Baby Proofing: Don’t forget the furniture!
Did you know that September is National Baby Safety month? When thinking about baby proofing, most of us probably think of the more obvious things like pool fences, gates for the stairs, electrical outlet covers, or cabinet locks. There are so many products out there and so many things we think of as moms. But, don’t forget the furniture!
With two little boys (at the time), the second of whom was just starting to pull up on furniture, my mom had been nagging me to affix the large shelving pieces, dressers and cabinets to the wall. I kept blowing it off– they didn’t climb on the furniture; the furniture was sturdy; I wasn’t concerned. And, then, just before Christmas 2010, I saw a tweet come through my feed about praying for someone and I clicked the link. That link led me to the blog Roscommon Acres and what I read broke my heart. As I sat reading Dana’s account of what happened to her sweet, little Tiggy with tears streaming down my face, I was amazed at her strength & courage at writing that post. You see, there was an accident involving a dresser falling on her precious little toddler. He didn’t survive.
I was devastated for her. And, I quickly realized how easily that could have been me or so many of my friends writing that post instead (and that thought makes me tear up still). Because of reading what Dana so courageously shared, I was finally convicted in doing some “baby proofing” that we should have taken care of long before. So, we spent New Year’s day of 2011 affixing multiple pieces of furniture to the walls and taking care of a few other safety things we needed to do.
The fix is so simple & so inexpensive! All you need is some simple furniture straps! We found them easy to install and now, every time we rearrange or get new furniture pieces, we always assess if and how it needs to be properly secured! And, wouldn’t you know, in the time since then, I have caught the boys scaling the furniture in an effort to grab a toy or something out of their reach. So, when thinking about baby safety, don’t forget the furniture straps!
Have you ever been inspired to make changes by another mom’s story?
What a great point. Child proofing furniture is so often overlooked. As adults we forget some of the dangerous things in our house because they are not dangerous to us.
This idea has scared me so much. We have almost all of our furniture in our house strapped to the wall.
Oh my gosh. I never strapped any of our furniture to the walls, I never even thought about it!
Thank you for this post!
Never would have thought about the furniture. Great tip!
How sad. I think it’s wonderful she was able to share and good of you to post this as well. I’ve heard of numerous injuries to children because of flat screens tipping over on them. It’s not difficult to secure furniture but very important.
Such an important part of childproofing a home! I had heard the sad & tragic stories of parents who children were injured because furniture fell on them. I really appreciated knowing that securing furniture was a necessity when my 4 year old twins were born. Great reminder post!
So heart breaking, I remember reading that post. Always a reminder of how It is so important to baby proof.
[...] written about the topic of furniture safety here on the Right Start blog before. I just didn’t realize that only a few months later, I [...]