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Home › Articles › Toddler Safety › Safe Steps for Toddlers

Safe Steps for Toddlers

Going Beyond Basic "Baby Proofing"

By Kelly Burgess

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The minute he walks in the door of a client's house, Ken George usually spots one hazard that parents never notice: door stops.

"Door stops are almost always the rigid springs with the small, white rubber stopper at the end," says George. "Parents don't realize that stopper can be pulled off and put in the mouth of a baby or toddler. These are easily replaced with something safer, but if you don't know it's a hazard, you don't know it needs to be replaced."

After motor vehicle and traffic deaths, choking/suffocation is a leading cause of accidental death in toddlers, along with burns, falls, poisonings and drownings. Many of these accidents happen because there are things, like the door stopper, that parents simply don't think about, says George, a leading expert on child safety and founder of the California-based company The Original Safety for Toddlers. The good news is that accidents can be prevented by knowing what to look for and looking at your surroundings from your child's point of view.

Long-term Safety
Once a baby starts crawling, parents are generally very conscientious about baby-proofing issues such as installing latches on cabinets, plugging outlets, putting up small objects and gating forbidden rooms and stairways. However, George says they may not think about upgrading their "baby" proofing once the baby has the increased mobility and dexterity of a toddler. Your 18-month-old may have figured out how to open the same cupboard latch that kept him out from under the sink when he was an 11-month-old. Outlet plugs the baby may not have noticed can be easily pried out by a curious, determined toddler.

George suggests considering the following safety checks for toddlers:


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