BabySecurity Blog

Could there possibly be a more dangerous combination of a young child, plenty of drink, a relatively small target in the shape of a potty, and your brand-new carpet?

Potty training is one of those things which a great deal of parents worry about. The main concern which parents have is whether their child should already be starting to use a potty. This is the most important thing about potty training. It is not something which should be introduced or forced upon your child unless your child is already ready.

But that’s a little like asking which came first, the chicken or the egg, because how do you know whether your child is ready to use a potty unless you try getting them to use a potty?

The risk is that if you try getting your child to use a potty before they are ready then not only will they find this rather stressful and worrying, but there is almost certainly going to be a significantly higher chance of there being an accident. If there is an accident then this will only increase your child’s sense of anxiety, making the whole process more and more difficult, and somewhat self-defeating.

Believe it or not your child will tell you when they are ready to start potty training. Don’t get excited about the idea of having your child wander up to you one day and announce that they will be prepared to fit you in for a 20 minute slot that afternoon to go over the fundamental basics of lavatorial processes and hygiene.

But they will provide you with clues and signals which, if you are looking out for them, will give you a clear indication as to whether they are ready to try potty training. So what are the signals?

Two Hours Of Dryness

If your child remains dry for at least two hours at a time during the day then this may indicate that they are starting to settle into something of a routine, and this may offer you the opportunity to take advantage of that routine.

Toilet Interest

It may be a little disconcerting, but when your child is ready to start potty training it is probable that they will start to become curious when members of the family go to the toilet. You may find your child wandering in while you, your partner or older brothers or sisters are going to the toilet, but don’t feel that this behaviour should be discouraged. Take it as a signal that they are probably ready to explore the idea of potty training.

Regular Bowel Movements

It is likely that as your child becomes ready to try potty training their bowel movements will become more regular and more predictable. You may find for example that they always do a little poo straight after breakfast. This sort of regularity and routine is a clear indication that your child’s is ready to take the next step.

Sound Effects

No, I’m not talking about bottom burps! Don’t take these as a signal or you’ll be trying to potty train your child from day one! But what you may find is that as your child is having a poo they make little noises, such as grunting. They may also starts to squat whilst they do their poo.

Nappy Notifications

You may find that your child’s starts to let you know when their nappy needs changing. This is a great sign, and indicates that they have become very much more aware of what their lower end is doing.

These five points should all be kept in mind, because they can provide a good indication as to whether your child is ready to start potty training or not. If you don’t feel that these signals are evident, then don’t force potty training upon them, or you could end up delaying the process.

It is often a good idea not to worry about potty training during periods which may be slightly stressful for your child. So for example if there is a new baby arriving, you’re moving house, your child is moving from a cot to bed, or there is some other significant change going on within the family then your child may find potty training is just one thing too much to cope with. Remember, there is no rush. Everyone is different, and it will happen eventually!

It seems quite ridiculous that at this time of year we should even be thinking about heating. But unfortunately with the weather Dewsbury damp and cold as it has been for some considerable time now, many of us have had our heaters, fires and central heating on quite a bit of the time. For those with young children this can pose something of a problem.

With log and coal fires it is pretty obvious to young child looking at the flames that they are hot and dangerous. But unfortunately many types of fire or heater do not look as obvious as this is. Electric heaters, gas fires and bar radiators don’t tend to look hot at all, and this can be deceiving.

Not only that but in many of these cases once the heater has been switched off and the bars or grill has dimmed from red to a more innocuous colour it is almost impossible for a young child to appreciate that there will be considerable latent heat for some time afterwards, constituting a danger that is almost completely unseen.

Even central heating radiators can be a potential danger, more so because of the fact that they do not change visually at all from cold to scalding hot. If they are controlled by a thermostat or timer then you may well not even consciously be aware of whether a radiator is on or not.

Every year in the UK over 750 children have to be sent to hospital with very painful burns as a direct result of coming into contact with fires and heaters in the home. This is a completely preventable risk, and with us all using our heaters and radiators more than normal it is a risk which has the potential to grow this year beyond the statistics from last year.

