Child safety experts have shared eight ways you can make your home a safer place for little ones.
The guide reveals how best to keep young children away from potentially harmful substances, including medicine, washing-up liquid – and even mouthwash.
It advises keeping cleaning products locked up and out of the reach of curious youngsters and wiping down the dishwasher after every use to avoid a build-up of potentially dangerous residue.
It also stresses the importance of educating the entire family -and guests – on your safety measures to ensure your child is always receiving the same message.
The eight-step manual was written by gurus at Origin, a UK-based manufacturer of child-resistant packaging, to mark Child Safety Week this week.
Want to learn more? Scroll down to read the tips in full…
The child safety experts warned that household items, like your dishwasher, should be cleaned or the alkaline substance used in the tablets could pose a serious risk to children
Clean your dishwasher after every use
Like most cleaning products, dishwasher tablets contain dangerous and aggressive alkaline salts. These salts are harmful and corrosive if they are ingested.
So, after every use, make sure you wipe down the powder holder and the residue around the edge of the dishwasher door. Get into the practice of running the dishwasher as soon as you add the detergent.
Most dishwashers have a lock setting, so check yours. Otherwise, consider installing an appliance lock.
Always keep medicines in original packaging
Medicines are the cause of more than 70 percent of hospital admissions for poisoning in children under five, according to the NHS.
Where possible, only buy or request medicines which come in child-resistant packaging and never empty them into containers that are easy to open or unlabelled.
Remember, child-resistant does not mean packaging is entirely safe, so always keep all medicines out of reach of children.
The guide also warns not to refer to medicines or tablets as ‘sweets’ because unsupervised children could then ingest large quantities of them
Never refer to medicine as ‘sweets’
A common tactic to make children take their medicine is to describe it as a sweet or treat. We’ve all been there but doing so can have serious consequences.
If your child got their hands on medicine unsupervised, they may take too much thinking they are having sweet.
You should teach your child from a young age about the safe use of medicines and make sure to praise and reward them when they follow the rules to reinforce good behaviour.
Remember cleaning wipes can pose a risk too
You might not think to keep kitchen or bathroom wipes under lock and key, but children could easily mistake these for the harmless ones used for nappy changes or to wipe your face.
Be sure not to leave your new or used anti-bacterial wipes within easy reach of the little ones.
Keep mouthwash out of reach
Even though we regularly swirl them around our mouth, mouthwash can also pose a threat to children.
While it can be greatly beneficial to a child’s dental hygiene, mouthwash can also caused serious internal damage if swallowed in large quantities.
This is more likely given the brightly coloured bottles can easily be mistaken for a drink by a child.
Although mouthwash seems harmless, the brightly coloured bottles could be mistaken for drinks by children and the liquid can cause internal damage if ingested in large quantities
Treat e-cigarettes like the real thing
More people are swapping tobacco for e-cigarettes, but there’s still a threat to children.
E-cigarettes contain a liquid with high levels of concentrated nicotine which can be incredibly harmful if swallowed.
So, you should treat e-cigarettes like the real thing when it comes to your children.
Extend rules to visitors
If you have family or friends visiting or have help with child care, don’t let safety precautions slip.
Make sure all visitors are familiar with where you keep household products and remind them to pay close attention to their belongings.