Christmas and Family Safety

Decorations

• Tuck away trailing wires from party lights.
• Choose decorations carefully – shiny glass baubles and sweets are tempting to toddlers who will want to pull at them.
• Never leave the house with decorative lights on and always switch them off at night.
• Don’t put cards on the mantelpiece above the fire or anywhere near a direct source of heat.
• Hang paper chains or other decorations well away from lights or any other source of heat.
• Be careful of trees with needles that drop. Your baby could easily pick these up and put them into her mouth.

Toys and presents

• Always check the age recommended on the box. This is especially important for children under three years.
• Don’t give younger children toys that are meant for older kids. Small toys or parts of toys could cause a baby or toddler to choke.
• If your child is under three, clear small bits of packaging away when opening presents. Plastic bags can be a suffocation danger for babies and small children and wrapping paper and cellophane are easy to slip on.
• Keep batteries out of children’s reach.

Eating and celebrating

• Ask someone to entertain the children while you’re lifting hot things in and out of the oven, especially pans with hot fat in them.
• Your toddler can easily pull a tablecloth from the table. Use mats instead.
• Don’t leave bottles of alcohol or half-finished glasses within your child’s reach, especially if they’ve been mixed with sweet drinks like orange juice. As always, keep hot drinks well away from children.
• Keep bowls of nuts (especially peanuts) out of children’s reach

Good advice?

The original source BBC Parenting