This is why having a fireguard is such an important thing to do when you have a young child or children. A fireguard is essentially a cage which fits around the fire or fireplace, preventing children from getting close enough to the heater or fire to cause discomfort or injury. Because the fire guards are made from an open mesh material they do not in any way impair the effectiveness of the heater in raising the overall room temperature. The design of many fire guards is such that they do not detract from the style and beauty of a fireplace either, although in any case they are easily removable.

It is important to remember that a fireguard will need to be physically attached to the wall either side of the fireplace. The usual method for doing this is to have a hook screwed into the wall on each side of the fireplace. A hinged clasp or hook on each side of the fireguard allows this to be attached and detached quickly and conveniently, whilst at the same time making sure that any child who holds onto the fireguard and pulls on it will be unable to either remove it, or fall down with it on top of them.

If you are looking to purchase a fireguard then it is important to bear in mind two or three points. First of all there is the issue of size. Make sure you measure how far it is from one side of the fireplace to the other. Usually you will want your fireguard to extend to the outer sides of any fireplace or mantelpiece which you have. For wider fireplaces you may well find that an extending fireguard is the most convenient solution, but if you are likely to be moving house at any time in the near future an extending fireguard provides you with the versatility and flexibility of knowing that you will be able to fix the fireguard over virtually any new fireplace or surround in future.

Another thing to make sure is that when you are buying the fireguard it fully conforms with the appropriate safety regulations. The safety standard reference which you should be looking for is BS8423 2002.

Finally you may wish to consider whether you need one fireguard or more than one. Think about whether it is more convenient to have a fireguard over each fireplace or radiator which could potentially pose a danger, or whether you are happy to move the fireguard as appropriate.

Although breathing monitors are not a new idea they have more often been used by hospitals to monitor babies who may be at risk of breathing abnormalities. But increasingly a range of breathing monitors have been developed for use at home by any parent who wishes to monitor their baby’s breathing for any potential problems or irregularities.

The range of baby products available today has expanded massively compared to even just a few years ago, with technology very often the driving force behind developments which have given parents the opportunity to stay one step ahead of any potential problems.

Before baby monitors came along parents would have to either take a risk with their child, or spend virtually every minute with them in the same room, giving them very little opportunity to do anything else. As video technology improved to the point where baby monitors could incorporate a video image of the child many parents have been able to take advantage of this added level of reassurance. Beyond this, infrared technology has enabled video streaming even in circumstances where there is virtually no ambient light at all.

Whilst you may be familiar with these different types of baby monitor, one baby products you may not be as familiar with or aware of is the breathing monitor. So what exactly is a breathing monitor, what are the benefits it offers, and what features should you be aware of should you decide to purchase one?

Put simply, a breathing monitor monitors your baby’s breathing, alerting you if any potential problems are detected. Although mercifully quite rare there are of course publicised instances where a baby has suddenly and inexplicably stopped breathing, but there are also many cases where a baby’s breathing may become irregular or weak, foreshadowing more severe symptoms and conditions which will need close observation and treatment.

Some baby monitors simply monitor your baby’s breathing, providing you with a visual and audible warning should your baby’s breathing stop for more than a few seconds. Many breathing monitors also analyse the regularity of your baby’s breathing. For example, the RM25 baby breathing monitor will constantly add up the total number of seconds your baby’s last six breaths took. If this exceeds 50 seconds then a warning will be issued.

There are two basic types of baby breathing monitor, one portable and one designed just for use within your baby’s cot. The portable breathing monitors usually attach to the top of your baby’s nappy, and are so small and lightweight that your baby will certainly not even noticed it. These portable monitors are useful for when you are out and about, but an alternative solution is a monitor which fits underneath your baby’s mattress, and then is attached to a unit which will send a signal to a portable receiver which you can have which you wherever you happen to be within the house. This latter version requires no physical connection to your baby at all, and is the most usual solution employed by hospitals.

A useful feature included on some, but not all monitors, is a facility which will provide a stimulus to your baby should an unexpected pause in their breathing be detected. In such a situation the monitor will vibrate against your baby’s tummy, prompting then to draw breath. If this works then the monitor will simply continue to monitor your child’s breathing. However, if this stimulus does not result in your child resuming normal breathing then an alert will be sent to your unit immediately.

