How Can I Make My House Childproof?

Childproof a home in three passes, each a few months ahead of the child: before the baby comes home, before crawling, and before walking. The lists below follow those stages. They draw on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s guidance (CPSC) and on New York City’s own rules for apartments. If you are renovating anyway, several items cost almost nothing to build in while the walls are open.

Before the baby comes home

• Use a crib that meets current federal safety standards, with a firm, flat sleep surface and nothing added: no pillows, bumpers, stuffed animals or loose blankets.
• Keep monitor cords and every other cord out of reach of the crib, and choose cordless window coverings.
• Put smoke alarms on every level, inside each bedroom and outside the sleeping areas, and carbon monoxide alarms outside the bedrooms.
• Anchor televisions, dressers and bookcases to the wall.
• If you control your own water heater, set it to 120 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. In a building with central hot water, ask a plumber about anti-scald devices for the tub and shower.

Before crawling

A crawling baby reaches everything below your knee and puts most of it in the mouth.

• Cover sharp furniture edges and corners with bumpers that stay on.
• Cover the outlets below counter height with protectors a child cannot pull off or choke on, and take night-lights out of low outlets.
• Fit latches or locks to the cabinets and drawers within reach, and move cleaners and medicines up high regardless.
• Check that the range is fixed to the wall or floor so it cannot tip.
• Pack away anything breakable or precious until later.

Before walking and climbing

• Install safety gates early, so the child learns which rooms and stairs are closed. A pet gate is not a child safety gate.
• Fit knob covers that an adult can still open quickly, and secure the doors to cellars, garages and other closed areas.
• Watch chairs and step stools: a toddler uses them as ladders.
• Keep medicines in child-resistant containers in a high cabinet.
• Give phones and other small electronics a charging place out of reach.
• Set hot food and drinks at the center of tables and counters, never at the edge or on a tablecloth that can be pulled.
• Fence any pool or hot tub.

What New York City adds

Window guards. In a building with three or more apartments, the owner must install approved window guards in any apartment where a child aged 10 or younger lives (NYC Health). Tell your landlord or managing agent before the baby arrives. In a private house the law does not require them, and the federal advice is to limit window openings to four inches or less.

Stove knobs. Owners of apartment buildings must provide stove knob covers for gas stoves where a child under six lives. The rule does not reach owner-occupied co-ops and condos (HPD), so owners there should buy their own.

Lead paint. This is the one to take most seriously in an old building. Owners of apartment buildings put up before 1960 must presume the paint is lead-based unless it has tested otherwise (HPD). Under the federal rule, any firm paid to disturb painted surfaces in a home built before 1978 must be certified and trained in lead-safe work, because such work can easily create dangerous lead dust (EPA). Ask any contractor for that certification before work starts in a home with a child or a pregnancy.

What to build in during a renovation

• Solid blocking inside the walls where a television, a dresser or tall shelving will be anchored.
• A high cabinet with a lock for medicines and cleaning products, drawn into the kitchen or bathroom from the start.
• Soft-closing doors and drawers, which are kinder to small fingers.
• Outlets placed where furniture will cover the low ones, and tamper-resistant outlets where it will not.
• Fixing points for gates at the top and bottom of the stairs in a townhouse.
• New windows chosen with the guards in mind.

Our timelines list dust isolation, protection of the surrounding rooms and negative air pressure among the first steps of a job, and with a small child at home those steps matter twice over. Whether to stay in the home while the work goes on is weighed in staying or moving out during a renovation. For the work itself, see home renovation in NYC and apartment renovation in NYC. Built-in cabinets that can be locked and anchored are covered on our custom storage page.

Questions people ask