The early days of your child’s walking career may be exciting, but they’re often not pretty. Expect plenty of spills, crashes, and maybe even a cut lip or some black-and-blue marks as your baby blazes her first trails.
While you can’t keep her from falling — learning to get up is an important part of the process, after all — you can set the scene to cushion the blows, both to her noggin and her ego, with these walking safety tips.
Childproof with fresh eyes. Once your baby starts walking, hazards change — secure furniture, lock cabinets, and use baby gates to keep little explorers safe. Clear the path. Remove rugs, clutter, and sharp-edged obstacles to help prevent trips and tumbles. Expect some spills. Falls are part of learning to walk. Stay calm, offer comfort, and call your pediatrician if you notice concerning symptoms after a big spill.
1. Double your childproofing efforts
You probably babyproofed the house before your child turned into a crawler, but now that she’s upright and ready to cruise, go through the house again. Get down on your knees occasionally for a real toddler’s-eye view of possible hazards.
2. Put potential hazards behind a locked door or up and out of reach
That includes any locking any harmful liquids or cleaners into babyproofed cabinets and closets. Secure the cabinets you don’t want tiny fingers exploring with locks. You can leave the cabinets with pots and pans accessible so your toddler can play with them when you're close at hand in the kitchen.
3. Remove roadblocks
A lot of things can derail an unsteady cruiser or beginner walker. So stash the throw rugs for now and minimize the clutter that could trip up still-clumsy feet.
4. Set up baby gates and window guards
Baby gates should be installed at the tops and bottoms of stairs, and window guards on the windows that are above ground level.
5. Prevent furniture tip-overs
Secure or move any piece of furniture that could tip over when grabbed by grasping hands, like dressers, bookcases, TV stands, TVs, and desks.
6. Soften sharp corners and edges
Pad all sharp corners that your little one could hit his head or scrape his leg on. If you have a glass-topped coffee table, see if you can replace the top with a more baby- and toddler-friendly material. (If you can’t, think about storing it until your child is older.)
7. Keep doors and drawers closed
Babies and young toddlers can wander out the door or climb into a drawer (and cause a dresser to tip over). Get some childproof doorknob covers for the front and back doors, plus any room you don’t want your child toddling into — like the bathroom.
8. Cover hot appliances and heated surfaces
That includes radiators, stoves, heaters, and furnaces. And be sure to put a grill around a fireplace — the last thing you want is your little cruiser burning her hands. Babyproof stove and oven handles by putting knob covers over them so that your little explorer doesn't accidentally turn them on.
Despite your best efforts at childproofing, there will be bumps and tumbles — not to mention tears.
Try not to act too worried, scared, or stressed when your newly minted walker stumbles or falls. Do your best to stay as calm as possible while you check for injuries beyond normal bumps and bruises. Call your pediatrician right away if a bad spill or hit to the head results in any more serious symptoms, like sudden vomiting, dizziness, or drowsiness.
If your child looks okay after the latest bout of clumsiness, just says something soothing like, "Oops! That’s okay!" Give her a hug and comfort her if she's upset, but then encourage her to get back up onto those cute little feet and keep going.
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