You may not have previously considered that a breathing monitor was a baby product you needed, but when you appreciate how worrying being a parent is when you are in charge of a young and fragile life, the peace of mind they offer is worth far more than the low-cost and convenience of such monitors.

Of all the baby product reviews which you will read perhaps none are quite as important as those which relate to keeping your child safe whilst they are travelling in a car. Indeed, unless your baby is born at home it is highly probable that one of the first baby products you will need is a car seat in order to get them back home.

But of course it isn’t just babies who need to have the right car seat, with the law in the UK updated just a few years ago to provide clarification on the required car seat arrangements for children up to the age of 12. But in terms simply of newborn babies and very young babies the rules are very straightforward. Any child under the age of three must use a proper car seat which is appropriate for their weight, regardless of the type of vehicle they are travelling in.

There is some debate as to whether this rule applies if you happen to be travelling in the back of a taxi and do not have an appropriate car seat with you. It seems that there is some variance from council to cancel in terms of whether licensed hackney cabs are permitted to allow a child under the age of 3 to travel without a car seat. If you are in any doubt it is probably a good idea to call your local council to ascertain whether or not you will be able to travel with your child in this way.

If you are looking for a child seat for a newborn baby then you will almost certainly need to look for one categorised as being group O. Group O infant carriers are all rear facing and are designed for children who weigh up to 10 kg. If like me your brain still doesn’t work in metric when it comes to the weight of your child then I can tell you that 10 kg equals is 22 lbs. The next category of car seat is group O+ and is designed for infants up to 30 kg in weight, which is 28.6 lbs.

It is important to remember that for these infant carriers is preferable to have them in the back of the vehicle. However, if this is not possible or convenient then they can be fixed in the front seat provided that there is no airbag in front or to the side of the infant carrier. In some vehicles, especially modern ones, the airbag on the passenger side can usually be disabled. Refer to your vehicle manufacturer’s handbook to find out how to do this.

But when looking for baby product advice for travelling in a car or other vehicle it isn’t just the car seat or infant carrier which you will need to consider. Another product which is likely to be extremely useful is a window shade. The bright sunlight coming in through the window of a vehicle can be extremely hot, and when you appreciate that your child will necessarily be staring up out of the window it is possible that they could be staring directly at the sun.

Window blinds for cars cost very little, and are very easy to install. In most cases they are simply attached to the window using suction cups, and this means of course that they can be taken with you and transferred from vehicle to vehicle if necessary.

Finally, if your car does not have air-conditioning or some other practical form of convenient ventilation and you are likely to be driving any appreciable distance in hot weather then a portable fan specially designed to be fixed to a variety of anchor points can provide much needed relief for your child.

It is important to make sure of course that such a fan is not within reach of their fingers, but it is an important baby product nonetheless since of course children can overheat more quickly than adults as they are unable to dissipate heat by sweating in the same way we do.

First of all I should point out that few people are going to be worried about their babies not being fit. Despite the fact that relatively few babies do much more than just sit there sleeping or being fed, obesity hasn’t yet reached epidemic proportions! But having said that it is important to consider what exercise your baby is able to gain in order to help both strengthen muscles and joints, as well as improving overall coordination. Baby bouncers in a variety of forms can certainly help to achieve this.

When a baby is born, and for several months afterwards, they are relatively unaware of what they look like, how many arms they have, how many legs they have, and how big they are. This is why they miss things when they go to try to pick them up, and generally behave a bit like a baby. This is all normal of course, but what is really going on in those first weeks and months is that their brain is building up a picture of both their body, and the world, as well as how the two can interact.

Allowing your baby to experience and explore a range of different positions and movements helps to build up the strength and coordination needed for development, and baby bouncers can help to do this in a way which is both fun and safe.

There are two main types of baby bouncer, one of which will be more suitable sooner than the other, but both of which provide many benefits. The first type of baby bouncer which your baby will be able to enjoy from the very beginning is the baby bouncer chair. This is a simple chair which is often in the same sort of shape as a car seat, and which is supported on flexible struts so that the whole chair bounces and rocks in response to the slightest movement.

