Child Safety
Installing the Car Seat Base With Lower Anchor
1. Read your car seat’s instruction manual and your vehicle’s owner manual carefully. Pay close attention to the location of the lower anchors, and directions on how to use this vehicle hardware. 2. Place the car seat base in the back seat of your vehicle. In a crash, the back seat is the safest place to be, and rear-facing car seats provide extra protection for your child’s head, neck and spine. 3. Locate the lower anchors in your vehicle. 4. Connect the lower anchor attachments on the car seat base to the lower anchors, making sure the straps aren’t twisted. 5. Press down firmly on the car seat base and tighten the straps. You should not be able to move the car seat base side-to-side or front-to-back more than 1 inch. 6. Make sure your base is installed at the correct recline angle.
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Childproofing Your Home
Burns
Burns
- Replace traditional flame candles with battery-operated candles.
- Use knob covers on stoves. Turn the handles on your pots and pans toward the back of the stove so your child cannot pull a hot pan down on top of his or herself. Place a childproof cover over the switch of your garbage disposal.
- Install childproof faucet and shower spout covers in your bathroom and kitchen to prevent hot water burns. Lower the temperature on your hot water heater.
- Keep matches and lighters out of reach.
- Don’t leave burning cigarettes around children.
- Install and regularly check smoke detectors.
- Install a fireplace screen around your fireplace. Dispose of hot ashes outside in a fireproof bucket.
- Place baby gates across stairways or entries to rooms that could pose unsafe exposure, such as the kitchen, bathroom, garage, laundry room, or basement. Choose gates that can be fastened to the wall with durable hardware.
- Add doorknob covers to your outside doors to prevent your child from falling off a deck, balcony, or the stairs.
- Secure windows with barrier netting or protective window guards. Window guards should prevent the window from opening more than 4 inches. Window screens are flimsy and can be pushed out. Choose window guards you can easily “undo” in the event of a fire.
- Use barrier netting around decks and balconies.
- Use padded bumpers to cover sharp corners on furniture and your fireplace hearth to soften the injury of a fall.
- Anchor tall, heavy furniture or appliances against the wall or to the floor with brackets and bolts to keep it from tipping over onto your child.
- Lock cabinets, closets, and doors to rooms, drawers, and other storage areas containing common household poisons. These include cleaning supplies, medicine, laundry detergent, and dishwasher pods.
- Install carbon monoxide detectors throughout your home. Change the batteries twice a year when you change your smoke alarm batteries. Replace the detector if it’s not working properly.
- Drain water from sinks, tubs, and child pools. Install a childproof lock on your toilet. Drain your larger, outdoor pool at the end of the season.
- Install doorknob covers on doors leading to the bathrooms.
- Secure your pool or hot tub with a sturdy cover designed for the product (not a light tarp).
- Install a four-foot fence around the perimeter of an outdoor pool or hot tub to protect your child and neighborhood children. Lock the gate.
- Add a secure lock to the door or doors leading to an outside pool. Push-up bars on sliding glass doors are not effective and can be lifted by a young child.
- Use a floating pool alarm on an outdoor pool or hot tub. This device sends out a warning sound when something or someone enters the water.
- Keep choking hazards, such as small toys, coins, clothing, buttons, and other choking hazards away from your baby or young child.
- Cut food into small bites.
- Consider signing up for basic first aid and CPR courses through organizations such as the American Red Cross and other local groups.
- Install outlet covers on all your electrical outlets to prevent your child from sticking his or her finger or an object into the outlet.
- Replace traditional window blinds or shades with the cordless version to prevent strangulation. Tie cords and hang them high. Trim what you don’t need, or raise the blinds and tie the extra cord near the top of the window. Free cord repair kits for blinds made before 2000 are available through The Window Covering Safety Council (WCSC).
- Store plastic bags, including grocery, trash, and dry cleaning bags out of the reach of children.
- Remove the lid from a toy box or use one without a lid.
- Lock your extra or unplugged freezer or refrigerator to keep your child from being trapped inside.
- Fasten or avoid using crib mobiles. These can fall down and potentially strangle your child.
- Don’t attach pacifiers to your child’s clothing with ribbons or strings while asleep.
- Trim hanging ribbons and strings from your child’s toys and clothing.
- Remove necklaces or elastic headbands from your child before putting them down to sleep.
- Always keep guns and knives locked and stored out of a child’s reach. Kitchen knives are best stored in a high cabinet rather than a drawer.
- If a gun safe or other lockable storage area is not available, make sure to use trigger locks on all firearms.
- Store guns and ammunition in separate locations.
Other Resources
- Health Symptom Checker by American Academy of Pediatrics
- Kids Health Resource Center
- Safe Kids Arizona
- Child Safety Seat Resources
- Arizona Department of Child Safety