Safety
I'd like to preface this by saying that your baby is not going to arrive home mobile. There are some items that you can certainly get piece by piece as you need them. Of course getting them as shower gifts saves you the cost. I'd almost suggest waiting to see what kind of mobility and desires / curiosities your child has as he/she grows. We found that we were able to use furniture in most cases. We even used a play yard as a baby gate for a while.
- Monitors - The latest in high tech gear. If you decide you want to use one, be sure to research them. There are some video monitors that have been known to broadcast the live footage and people could pick it up from outside your home. How's that for safety? Even (or perhaps especially) in our two floor condo we had at the time, simply kept Sasha in the same room with us. If she slept while we were downstairs, she was downstairs. She went up to the bedroom when WE went up to the bedroom. Yes, we occasionally went more than 10 feet from her, but we just listened for her and made sure not to have any noisemakers going that would drown her out.
- Cabinet & Door Latches - This, too, depends on your home and your child. Once Sasha got old enough to venture into our kitchen, I simply kept safe items down low. She had open access to pots and pans. She loved to climb into our kitchen cabinets. Drawers have never been an issue.
- Safety Gates - you won't need one of these for a while. When you do, though, consider your home. Do you have stairs? You definitely need to be able to secure them! We just found other things that worked in our home for keeping our child secured. Even now, though, our roommate considers getting a safety gate to keep our 2yo out of the kitchen.
- Outlet Covers - These are cheap. You could totally register for them as a low end item to have available for people, but you are sure to afford this item at any point anyway. These are cheap and easy enough that you could go ahead and start putting them into place early so you don't have to worry about it later.
- Travel Mirror - This is a safety item? Yes, it is convenient to be able to see your child in their car seat behind you, but... I don't consider this a must have. It was a luxury for us. Once I did get a travel mirror, my daughter insisted on playing with it constantly, so I rarely got to actually use it myself!
- Corner & Edge Guards - You may want to rethink some of your furniture anyway. If you have a glass coffee table... yeah, maybe its time to change that. We only had minor use for these and never actually got them. Look around your home and decide what you need.
- Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm - Um... I totally see the point here, but I've never had a carbon monoxide alarm, I don't think. I rent and use the smoke alarms that are already in place. This would be a very personal decision, but I can see how it is a "must have."
I hope you are enjoying this series and finding it useful when deciding what you need or want for your expanding family. I'm providing my own opinions on the items listed, but these are just what worked for me. I also hope you'll come back for more categories in the series.
The next category in the series will be Baby Gear, but that will be broken down into subcategories including Car Seats, Car Seat Cushioning, and Car Seat Accessories.
What safety item do you feel you need in your home?
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