Parenting coach shares tips on how to child-proof your home, plus visuals showcasing baby havens

From beds to bouncers and bottles, regulated property buyers, Good Move showcase how homes would look if they were created for babies and toddlers.

If you’re a parent, you’ll know only too well the mischief little ones can cause to the home once they start crawling – you need to have eyes at the back of your head. From making sure you have a comfortable cot, to bouncers and toys and bottles in every room, your home soon becomes a nursery.

To showcase how homes would look if they were created for little ones, Good Move has transformed the average home into a baby haven.

However, if you’re soon to be welcoming a little one or your child is starting to crawl, your home must be secure to stop incidents from happening. Below the parenting coach, Isobel Champion shares her top tips.

Tips to prepare your home for a new-born baby:

Declutter
Declutter your home before the baby arrives (you’ll be unlikely to do this after the baby arrives, and you will appreciate clear surfaces and extra cupboard space once you’re back home from the hospital!). Make sure to clear everything off the floor – you don’t want to be tripping, stumbling, or bumping into things while holding a new baby!

Babyproof
Babyproof cupboards and drawers containing sharp items, cleaning products, or medicines, and do the same for furniture with sharp corners, electrical sockets, and if necessary, staircases (you can easily find various baby-proofing gadgets online!).

Clear cupboard space
A clear kitchen, bathroom, and linen cupboard space for baby-only items. Babies come with a lot of paraphernalia, much of which is either small in size (such as baby socks!) or has multiple parts (such as baby bottles!) so you might want storage within storage (e.g. containers or baskets within cupboards or drawers).

Tips to prepare your home for a toddler:

Cover sharp edges:
Consider low-level hazards in your home including furniture such as tables with hard surfaces and edges. Many toddlers pull themselves up onto surfaces and can often injure themselves by knocking their heads or limbs on surfaces, especially pointy corners. Therefore, make sure to order edge and corner guards and place them around your home.

Invest in good storage
Make sure you have a good selection of storage baskets and boxes for toys, arts and crafts materials, and role play props! Try to sort toys by usage and size, this will make it easier for your child to access the toys they are looking for, and for you and your child to tidy up at the end of the day!

Keep books in reach
Try to have a variety of books within the reach of your child. Your child is much more likely to enjoy books and reading if they can see and reach the books whenever they feel like it.

Suitable sized furniture
At this age it’s useful to incorporate furniture that will promote independence in your child – a table and chair to suit their own size (like those you see in nursery classrooms!) are always good, as well as games, books, and toy baskets that they can access without the help of an adult.

Nima Ghasri, Director at Good Move comments: “It’s fun to see how the average home would look if they were created for other things such as babies and toddlers. As more people are having children or thinking of having children, it’s extremely important that you baby-proof your property to keep them safe and avoid any accidents from arising which in turn will protect your home and valuables.”