Think like a toddler to childproof home

With the glee over a child's first halting steps comes theterrifying realization that your home holds untold hazards for thisincredible sweet pea.

With that newfound mobility, your child will be into every closet,cupboard and dark recess of your home that he can reach.

Yes, he'll do a full face-plant into your stone hearth. Yes,she'll get her fingers pinched in the bifold closet doors.

"You want your child to explore," said Erika Kravic, a nurse witha Louisville, Ky., children's hospital who coordinates a Safe Kidsprogram. "But the safer the environment you create for the child, themore you can allow the child to explore."

Safe Kids (www.safekids.org) is an international campaign toprevent child injuries.

In some cities, parents can call a business that evaluates ahome's risks, sells childproofing products and installs them at acost of $200 to $1,000 (or more), according to the InternationalAssociation for Child Safety, a trade group for such businesses.

Kravic said any parent can do it, and childproofing doesn't haveto be expensive. Just crawl on all fours through every room and seewhat you see. If you have a toddler, walk on your knees, or at yourwaist height.

You're looking for potential poisons, falls, burns, chokinghazards, and drowning and suffocation risks.

Lower cabinets, at a child's eye level, are "full of nasty stuff,"said Henry Spiller, director of a Louisville poison center. But up onthe high shelves, we store food.

"It really should be the opposite," he said.

Cords hanging off a counter "are like waving a red cape in frontof a bull," Kravic said. "Kids are going to pull on them. And whatare they pulling onto themselves? A Crock-Pot? You've got to getthose cords up on the counter and those appliances away from theedge."

Cigarette lighters that aren't childproof are still sold, sheadded, and children can start fires by rubbing them on the carpet.

Kravic said kitchens and bathrooms pose enormous hazards to youngchildren. If you can't afford baby-proofing equipment, a solutionmight be a simple I-hook out of the child's reach on the bathroomdoor, allowing you to keep the door locked from the outside.

No devices, however, will replace vigilant supervision ofchildren, Kravic said.

"Nothing is childproof," she said. "The most you can hope for isthat it will slow them down."

You have to get everyone who cares for the child involved.

Having toilet locks to prevent drowning serves no purpose unlessevery member of the family locks them back after use.

Going to the grandparents' house often poses a big risk tochildren, Spiller said. They're more likely to have medicine out onthe counter or lying around in purses.

And the holiday season brings many parties where adults servealcohol. When parents serve brightly colored, sweetened alcoholicdrinks, the child might think it's juice.

It's especially dangerous if parents don't clean up leftover cupsafter a party, Spiller said.

"For a small child, it doesn't take a lot" to cause an overdose,he said.

He and Kravic both express concern about the risk of carbonmonoxide poisoning as parents try to offset the rising cost of homeheating by using alternative heat sources such as wood stoves andkerosene heaters.

Homes should have a carbon monoxide detector, they stressed.

"When you've made your home safe for a child, you've made it safefor everyone," Kravic said.