Your baby at a grandparent's house

The last baby your mother’s house was set up for might have been you. A visit adds its own gaps: a nap in a room nobody set up for sleep, or a handbag on the floor with medication in it.

The crib in the spare room. Ask when it was made. A crib made before June 28, 2011 was built before the federal crib standard applied. Since that date no crib that fails the standard, new or used, may be sold, and a drop-side crib fails it. Slats can be no more than 2⅜ inches apart, about the width of a soda can. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends against bumpers, and a play yard needs what a crib needs: a firm, flat surface, with a mattress that leaves no gaps at the sides^{[1, 2, 3]}.

The furniture a baby pulls up on. The federal tip-over rule covers only dressers and similar units made after September 1, 2023, so an older dresser, a bookcase or a TV stand falls outside it. Check bedrooms too. Of the 155 children’s tip-over deaths the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) counted from 2013 to mid-2023, half happened in bedrooms. CPSC says you can anchor existing furniture with inexpensive anti-tip brackets. Until the brackets are in, CPSC says to put a TV on a sturdy, low base, pushed as far back as it goes, and to keep heavier items on lower shelves^{[4, 5, 6, 7]}.

Window blind cords. CPSC staff found reports of 209 fatal and near-miss strangulations on window covering cords among children eight and under from 2009 to 2021, and 100 were fatal. Corded blinds are common and legal to own: CPSC staff estimated about 145 million corded custom window coverings in use in 2020. CPSC found that cord cleats and tension devices are unlikely to eliminate the hazard, and it recommends cordless window coverings^{[8, 9]}.

Stairs and gates. CPSC says to replace older gates that have V shapes large enough to trap a child’s head and neck, and the AAP says to avoid accordion-style gates, which can trap an arm or a neck. At the top of the stairs, CPSC says to use only a gate that screws into the wall. One author of a US study of gate injuries recommends pressure-mounted gates only between rooms or at the bottom of stairs^{[9, 10, 11, 12, 13]}.

The water heater. CPSC and the AAP both point to 120°F for hot water. CPSC’s burn times are for adults: water at 150°F gives most adults a third-degree burn in two seconds, and at 120°F five minutes can do it. The AAP means 120°F at the faucet, which can differ from the tank’s setting. CPSC says to check with a thermometer at the tap, first thing in the morning or at least two hours after anyone has used hot water^{[14, 15]}.

Nobody wants this conversation. You’re asking someone who raised you to change their house, and what they can hear is that you don’t trust them with your baby. It’s easier to say nothing and mean to say something later.

Make it about the house rather than the person. “I’ve got a list for our place. Can I run the same one here?” lands differently from “Your house isn’t ready.” It helps to start with what you changed at home: “We anchored our dresser last month, and I brought a kit for yours.”

Bring the fix with you. With a play yard in the car and an anchor kit in a bag, you’re asking for an afternoon, and nobody has to argue about the crib. The water heater is an easy first ask, because a thermometer at the tap says nothing about how anyone raised their children.

Keep the first list short, because a short list gets done and a long one gets resented.

Goosery’s full plan includes a second, simplified scan you can send by text to grandparents or any caregiver, for their home* (Arrives in an update after Goosery opens.). They photograph their own rooms and get their own short list, which comes from Goosery instead of from you. That makes for a different conversation. Our paper What a photo can and can't show explains what a photo can’t settle.

Every standard behind the plan is reviewed and signed by a practicing pediatrician. Our papers What your baby can pull over, fall from or get caught in and What your baby can swallow, touch or fall into set out what the public bodies publish on each of these hazards, with sources.

* Arrives in an update after Goosery opens.