October is National Window Covering Safety Month

Safety Tips For Children's Rooms

Most parents spend untold hours planning and decorating a baby's room, selecting wall colors, crib accessories and other small touches to create a safe, warm and secure environment. Yet the main focal points for decorating a child's room — cribs, windows and bedding — can also hold the greatest potential dangers for a child's safety.

To make sure a child's room is free from unseen hazards, the Window Covering Safety Council encourages parents to review and follow these basic safety tips:

Although window areas are a tempting place to put a crib or youth bed, never place a crib, playpen, bed or any low-standing furniture near a window.

Infants and toddlers can accidentally fall through an open window or window screen, or become tragically entangled in a nearby window cord. Whenever possible, place cribs and furniture on a non-windowed wall.

Many home experts recommend avoiding long draperies in a baby’s room, especially for when they start crawling. It is too easy for babies to grab onto long flowing fabrics, with a danger of pulling the hardware down. Window cords can also be a potential strangulation hazard.  Cordless coverings are the only choice to help ensure your baby’s safety. They also create a clean, aesthetically pleasing look. The Window Covering Safety Council recommends you make the right choice and only use cordless window products in young children’s bedrooms and play areas. Owners and renters should replace all window coverings in the home made before 2001 with today’s safer products.

Because infants and young toddlers spend so much of their early lives in a crib, it is especially important to make sure your child's crib is sturdy, properly installed and in compliance with the latest safety standards.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) cautions that crib mattresses should fit snugly, headboards and footboards should be without decorative cutouts, and corner-post extensions should be eliminated. In addition, cribs slats should be spaced no more than 2 ^3/8 inches apart.

Once a child is able to push up on his hands or knees(around 5 months of age), the CPSC also recommends removing crib toys strung across the crib or playpen to avoid accidental strangulation.

Fashionably coordinated crib comforters, bumpers, sheets and other bedding items are commonplace in today's nurseries.

As adorable as these items may be, safety experts caution parents not to place fluffy soft comforters, pillows, or large stuffed animals in the crib where they might smother a baby.

Although most parents are aware of the need to use plug protectors in all unused electrical outlets, they often overlook the potential hazards of plug-in nightlights. To avoid having small fingers probe an electrical outlet, install a brand of nightlight that can only be removed with a screwdriver. In addition, buy "cool" nightlights. Higher wattage bulbs can get hot and burn a curious hand.

Another hazard often overlooked are door-knob locks. Consider removing the locking knob on your child's door and replacing it with a non-locking variety to avoid accidental "lock-ins" and to ensure that you and your child can always enter or leave the room in case of an emergency.

Consider purchasing a spring-loaded lid-support device for toy chests to prevent the lid from falling on a child's neck or closing and trapping a child playing inside.

Changing tables can be stylish, but also need to be safe, with safety straps and a wide tabletop area. Baby powder, diaper ointment and other care products should be out of baby's reach.

When children outgrow the crib, make sure their first bed is low to the floor to prevent falls and placed far away from windowed areas.