As your baby moves into the toddler stage, it’s constantly surprising how frequently they manage to get themselves into sticky situations. Many parents laugh that a ‘new trick’ will have been done several times before you see it. So climbing, stretching and jumping are all new skills that may change your safety parameters. The days of putting your baby down safely on the floor for tummy time and know they won’t go anywhere will now be a distant memory!

Child safety is an important topic and your Plunket ‘Thriving Under Five’ book has good information for each age stage. It also has basic First Aid advice for burns and poisoning. It’s worth reading these safety sections periodically to make sure you’re familiar with the contents.

Kitchens are fascinating for children. So much goes on in there and wonderful foods emerge from there. There are lots of things to look at and touch and press and turn and push and open and so on; from their point of view, it’s a toddler’s paradise. However it’s also potentially a very dangerous area of the home. For example, hot water and steam can burn delicate young skin – a cup of hot tea spilt over a baby is the equivalent of a bucketful spilt over an adult.

There are some simple things you can get into the habit of to prevent your child reaching up and grabbing hot or dangerous things. For example:

• Use the back elements on the stovetop.
• Turn pan handles towards the rear, away from the stove edge.
• Keep the kettle / jug at the back of the bench and make sure it has a short cord that doesn’t hang over the bench edge.
• Only boil as much water as you need and empty any remaining hot water out.
• Use tablemats rather than a tablecloth.
• Put hot drinks down safely out of reach of toddlers.
• Set the hot tap water temperature to no more than 50oC.
• Keep household cleaners and dishwashing detergent out of reach. Chemicals like dishwashing detergent and oven cleaner are very dangerous.
• Make sure your toddler is well away from the dishwasher when filling the detergent dispenser. Turn on the dishwasher immediately after filling the dispenser.
• Put sharp knives and scissors away, out of sight and reach.
• Put safety plugs in electric sockets.
• Tie a knot in unused plastic bags to prevent the suffocation risk of a child putting one over their head.
• Use safety catches on doors and drawers.
• Keep medicines in a locked cupboard or store well out of reach.
• Medicines that need to be kept in the fridge should be placed on a high shelf and at the back out of sight. Ask for child-resistant tops when you get medicines from the pharmacy.
• Keep visitors’ medications out of sight and out of reach.
• When buying kitchen appliances consider features such as ‘cool touch’ surfaces, wide stable bases and short cords.
• Keep a basic First Aid kit in a kitchen cupboard.  You can buy these from supermarkets, pharmacies and hardware stores.
• Keep a gel icepack in the freezer at all times!

Make sure you have emergency numbers close to hand, like a list on the fridge. You can include phone numbers for your doctor, the poisons centre 0800 POISON (0800 764 766), after- hours surgeries, help lines, neighbours etc.

www.poisons.co.nz is a great site with heaps of information on things like poisonous plants, poisons affecting pets, things children swallow, plus some cool games and activities for older children. At the risk of becoming paranoid, also check out www.homesafety.co.nz. Hopefully with a combination of common sense and good luck you can stay safe in the kitchen and guide your child to help with some basic tasks to build their enjoyment of cooking and food.

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