Protecting Your Baby - Selecting Quality Baby Furniture

Make sure to place a working smoke detector in your child's nursery or outside the room. When baby begins to crawl it's essential that any unused electrical outlet is sealed with a cheap plastic plug protector to stop your inquisitive baby from inserting his fingers. Wherever possible, try to hide electrical leads and outlets with nursery furniture your toddler doesn’t use, like changing tables.

Your baby’s cot is the piece of nursery furniture where he will spend the most time during his early months. When picking a cot it's necessary to make sure they conform with the appropriate safety standards (BS EN 716 in the UK). Your cot must be deep enough so your child is unable to climb out. Ensure that the space between the bars is not capable of allowing the child to trap their head. Check that if the cot has drop down sides that they have suitable locks to stop them from being accidently opened by your baby. It's essential that second hand cots are checked out thoroughly for damage to fixtures and fastenings and that you purchase a brand new mattress for your baby. It's also essential to ensure the mattress is a tight fit and leaves no more than a 4cm gap around the outside to prevent your child from becoming trapped.


Remember the 'back to sleep' campaign designed to reduce sudden infant death syndrome and always lay your child down on his back. If using a nightlight make sure it is located away from the cot and any other soft furnishings

Try to arrange your nursery furniture in a way that avoids positioning furniture in front of windows. Also steer clear of positioning anything that may allow your youngster to balance on to peek out of a window. Window locks are a fantastic way to guarantee your child's windows may only be opened by you. When opening a window for ventilation make sure it is properly fixed and ideally never open more than 5cm.

Changing stations may also be a source of injury but this normally is a consequence of carers believing their toddler to be secure and walking away. Using a wedge shaped changing mat can help enormously in making sure your child can't roll away and some changing tables even have securings to fix your child. Keep your changing gear out of baby’s reach. Babies and toddlers are naturally inquisitive and nappy sacks or rash creams are potentially harmful.

Rather disturbingly one of the most common causes of harm in a child's room are window dressings and blinds. It's vital that short window dressings are used that small children can't become entwined in and that the pull cords on Venetian blinds are kept short. If you do install blinds, make sure you fold the cords away high above your child’s reach and never place nursery furniture your baby occupies, like her cot or the changing table, near the blinds.

Choose your toy storage carefully. Toy chests must be fitted with child friendly hinges or lightweight lids to stop little fingers from being trapped. As your child gets older, he might climb inside the toy chesttoy box and a heavy lid may trap her so it’s important they be fitted with safety hinges or lightweight lids. Drawers are also potentially harmful and ideally should have a soft close action. Cupboard and wardrobe doors are also a possible hazard to your youngster and you must think about fitting safety mechanisms to stop your youngster from injuring themselves

By following good information and making sure their furniture complys the European regulations new parents can create safe, warm and stimulating nurseries for their newborn.

About the Author

As a dad of two kids and a accomplished writer on parenting issues Gary offers sensible advice about nursery bedroom furniture in features, his blog and at his internet shop.With years of experience he is able to give assistance on anything from designing a nursery to a simple baby changing mat.

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by: babies Total views: 15 Word Count: 637 Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2008 Time: 4:09 PM 0 comments