Hidden dangers

I was just in my laundry room (I havn't washed clothes in a few days !!) so I have a good sized mountain of clothes beside my washer (my laundry room is small) I looked in the washer and DH was soaking a shirt that Ava had gotten spaghetti sauce on. He had filled the washer and left the lid open. I don't think the mountain is quite high enough but what if they had climbed it and gotten in the washer??

this really opened my eyes and now I am checking my house for other problems - I just thought we could share - someone may have an idea that someone else may not have thought of!!??

 

I've posted it before but toothpaste containing flouride is toxic to a toddler if they eat as little as two ounces of it.

Another I just thought of the other day as their fascination with holes continues... the garbage disposal! If one is sticking his hand in the hole and the other flips the switch... So, I got under there and shut it off at the disposal so now I have to do that extra step to use it but it's worth not worrying about them losing a hand/foot.

 

We have furnace air returns in both their bedroom and playroom that happen to be right by the door stops that they love to play with. After months of them playing down there, we realized there were sharp corners on the air return covers that needed to be covered. When we were originally covering corners, we only thought of furniture, so these ones never occurred to us.

And speaking of the door stops, we took off the little rubber cover because they could take it off and try to eat it.

 

I am not sure how mine did this, but the other day, they knocked a huge glass bowl off of our dining room table. I think they may have climbed onto the dining room chairs to reach it? I just heard the thump (miraculously, it didn't shatter or hit one of them). I have never seen them climb up onto dining room chairs, so I thought the stuff in the middle of the table was safe. Clearly, it is not.

 

I agree about us not always checking everywhere for dangers. Victoria and Athena has just managed to open up cupboards, so we had the latches fitted, but forgot all about the drawers.... until Victoria managed to open the top one and took out a fork...
It cost dh and myself to go down on our hands and knees to see the house from their level and "baby-safe" everything.

 

QUOTE(jcs @ Feb 21 2008, 12:35 AM) [snapback]632771[/snapback]
I am not sure how mine did this, but the other day, they knocked a huge glass bowl off of our dining room table. I think they may have climbed onto the dining room chairs to reach it? I just heard the thump (miraculously, it didn't shatter or hit one of them). I have never seen them climb up onto dining room chairs, so I thought the stuff in the middle of the table was safe. Clearly, it is not.


That reminded me....We had a crockpot of clam chowder on the countertop for the superbowl. I unplugged it after the game (the boys were already in bed) and intended to let it cool off for a bit and then put the leftovers and the crockpot away. The next morning on my way to work, it hit me that I never put it away and was disappointed that we weren't going to be able to save all that good chowder! Soon after, my dh called me to say Bridger had somehow pulled the crockpot off the countertop, the lid smashed into a million pieces, and there was clam chowder everywhere! Miraculously, no glass or chowder got on Bridger. Luckily it was close to nap time anyway, so dh swept the boys up and put them in their cribs while he cleaned up the mess. The only thing we can figure is that I mindlessly left the cord hang over the edge of the countertop, because there is no way they can reach the counter. I probably didn't think twice about it because I had planned to put it all away that night anyway. So, not really a hidden danger I guess.....just a stupid mommy moment that your glass bowl reminded me of.

 

I am SO aware of the girls growing and it seems everyday they can reach a little farther etc. My thing now is my hair straightener. They'll come in the bathroom with me etc. when I'm doing this - and I am always sure that if I bend down to attend to a child etc. that the cord is FAR away from the edge of the counter. My sister's little boy got burned by her curling iron - she was diligent for the most part - but didn't realize he could reach that far! Those rubber thingys on the door stops too!! the ones at my house are on securley as I've "pulled" them all and I couldn't even get them off - but my Mom's house they are a little older, and sure enough Natalie pulled one off - choking hazard!! So my Mom went around and pulled them all off now. It's amazing what they will find. Open toilet seats are a big hazard too. I'm sure most of you know this, but being a first time Mom and a child fasinated with the toilet -

