How can I keep my crawling baby safe?

Since a crawling baby will be able to reach many potentially dangerous objects, you’ll have to babyproof your home, an often time-consuming and frustrating task. You should put plants, small toys, and fragile items out of reach, but you should not stifle your baby’s natural curiosity about the objects she sees. As long as harmful items are out of the way, let her crawl to the curtains, touch the table leg, or reach for a toy. That’s how she learns about her world. Of course, during this stage you’ll need to keep your floors clear of fuzz, small objects, and crumbs that could end up in her mouth.

You’ll naturally be concerned about stairs once your baby is mobile. The best way to be sure she’s safe is to use gates at the top and bottom of the stairway. If you have carpeting on the steps and bottom landing, you may want to attach your gate a few steps up so your baby can crawl up and down the short distance safely. However, if your landing is not carpeted, you’ll want to attach the gate to the bottom step to minimize harmful falls. She’ll quickly learn to climb the stairs and will enjoy going up, but most children don’t come down steps safely until they’re one and a half to two years old. That’s why it’s so important to close the top gate each time you pass through. Once you’ve made your child’s environment safe, you can relax and let her enjoy crawling.