Tips to Help Make Your Eco-Friendly Home Super Safe for Your Baby

There are a lot of great things about being an eco-friendly homeowner. However, you also need to know how to adjust to certain issues as well.

One thing that you have to understand as an environmentally friendly homeowner is the importance of home safety when you have a baby. The issue isn’t that eco-friendly homes are inherently less safe (although they can create some unique safety issues for your children). The bigger issue is that you may be lulled into a false sense of security.

You need to take the right steps to make your eco-friendly home safe for your baby.

Baby Proofing Your Eco-Friendly Home

After years of dreaming about becoming parents, nine months of pregnancy that also felt like years at times, and a long but safe labor and delivery, your amazingly incredible new baby is here. As an eco-friendly parent, there are a lot of things that you need to do. You decide to buy eco-friendly gifts for your new child and create a green nursery. However, there are other things that you have to prioritize even more, such as home safety.

You immediately fell in love with your precious infant and now you fully understand what other parents mean when they say they would do anything to keep their baby healthy and safe. There are some things that you need to consider as an eco-conscious parent.

A great place to start with this important goal is in your home. You may have already installed outlet covers and you have placed medications far out of reach, but chances are good there are plenty of other ways you can make your home a safe, happy and healthy environment for your new family member to live in. For example, check out the following ideas:

Energy Efficient Home Automation Devices

You probably bought a lot of home automation devices to make your home eco-friendly. The appeal is obvious, since they are more energy efficient. However, they can also create some safety concerns.

Taking care of a new infant involves lots of well-baby checkups at the pediatrician and plenty of diaper runs to the grocery store—not to mention grabbing a much-needed caffeinated beverage at the coffee shop and takeout pizza for dinner. In other words, you’ll be out quite a bit. To keep your home as safe as possible when you are away, you might consider investing in some smart home services that save money while also making it more secure.

A smart security camera near your front door may help to prevent suspicious behavior, and you can also get alerts on your smartphone when someone comes on your property. Smart light bulbs are also a great idea, as you can schedule them to turn on anytime you are out in the evening. As you start researching the home automation devices that can help to make your home more physically secure, you should also be able to save money with any of these smart home products: a smart home thermostat, smart light switch, smart plug, and home lighting automation.

Lock Up What You Can (and Don’t Use TOO Much Natural Ventilation)

You probably want to cool your home down by keeping doors and windows open as much as possible. This type of convection is obviously great for the environment.

However, this can create some safety issues, especially as your baby starts to crawl around. You need to keep certain doors closed and locked and rely on other eco-friendly cooling ideas instead.

So many homes are the popular open concept style right now, so it can be difficult to install traditional baby gates across doors—mainly because there aren’t as many. While it’s hard to imagine your brand, new baby being a rambunctious toddler, it is wise to think ahead and start installing locks on kitchen cabinets now; this way since you might not be able to block off the kitchen, you can still keep it safe from curious hands. Go for magnetic locks that can be mounted on the inside of your cabinets, and consider purchasing stove-knob covers to prevent your baby from turning on the stove once he or she can stand and reach the burners. Also, during COVID-19 you might have had your canisters of Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer and other cleaning supplies at the ready. If this is the case, put these products on shelves over the washer and dryer, on top of the fridge or in a locked cabinet.

Switch to Cordless Blinds

You already got off to a good start in the living room with the outlet covers. If you have blinds or shades on your windows, up the safety ante even more by switching to a cordless variety made to look like wood or other materials. This one step will remove a possible strangulation danger and the cordless variety also look really nice. Of course, your living room may not be the only place in the home with blinds or shades, so as the budget allows, replace the other window coverings too before that adorable little bundle of newborn baby becomes mobile.

Congratulations On Your New Baby! Make Your Eco-Friendly Home Safe for It!

Becoming parents for the first time is an incredible experience and includes plenty of emotions such as overwhelming love for your new baby. By investing in some home automation devices, installing locks, removing unsafe products and getting rid of any blinds or shades that have cords, your home will not only be a loving place for your kiddo to grow up, it will also be much more safe and secure.

You don’t have to compromise your eco-friendly practices to be a parent. You can protect your baby and lower your carbon footprint at the same time.