 

I feel like I'm the only one around my house who checks for these things! People come over for dinner & constantly leave sharp knives right at the edge of the counter......the other day, sil was over & helping me make dinner. I left the room for a minute, since she was there & came back & there was ds who had pulled a chair up to the counter & holding a steak knife!! :angry:

Some of the things I watch out for that I never thought I would.......

toilets......I'm always afraid they'll fall head 1st into them & not be able to get back out

the dryer.......found ds & cousin playing in it a few weeks ago & just to see if he could close it, I tested him out on it. Sure enough, he can close the dryer all by himself! Since they think it's fun to play inside & he can close the door, I try to make sure the door to the laundry room is always closed.

 

This is a very useful thread! This week's ParentCenter email also had a reminder than 2-year-olds (in particular) are increasing their physical abilities so fast that what was safe one week is not safe the next.

We have a jug of windshield wiper fluid in our laundry room, and we quit shutting the door because the girls like to watch the clothes in the washer. I keep meaning to move that jug... I know they can't unscrew the lid now (and in fact they completely ignore it), but some day it's suddenly going to look interesting to them.

I also never let them go to bed or nap with ponytails in (thanks to someone else's warning on TS -- sorry, I forget who it was -- about her little girl cutting off the circulation by wrapping one around her wrist at naptime). And even though I try to be strict about this, I put them to bed one night, and then realized that Amy had two ponytails in that day, but I only had one elastic in my pocket. I went back to her room and checked her arms & legs, and sure enough, she had stuck it around her ankle.

 

I think that was me that had the ponytail on her wrist!


I just thought of something else our pedi told us......he said to keep all the cleaners up high & out of reach. He said you can't depend on those child latches for the cupboards.....they can learn to open them!

 

I wouldn't say it's a hidden danger but they make such pretty little barrettes for little girls and they're all serious choking hazards. McKenna's hair is getting so long that it looks messy all the time. Everytime I put a barrette in it, she looks so cute...for about 5 minutes. She always manages to pull the thing out and it goes straight into her mouth everytime! I used to convince myself that I just wouldn't take my eyes off of her while she had one in her hair. But one day I turned to pick up Genevieve after she fell then turned right back to look at McKenna (seriously, less than 3 seconds) and she no longer had the thing in her hair. I looked everywhere and finally pinched her cheeks and sure enough there it was! I threw them all away after that. I didn't even want to chance giving them to someone else with a baby girl! People can just assume she's a boy until she's old enough to understand that she can't eat them. It scares me too much!

 

I ditto previous post about barrettes. I refuse to put them in my girls hair for fear of choking. My dh recently bolted and chained all of our furniture to the wall because of a post someone made on here about her ds pulling the armoire on himself with the tv in it. He was okay but it opened my eyes to get it done sooner.

 

Thank you all!!!! I never thought about the hair barrettes!!!! and getting on your hands and knees to get a baby view is a great idea!!!

 

QUOTE(mac+evie @ Feb 21 2008, 08:43 PM) [snapback]634543[/snapback]
I wouldn't say it's a hidden danger but they make such pretty little barrettes for little girls and they're all serious choking hazards. McKenna's hair is getting so long that it looks messy all the time. Everytime I put a barrette in it, she looks so cute...for about 5 minutes. She always manages to pull the thing out and it goes straight into her mouth everytime! I used to convince myself that I just wouldn't take my eyes off of her while she had one in her hair. But one day I turned to pick up Genevieve after she fell then turned right back to look at McKenna (seriously, less than 3 seconds) and she no longer had the thing in her hair. I looked everywhere and finally pinched her cheeks and sure enough there it was! I threw them all away after that. I didn't even want to chance giving them to someone else with a baby girl! People can just assume she's a boy until she's old enough to understand that she can't eat them. It scares me too much!

And wouldn't you know that yesterday evening I ordered a whole bunch of little barettes for my two. Oh well, they can just wait until their older.

