Children's Health Newborns and Toddlers

Making the Kitchen Safe for Your Baby

Summary & Participants

The kitchen is one of the most dangerous rooms in the house for a baby. A professional child-proofer shows you how to make it a safer place.

Medically Reviewed On: August 07, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: The kitchen can be a treacherous frontier for curious little explorers.

Michael Kelley, Owner, Baby Safe: Just about anywhere you turn, anything you look at, you're going to find a sharp edge or a dangerous utensil or something hot that can burn them.

ANNOUNCER: Professional childproofer Michael Kelley offers tips on how to eliminate the major dangers.

Michael Kelley, Owner, Baby Safe: One of the most dangerous places you're going to run across in your kitchen is right below the sink. First thing I would recommend is try to get as much of this up and out of his reach as possible. If that's not possible, then we go to what's called a door latch where we can actually latch the door and keep it from opening. Another dangerous area in the kitchen, of course, is the stovetop. You've got the pots and pans in front. These are attractive to the child. Whenever possible, you always want to cook using the back burners with the handles turned sideways or back as far as possible.

ANNOUNCER: Child safety experts warn against letting your child play with pots and pans when they’re not in use.

Michael Kelley, Owner, Baby Safe: If they want to play with pots and pans, they should be playing with toy pots and pans, bright colors, made out of plastic. They don't look anything like the nice, shiny silver ones that we don't want them attracted to.

ANNOUNCER: And there’s more than one reason to keep your garbage locked up.

Michael Kelley, Owner, Baby Safe: One of the most dangerous items in the house would be any plastic bag, whether it's dry cleaning or a garbage bag such as this. All we need to do is have your son pull a piece off like this. Something this small, whether it's a plastic bag or even a fake plant or a real plant, can block the windpipe.

ANNOUNCER: Some hazards can surprise even an experienced mother.

Jennifer, Luke’s Mother: When I lifted the baby, now everything in the kitchen that was at my level became at his level and now everything that I thought was high up is now a concern. So I have to watch that space now as well.

Michael Kelley, Owner, Baby Safe: Everybody's got an idea of what should be done. The biggest response that I get to my evaluation is my goodness, I had no idea that that could be a problem or that could be a problem.

ANNOUNCER: Thanks for joining us on today’s Once Daily