By placing your baby in one of these baby bouncer chairs, and strapping them in safely so that they can’t fall out, your baby is both safely supported, as well as given the opportunity to bounce and flap about in a way which results in a very pleasing rocking sensation. Some of these bouncer chairs have built-in motors which vibrate or bounce the chair automatically, and even play music.

A lot of these chairs also have handles or bars across the top from which colourful toys can be hung. This provides your baby with the opportunity not only to bounce and flap their legs in a way which helps to strengthen the muscles and improve the coordination and control of their feet and legs, but also offers them the opportunity to reach out with their arms to try to grab and interact with the toys. Of course it’s also nice for the baby to be able to sit up so that they can see around them a little better. Staring at the ceiling must get pretty boring after a while.

The other type of baby bouncer is of course the door bouncer, which hangs from the door frame and provides a secure sling into which your baby can be strapped. With their feet just resting very lightly on the ground your baby is able to kick off from the ground and bounce and rock in a way which will provide them with a great deal of fun. But of course it’s much more than simply knowing where you put your baby, or giving your baby is something which is fun. This type of door bouncer, usually suitable from at least four months, also gives your child the opportunity to strengthen the muscles in their legs and feet, and improve overall coordination.

By making use of these baby bouncers you can help your child to strengthen their joints, muscles and bones, and improve coordination, helping them to move to the next stage of development more easily when the time is right.

As any parent knows there is one guaranteed way to ensure that your darling little baby falls asleep, and remains in a deep sleep for hours. Invite the doting grandparents or relatives who live 200 miles away to drive over specially armed with their video camera in order to capture the delightful giggling antics which your child has been practising just lately.

But at any other time of course getting a baby to fall asleep can be extremely difficult, and this is often made harder due to light pollution. In fact light pollution has recently been in the news, with experts recently expressing their concern that over half the population of the UK could hardly see any stars at night because of this very problem.

The test involved asking people across the whole of the UK to count the number of stars which they could see in the Orion constellation. Orion’s Belt is one of the easiest constellations to see in the sky, comprised of three very bright stars in a row. In fact I looked up at the sky on the night in question, and apart from the three stars of Orion’s belt, and Orion’s head, I couldn’t see any other stars at all. Of course, living in the heart of a city centre does make it is rather difficult, with street lights and neon signs making it very hard for any of us to either see stars, or get to sleep at night.

But it’s not just at night time that it can be difficult to help your baby get to sleep due to light. Obviously young babies needs to sleep throughout the day as well, and it is always a big problem, since young babies needs to rest frequently, yet they are also programmed to respond to bright light. So what is the solution?

You may have heard of blackout blinds. These are often roller blinds which have a special lining which blocks out virtually all light, even during the brightest summer day. This means that drawing blackout blind will create the sort of dark room one might expect in the middle of the night in the middle of the countryside. This makes it ideal if your child needs to have a nap during the day, or is having difficulty sleeping at night because for example there is a street light right outside their window.

But what about if you are visiting family or friends? Or perhaps on holiday? There is a solution here as well, because there are a number of blackout blinds and blackout shades now on the market which are portable. These portable blinds can be packed up very easily, and then quickly fixed to any window using suction cups.

These portable shades stretch to fit most sizes and shapes of window, and can be fixed in place in seconds. So whilst you might have a made-to-measure blackout blind in your child’s nursery at home, when out and about having a portable blackout shade can often make the difference between a grumpy, unhappy child who can’t settle but who desperately needs to do so, and a peacefully sleeping baby.

If you are on a reasonably tight budget, which so many families are of course these days, and you don’t yet have a blackout blind then I would highly recommend that you opt for one of these portable blackout shades. For most of the time you can have this shade fixed in your child’s nursery, but then if ever you find yourself elsewhere and your baby needs to have a nap, then you will have a portable solution that helps both them and you get much needed rest!

If you have been looking around for baby monitors then you may have noticed that one of the categories includes the letters DECT. But what exactly are DECT baby monitors, and what particular advantages or benefits do they offer compared to other monitors?

You might possibly recognise the letters DECT from your home cordless telephone. Indeed the reason is simply that the technology is extremely similar. The letters DECT stands for Digital Enhanced Cordless Technology, and is a means of communication using frequencies in a digital format in order to deliver crystal clear sound quality.