One thing that I noticed is that the plastic things you put in the electrical sockets....yeah, my little one LOVES trying to pull them out. I have tried everything to hide the sockets since they are in areas that are exposed. But she usually just heads right for it. I don't know what the fascination is. But it's been no fun trying to keep her away from it! Thankfully, she's never been able to pull it out, but she is starting to figure it out.....

 

QUOTE(cathmar @ Feb 23 2008, 08:19 PM) [snapback]637386[/snapback]
And wouldn't you know that yesterday evening I ordered a whole bunch of little barettes for my two. Oh well, they can just wait until their older.

One thing that I noticed is that the plastic things you put in the electrical sockets....yeah, my little one LOVES trying to pull them out. I have tried everything to hide the sockets since they are in areas that are exposed. But she usually just heads right for it. I don't know what the fascination is. But it's been no fun trying to keep her away from it! Thankfully, she's never been able to pull it out, but she is starting to figure it out.....



Check out these type of outlet covers. I have them everywhere and love them. I buy mine @ Walmart.

 

QUOTE(Callen @ Feb 23 2008, 10:13 PM) [snapback]637851[/snapback]
Check out these type of outlet covers. I have them everywhere and love them. I buy mine @ Walmart.


I have those. They work pretty well.

 

Thanks for all the advice!!

 

Our bathtub drains slowly so, after we took down the gates, I always had to be diligent about keeping the bathroom door closed so that the kids couldn't get in there and play in the water.

Another big one for us in the hand sanitizer. The bottles of that must stay out of Dax's reach because it is basically alcohol.

 

I never thought of the hand sanitizer either!!!!

 

That's why I don't have any hand sanitizer in the house. You shouldn't need to use it in your own home where you have access to soap and water.

 

QUOTE(Callen @ Feb 23 2008, 10:13 PM) [snapback]637851[/snapback]
Check out these type of outlet covers. I have them everywhere and love them. I buy mine @ Walmart.

Thanks so much! GOing to Walmart tomorrow to pick them up!

 

We have a different type of outlet cover, here's one example:

http://www.amazon.com/Safety-1st-48308-Out...1588&sr=1-1

Please note you need a socket with a center screw piece. The previous owner of our house spent a lot of money putting in fancy sockets that were rectangular and had no center screw. So when we wanted to childproof the sockets, we had to buy all new outlets, turn off the power, and replace those with the normal sockets before we could install the safety covers. Worth it, but a pain!

Our recent safety - the on/off gas lever for the fireplace. We used to have gates all in front of the TV and fireplace area, so never thought about it. Then we took the gates down. This winter, I turned on the fireplace several times with the kids watching. We talked safety the whole time, and I did my best to get them to understand and be scared of it, but you know how kids are. We got a cabinet latch on those doors as soon as I could (wouldn't you know, I checked the latch last week and DH installed it too low and it's not catching??? Still needs to be fixed!) Always double check your cabinet latches!

Thanks for the safety tips!

 

QUOTE(BridgePort @ Feb 20 2008, 11:35 PM) [snapback]632720[/snapback]
And speaking of the door stops, we took off the little rubber cover because they could take it off and try to eat it.


My Addison JUST did this yesterday! Luckily I saw her doing it and got it out of her mouth immediately.

A weird one for us our wicker hamper. The girls started pulling pieces off and eating them. Definitely a choking hazard!

 

People leaving the toilet lid up drives me nuts! I know the girls can lift the lid, but at least it slows them down. A new thing they found is our house's central vac system. I never use it, but they found they can open the flaps and stick little things in there.

 

Does anyone mop anymore?!?!? Mop buckets are very dangerous too. I have heard of children drowning in a mop bucket. Very scary! I usually mop when they are napping due to the wet floor also being unsafe. Just last night one of mine was running from me with a small cup of water. Of course it was spilling and he slipped and fell. Which leads me to post another topic.