Last Seen: Aug 6, 2023 @ 11:05am 11AugUTCIn India. all parents think they bring up their child in the best possible manner. That nothing that they do can ever be bad for the child. Just like say “mumma is always right” or “papa knows the best”. But still there are many dangerous situations that parents unknowingly put their child into and often fail to realise that it was their own mistake. -Let’s have look on some of these situations:
1. Leaving your child alone in bath tub
Most parents are present while giving their child little babies a bath. However, when they sometimes step out for just ‘five minutes’, to fetch a towel or answer a phone call that is then when disasters most likely happen. A child will lose consciousness within two minutes underwater, and irreversible brain damage occurs after four minutes. As a rule, never never leave your child alone in or near any kind of water. Don’t answer the door or the phone or attend to other children without taking your baby with you or draining the tub.
2. Serving unsafe foods
food accounts for the majority of child choking injuries and the most common culprits are small, round, hard, or candy- like foods that easily block the airway. These include peanuts, dry fruits, grapes, jelly and hard toffees, carrots, popcorns, pomegranate, etc. Children younger than three years are most at risk for choking on food because their airway is so small and they tend to put everything in their mouth. Even spoonfuls of chawanprash can be hazard, because globs of it easily get stuck in a child’s tiny oesophagus.
3. Using soft bedding
For children younger than a year, suffocation is the main cause of unintentional injury-related death. About 60% of these cases occur in baby’s sleeping environment. An infant can block his face into soft, fluffy pillows, quilts and stuffed animals that easily cover his nose and mouth. To avoid this, make your child sleep in the barest environment possible. Use just one light blanket over him, and tuck the bottom of it under the end of the mattress to create a pocket. The blanket should only reach to the middle of his chest. This way it can’t be pulled over his head.In winters dress the baby in warmer clothes rather than stuffing more bedding on him.
4. Drinking coffee/tea while holding the baby
You are dying for cup of tea, but reluctant to put down the baby in case she/he wakes up. If you decide to do both things together, you could be setting yourself up for an accident. Burns from hot liquids are the most common type of burns for young children, whose thinner skin burns more easily than an adult’s. Even tea/coffee that is not too hot to drink can really burn a child.
5. Using a baby walker
We all love to see our babies in those cute little walkers. But we rarely notice that those adorable walkers have wheels attached which give the child the ability to slide away at a speed of 4 feet per second in any direction and hit a wall, a piece of furniture, touch an electronic socket, or worst case, slip down the stairs in duplex homes. And the fact that even an athlete parent cannot stop the child to fall at this speed sounds Isn’t it scary, right?
6. Allowing kids to ride in the front seat
Allowing kids to ride in the front seat of the car is inviting danger. The backseat is the safest place for children because it’s farthest away from he impact of a front-end collision – the most common kind of car accident. In addition, the passenger-side air bag, while lifesaving for most adults, can deploy with such force that it’s deadly to young kids. Kids should continue riding in the backseat until at least age 12. Remind grandparents about the basket about backseat rule.
7. Leaving the child alone in a locked car
Children left alone in locked cars is a common sight outside shopping malls, railway stations or near markets. While you think you can finish your work in 15 minutes and be back and till then the child can be ‘safe’ inside the locked car, do not forget that even though the child will be unharmed from elements outside the car, but the child can be harmed by getting ‘trapped’ in the ‘safety locked’ car.
8. Leaving the child alone at home and locking door from outside
Leaving the child alone at home is similar to the concept of leaving the child alone in the car, however, home is far more dangerous place than the car. Parents often think that the child would not get into any trouble if they step out of the house for just 10-15 minutes, maybe to buy grocery or bring back their other child from school. You can make your small one sit in front of the TV or give him all his toys and think he will be just fine. But little do you know that in your absence the babby can swallow any little piece of the toy, or battery of the remote and crawl and injure himself with a sharp piece of furniture. And this takes us to the next point of ‘baby-proofing’ the house.
9. Not paying attention to general baby-proofing of home
You are buying thousands of gifts for unborn child, preparing yourself for the responsibility and reading books how to be good parents who protect their child from all hardships. But what most books don’t tell you is that your own home will pose the biggest danger to your baby in coming few years. To ensure that your child is absolutely infant friendly, you must do the ‘baby-proofing’ of the house, which simply means getting rid of anything in the house that can harm the baby, removing small showpieces, vases with pebbles, remote batteries, coins etc., that can be swallowed by the child, covering all plug sockets so that baby doesn’t stick his fingers in them. May this blog will help you keep your child safe! Thanks for watching the blog…