The Digital enhanced audio offered by DECT baby monitors means that the sound is much crisper and with much less interference, static or background noise. Is this important? Yes it is, and I will explain why.

For parents there is only one thing worse than hearing constant crying from your baby when they should be getting to sleep, and that is a complete absence of crying. Most parents will have already experienced that strange phenomenon of going from weary exasperation at hearing endless crying from your child’s nursery, to frantic panic at hearing nothing at all coming from your child’s nursery. Often the result of this is a quick dash upstairs and into the nursery to make absolutely sure that your child is all right. Invariably they are, and invariably your presence will disturb them, launching them into another long period of sleepy crying.

Some baby monitors don’t offer the clarity needed to be able to pick up on those very quiet and very subtle noises which your child makes whilst they are dropping off to sleep, and even whilst they are fully asleep. These sounds include the quiet rustling as they move, wriggle about or turn, quiet little sighs and coos, and even gentle breathing.

DECT baby monitors enable parents to be able to hear these quiet sounds, offering much-needed reassurance, and precluding the need to dash into the nursery every time your child stops crying. This in itself reduces the chance of your child being disturbed, although of course the downside is that you may possibly burn fewer calories tearing up and down stairs every few minutes!

Many of the digital baby monitors on the market today offer a great deal more below that simply enhanced audio, with features such as warning lights which advise you whether your portable unit is in range or not. If your house is not particularly big then you’re usually pretty safe to go anywhere within the house and still be in range. But if your house is fairly large, or you have a long garden and are perhaps sitting at the end of it, or even working in the garage then you may find in some cases your baby monitor is unable to transmit that distance. Unfortunately you may not even be aware of this.

If this is a possibility then it is worth looking at monitors such as the Philips Avent SCD505/01 Super Sensitive DECT Monitor which includes a display which clearly indicates whether the portable unit is in range or not. In fact this particular monitor goes one stage further in helping to consume less power as well. It does this by simply reducing the power consumption whenever the monitor and portable unit are in close proximity. This helps to make your batteries last a lot longer, which is at least one thing less to worry about!

Here are two interesting facts. In the last five years the number of people renting rather than buying their own home has risen by 40%. At the same time the average length of time a person stays in a rented property has steadily reduced, so that now six months to a year is not uncommon.

All very interesting, but when you consider the challenges facing families with young children, it can be a nightmare. For example, a family moving into a home may well need to have a safety gate or stair gate fitted. Many rental agreements state that the tenants are not permitted to drill into the walls, which means that stair gates fitted in this way are not allowed.

Fortunately there are alternatives, with a whole range of safety gates now available which fit in between two walls through the use of rubber ended brackets which can be adjusted to brace against the wall with sufficient pressure to hold the gate rigidly in place.

But even this isn’t the end of the problem. Because whilst you may have purchased a really great baby gate that fitted your stairs perfectly, you could well find that once you move home it no longer fits. Clearly it’s impractical to suggest choosing your next home based on how well the baby gate will fit, and of course having a safety gate ‘almost’ fit properly is almost worse than having no gate at all, since it instils a false sense of security.

So What’s The Answer?

The simplest solution is not to buy a fixed stair gate, but instead to buy either a retractable or adjustable stair gate. A good example of an adjustable baby gate is the BabyDan Flexi Fit Metal Stair Gate. This can be fitted across stairs which are only 70.5cm wide, or extended to cover gaps as wide as 109cm. This means that the BabyDan Flex Fit Gate will easily fit into almost any stair case, making it a versatile solution.

However, this type of gate may not always fit in properties where the top of the stairs have a wall on only one side, with banisters on the other, or in cases where stairs go round a corner, or have skirting boards fitted. In these cases a retractable gate may be the answer.

The Kiddyguard Avant Retractable Safety Gate really is different from almost any safety gate you’ve seen before. Rather than providing a solid metal or wooden frame this gate consists of two vertical bars which can be secured not only to the wall either side of your stairs, but to the banisters as well.

Once fitted, a mesh screen is then pulled out from one bar, and across to the other bar, where it is securely locked in place. In a way it’s a little like those barriers in banks, where a ribbon is pulled from the top of one post and linked to the next, except of course that with the Kiddyguard Avant Retractable Safety Gate the mesh barrier provides a full height barrier that is both strong and rigid.

