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How to Make Bathroom Safer — According to A Secure Life, more than 3.4 million children encounter inadvertent household injuries each year. Out of the 3.4 million, 2,300 (aged 15 and below) die from these types of accidents.
These numbers prove that one of the most dangerous places in the house is your bathroom. After all, bathrooms are notorious for slipping mishaps, drowning and even electrocution. It’s even more hazardous for young children and babies who are prone to motion accidents. Here are some useful tips to make the bathroom a safe and relaxing environment for your children.
How to Make Bathroom Safer
Don’t ever Leave Your Kids Unattended
Never lose attention to your baby in the bathroom. Don’t ever think of leaving your kid/s even for a minute.
Parents should avoid distractions like fiddling the phone to avoid accidents. Always practise “touch supervision”, or in other words, having a close reach to your child at all times.
Young children can drown as shallows as 1 inch of water, so never leave them alone in the bath. Here are four reminders to keep in mind when bathing children.
- Prepare all the needed things like towels and clothes before the bath so that you want have to leave your kids to get the hygiene essentials.
- Never leave water in the bathtub when not in use
- Put everything within your arm’s reach
- Don’t rely on bath seats or supports to keep your baby while you are out of the room
If ever you need to answer the phone or open the door for someone, you can just wrap your kid with a towel and bring him or her together with you. This is a much better alternative than just leaving them all alone in the bathroom.
Proper Water Temperature
Did you know that it only takes 3 seconds for a child to get burned in hot water? Set your water heater lower than 48°C to reduce the risk of scalding.
Always run the cold tap water first when filling the bath. To test the water’s temperature, drench a small part of your wrist or elbow. Keep in mind that the water should be warm; not scalding hot. You should also teach your young children not to play with the taps — especially if it has a hot and cold setting. Kids can easily burn themselves by messing around with a hot and cold faucet.
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Store Your Medicine Away from Little Hands
Those bright colors of your pill bottles can attract the curious mind of your children. Don’t let your kids see those colorful pills since their innocent eyes might regard them as delicious candies. To solve this problem, make sure to keep all your medicine in a hard-to-reach cabinet. You should also put a safety latch or lock to make it even more inaccessible for the kids.
As an added safety precaution, put safety caps in your medicine containers in case your children are still able to open or find your medicine stash. Lastly, don’t forget to keep all your medicine in their original childproof bottles.
Prevent Slipping (How to Make Bathroom Safer)
Bathroom floors can be very slippery, especially when it has accumulated a lot of water. Make sure the floor is dry as well as your kid’s feet. This will prevent or greatly lower slipping and falling. You should also a place a slip-resistant mat that has rubber backing on the floor. A mat with suction cup backing would also be great to put in the shower. Install no-slip strips on the bathroom floor for extra safety.
For those of you who bring toys and other items in the bathroom, be sure to clear cluttered objects on the floor since this can also be the cause of slipping accidents.
Put Electrical Appliances Away from Water
Always remember that water is a great conductor. To avoid electrocution, make sure no electronic devices are plugged in the bathroom — especially when you’re bathing with your kid. Put your electric razor, hair dryer, and other electric appliances in a cabinet. We highly advise that you don’t install any outlets inside the bathroom for maximum safety not only for the kids, but for everyone in your home.
If you still want to have an electric outlet then you should definitely install ground-fault circuit interrupters which are very effective in nulling the electric flow of the socket. Failing to do this will increase the chances of electrocution accidents in your home.
Install Grab Bars
Install heavy duty grab bars in your bathroom. It will provide something to hold on as you’re kids enter and exit the shower area. In addition, the grab bars can provide support if ever there are slipping accidents. If ever your kids (or anyone using the bathroom) will slip, they can hold onto the grab bars to prevent or lessen the impact from falling.
Keep Your Toilet Seat Cover Closed
Kids love to play with water. Keep your toilet seat cover closed to prevent your toddlers from accidentally dropping their toys into the toilet bowl. They will obviously try to get their toys and become prone to accidents in doing so. Purchase a toilet seat lid-lock for safety.
Always Clean Your Bathroom
Cleanliness starts at home. It should be one of your top priorities to clean the bathroom. Aside from slipping and drowning incidents, diseases and infections can also be found in the bathroom if it’s not sanitised and cleaned properly. This is why you should make it a habit to clean your bathroom on a regular basis.
It’s even more important to practise bathroom upkeep if your children has respiratory problems since a bathroom can harbour mould and mildew. These fungi’s spores can cause health issues which can worsen the state of kids who have breathing and general respiratory issues.
Keeping the bathroom moisture-free can be done by installing a ventilation system, letting air inside the bathroom, setting up dehumidifiers, etc. That’s a how to make your bathroom safer for your children. By following these useful tips, you will have a kid-friendly bathroom in your home in no time!
Bio:
Katie Jones is the content manager of DR DRiP Plumbing. She releases informational media regarding plumbing and general home improvement.
