-fiber wallpaper rather than vinyl.
Setting up a nursery can be expensive, yet your baby will outgrow most of the furniture within two years. Look for used furniture at flea markets, consignment stores or borrow pieces from friends and family whose kids are older.
A tip: Don’t use a crib with missing slats or an older model with wide slats. If you can squeeze a soda can between slats, they’re too far apart for safety.
And know if borrowed furniture has been recalled; call the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s hotline at 800-638-2772 to ask.
Colors are an important considertation in the nursery. Pastel pinks and blues are still most popular for a little girl’s or boy’s room, but don’t limit yourself to tradition. Start with those colors, but balance them with soft greens, beiges and even trendy browns.
Or mix soft, light pink on one wall with fuchsia on another or paint blocks of baby blue next to stripes of royal. Partnering pastels with bold hues of the same colors create some contrast, which helps stimulate the baby.
Another option: Pair pink with a nontraditional accent color like orange. And don’t reserve blue for boys. A pretty blue pairs nicely with girly pink or lavender accents for an overall feminine room.
And finally are space considerations in a small nusery. All you really need in the nursery is a crib, a changing table, a small dresser and a rocking chair. Don’t crowd the nursery with so much furniture that there’s no room for you and the baby to sit on the floor and play.
Once you cram in the basics, look up: Shelves on the walls can store your baby monitor, changing supplies and extra blankets; a video monitor can be mounted to the ceiling; hanging bags can hold fresh diapers and dirty laundry.
A tip: Don’t hang shelves near the crib so the items you place on it won’t fall on your sleeping baby.
Also, look for single pieces of furniture that serve a dual purpose. An example: Find a low dresser with a wide edge on top to double as a changing table and a toy chest or a table that comes with dresser drawers.
And look for a crib that you can convert to a toddler bed as the baby grows. A tip: A mattress should fit tightly into the crib so the baby can’t get trapped between the end of the mattress and the edge of the crib.
Finally, find storage space anywhere except on the floor. Even newborns seem to need a lot of stuff. Some ideas:
- Pick out a sturdy toy chest that’s big enough to hold all of your little one’s playthings. The Home Safety Council recommends storing toys in bins without lids so the top can’t trap a baby inside or fall on his or her little hands.
- Slide under-the-bed storage boxes out of the way under the baby’s crib.
- Build shelves in the nursery’s clothes closet. You’ll have to hang very few of the baby’s clothes, but you’ll need lots of shelf space for toys, towels, sheets and diapers.
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