Creating a Safe Start for Your Baby

Bringing your newborn home is one of life’s most rewarding moments. It’s also a time to make sure your home environment is as safe as possible. Babies grow and explore quickly, so preparing early can help prevent accidents and give you peace of mind.

Below are key home safety tips every new parent should follow.

Baby-Proofing Basics

Before your baby becomes mobile, take steps to baby-proof your living spaces:

• Cover all unused electrical outlets.

• Secure cabinets and drawers with safety latches.

• Keep small objects, coins, and batteries out of reach.

• Lock away cleaning products, medicines, and sharp tools.
  

A good rule of thumb: if it can fit through a toilet paper tube, it’s a choking hazard.

Safe Sleep Spaces

Your baby’s sleep area should be calm, simple, and safe:

• Use a firm, flat mattress with a fitted sheet.

• Avoid pillows, stuffed animals, bumper pads, and loose blankets.

• Always place your baby on their back to sleep.
  

Following safe sleep guidelines recommended by The Lullaby Trust UK helps reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Fall Prevention

As your child begins to crawl and walk, falls become one of the most common household injuries. Reduce the risk with these steps:

• Install safety gates at the top and bottom of stairs.

• Use non-slip mats in bathrooms and kitchens.

• Secure furniture that could tip over.

• Never leave your baby unattended on changing tables, beds, or sofas.
  

Fire & Electrical Safety

Electrical and fire hazards can be easily overlooked in busy households. Make safety a routine:

• Keep electrical cords and appliances out of reach.

• Test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors monthly.

• Replace detector batteries regularly.

• Keep a fire extinguisher in an accessible area, such as the kitchen.
  

First Aid Essentials

Every household with young children should have a baby-friendly first aid kit. Include:

• Adhesive bandages and antiseptic wipes

• Digital thermometer

• Infant-safe fever and pain medication

• Tweezers and cotton swabs
  

Parents and caregivers should also learn Infant CPR and Basic First Aid - skills that could save a life in an emergency.

Want to make sure your home is fully prepared? 📋 Reach out to request your free Home Safety Checklist for New Parents.

First Aid Kit Essentials Every Home Should Have

Accidents happen when we least expect them - whether it’s a scraped knee from outdoor play, a minor burn in the kitchen or a cut while doing chores. Having a well-stocked first aid kit at home ensures you can respond quickly and confidently to life’s little emergencies.

What Should it Contain?

At the absolute minimum, your kit should include:

• Individually wrapped sterile plasters in assorted sizes – for cuts and grazes.

• Sterile eye pads – to protect the eye in case of injury.

• Individually wrapped triangular bandages (preferably sterile) – useful for slings or to support injuries.

• Safety pins – for securing bandages.

• Large and medium-sized sterile, individually wrapped, unmedicated wound dressings – to cover and protect bigger wounds.

• Disposable gloves – to protect both the caregiver and the injured person from infection.

While this is the bare minimum, you may also want to add extras such as antiseptic wipes, tweezers, adhesive tape, scissors and a digital thermometer for added preparedness.

Where Should You Store it?

Having the right supplies is only half the battle - knowing where to keep your first aid kit is equally important.Here are some key points to consider:

1. Accessibility – Ensure essential items are within reach for everyone in your household. Even if children aren’t administering first aid, they should know how to fetch the kit in an emergency.

2. Household Needs – Think about the layout of your home and any mobility challenges faced by family members. In larger homes, it may be helpful to keep kits on more than one floor.

3. Accident Likelihood – Place a kit where accidents are most likely to happen, such as the kitchen or near outdoor play areas.

4. Visibility – Make sure your first aid kit is easy to find. If it’s in a cupboard, keep it at the front and let everyone in the household know its location.

5. Safety – Some items, like medications, should be stored separately and securely, out of children’s reach.

   
   

A well-prepared first aid kit gives families peace of mind. By stocking the right essentials and storing them wisely, you’ll be ready to handle small injuries quickly and effectively. After all, when it comes to family safety, it’s always better to be prepared than caught off guard.

Connection at The AIA Carnival

We were absolutely delighted to have been invited to take part in the AIA Carnival on their Community Stage last Friday 23rd February. It was such a fun opportunity for parents to come along with their littles and learn some ways of connecting, not just with their children but also themselves, through music, movement and games. It was brilliant to see husbands getting involved in some of the mummy stretches too! We were also very grateful it wasn't a hot day, which makes things a lot more pleasant for activities! You can take a look at what the afternoon involved here!

We hope that the event with the rest of the TFZ team is the first of many more events that provide you and your families with a sense of community, friendship and support in the early years with your children.

Some lovely takeaways from the event that the team shared:

Lisel: Conscious Parenting Coach

1. Remember to take time for you, you can’t pour out of an empty cup

2. Movement and strength - the benefits last way after the exercise session has ended!

3. Music is soothing for you and baby. They form strong social bonds with their caregivers through familiar music, try to build it in your family rituals.

4. Touch, massage, your baby as often as possible and keep it going, pre bedtime, it’s a beautiful oxytocin releasing ritual.

If you would like a copy of different ways to foster connection with your babies and older kids, fill out this link and you will be able to access Lisel's free printable.

Claudia: Music Therapist

1. Babies love to hear their parents singing. Singing to your baby is a wonderful way to bond and relax for both of you.

2. Dedicating time to connect to your favourite music can instantly lift your mood, manage anxiety and reduce pain.

3. Playing musical games with your children can enhance development, language and connection. Make sure you keep the game simple and repetitive until your child understands the game.

Here are some songs which you can sing with your littles:

- Hello Hello

- Sleeping Bunnies

- Move to the Beat

Ishka: Pre and Postnatal Fitness

Quite a lot of mums struggle with a bit of either lower or upper back pain, so there are a few stretches you could try to implement at home into your daily routine. Remember that anyone can just move the body, instead we really want to focus on each movement independently and the area it is targeting, while using our breath to allow us to move deeper into the stretch to really maximize the use of the stretch to our advantage!

Breath-work practice:

INHALE: Expand up and out through the abdomen and rib cage on the inhale through the nose.

EXHALE: Release the breath through the mouth, while engaging the pelvic floor muscles and then engaging the core, starting with the deep core making your way up into the top core.

(Perform this using slow counts of 3-5 sec holds then move into quicker or longer holds once you become comfortable with the breath)

- Focus on exhaling when moving into movements and inhaling coming back to the start of movements.

- Your movement journey will be so different to everyone around you, remember to be kind to yourself and your recovery!, find what you enjoy and find excitement in getting to rediscover your postpartum body and just how strong and amazing she really is!

Movement is medicine that doesn’t require big doses to have instant effects, so start small and each day the body and mind will crave a little more!

Follow this link to a routine for any mums looking to release some tension in the back, also great to help with all the postural changes that comes with having a newborn/little.

A big thank you from all of us for your support!