As well as offering unrivalled versatility the Kiddyguard Avant Retractable Safety Gate is also ideal for use in creating a barrier across a room, separating dogs from children for example, or even just for keeping dogs in a wipe clean room, away from clean cream carpets after their daily walkies.

Another benefit of the Kiddyguard Avant Retractable Safety Gate is that there is an optional accessory which enables you to easily fit this in locations where a skirting board could represent a problem, meaning that if you’re renting your home and could be looking at moving in the future, solutions such as the Kiddyguard Avant Retractable Safety Gate may be an excellent choice, saving you from having to either keep replacing your stair gate, or risk compromising the level of security it offers.

It isn’t always easy getting your child to have a bath, and it doesn’t matter how old they are either; if they have an aversion to it then you simply need to work it out.  One of the best ways in which to encourage them to bathe is to use bath toys.  If you have the right toys and the right attitude you should be able to convince them that the bath isn’t all about getting water in your eyes.

Playtime rewards

The bath toys don’t have to dominate the whole procedure.  A good idea is to incorporate only a few bath toys and perhaps reward some good behaviour with the others.  For example you could encourage them to get into the bath by having bath toys in there already, but when it comes to washing their hair you could use the toys again.  Leave a couple out and tell your child that they can play with those toys when their hair is clean.

Play with your child

Obviously if your child is still only a baby then you can’t always use this reward system, simply because their level of understanding isn’t capable of working out what they need to do.  However, no matter how old they are you should always play with the bath toys with them and get involved.  You can even get into the bath with them if you want; this is an excellent way of showing your child that there is nothing to fear from bathing and it will be very amusing for them to see you get into the bath with them.

What sort of bath toys should you use?

It doesn’t really matter to be perfectly honest.  Obviously toys that have been created specifically for the bath are an excellent idea, but you can also get away with some of their regular toys if it’s appropriate.  You may need to use something that they love a lot to get them into the bath, and this is alright as long as you can get it wet (you obviously don’t want to be putting a teddy bear in the bath every time and then having to dry it).  Once you’ve got them into the bath you can work on substituting the child’s toys for some proper bath toys designed for wet play.

Conclusion

It’s important to allow your child as much playtime as possible in the bath so that it becomes a fun activity.  Make the washing part the smallest part of the activity and they’re sure to change their minds quickly about the whole thing.

Allergies are common enough, and they present their fair share of problems, but probably the worst one of all is sleep deprivation.  Without sleep we will not operate well the next day and our systems will be significantly lowered, allowing more exposure to allergies.  It’s a vicious circle and a slippery slope into allergy hell if you can’t get a good night’s rest.

Allergies can plague you more at night because you’re tired, but more often than not it’s due to the fact that you are resting, your body is flat and you are breathing more heavily.  People react to different things in different ways, but anything that affects your breathing is a serious problem and anything you can do to improve the air quality in the room you sleep is very important.  Asthma sufferers who are not correctly treated and who take no measures in their home to cut down on air pollutants can significantly reduce their effectiveness of their lungs over time; all the strain from coughing and wheezing can certainly take its toll.

What can you do to get a good night sleep?

If you want to beat the allergens and help yourself get a good night sleep there are several steps you can take.  Most of them however revolve around getting yourself an air purifier.  These are an essential piece of equipment for anyone who suffers with asthma or any allergies that affect the breathing.

• Make sure your air purifier runs through the night
• Make sure if you have to have your pets sleeping in the room that they do not sleep on your bed and they have a spot on the floor near the air purifier.
• Check the filters on your air purifier regularly and remove any large pieces of hair etc so that you maintain the purifier’s effectiveness.
• Don’t leave windows open.  If you are allergic to any outside contaminants you will only let them in by doing this; it’s really best to concentrate on making the indoor air as breathable as possible.
• Clean dust regularly in the room in which you sleep.  Use a vacuum and a damp cloth to do this so that you don’t need to disturb the dust too much.
• Consider getting rid of your carpets and having a laminate or wooden floor that can’t hold any potential threats.