What your baby can swallow, touch or fall into

The AAP says to keep balloons, coins, marbles, pen caps, small balls and button batteries away from your baby, to cut round, firm foods into tiny pieces, and to watch your baby eat^[4].

Button batteries sit in remotes, scales and key fobs. Only products made since late 2023 must have a battery compartment that takes a tool, or two hand movements at once, to open^[1]. They’re on the list of things Goosery asks you to check by hand, because a photo can’t show whether a compartment is screwed shut, and the spares sit in a drawer.

CPSC recommends outlet covers your baby can’t easily remove and that are too big to choke on, and tamper-resistant outlets when you replace one. It says to test every ground-fault outlet at least once a month. That’s the kind of outlet that cuts the power when it senses current leaking^{[5, 6]}.

CPSC and the AAP both point to 120°F for hot water. In the AAP’s advice, that 120°F is measured at the faucet^{[2, 7]}. Your water heater’s temperature is also on the list of things Goosery asks you to check by hand, because a photo of the dial shows a setting, often in words rather than degrees.

The AAP says not to hold your baby while you carry a hot drink, to turn pot handles to the back of the stove, not to warm bottles in the microwave, and to screen fireplaces and heaters. The glass on a gas fireplace stays hot long after the fire is off^{[7, 8]}.

CDC reports that for babies under one, three in four drownings happen in the bathtub. CPSC says never to leave your baby alone in the tub, even for a second, and to stay within arm’s reach. It has records of children who drowned in a bathtub while in a bath seat^{[3, 9]}.

CPSC also says to keep the toilet lid down and empty buckets right after use. A baby who topples headfirst into a five-gallon bucket can almost never get out, even when it’s only partly full^{[9, 10]}.

If you have a pool, CDC reports that a fence separating the pool from the house as well as the yard cuts a child’s drowning risk by 83%, compared with fencing only the yard^[3].

CDC says to keep medicines, vitamins and gummies up and out of sight, and never on the counter between doses. The AAP adds a lock or latch^{[11, 12]}. The list of things to check by hand asks where the medicine sits, because a photo can’t measure a shelf’s height, and medicine also lives in handbags and drawers.

Child-resistant doesn’t mean childproof. Under the federal rule that requires child-resistant packaging, a package passes when at least 85% of the children tested can’t open it or get a harmful amount out, and 80% once they’ve been shown how. The children tested are 42 to 51 months old, about three and a half to a little over four years. That rule has no general entry for bleach, all-purpose cleaners or laundry detergent. If children six or younger live in or visit your home, the AAP suggests traditional detergent instead of single-load packets^{[13, 14]}.

The U.S. Fire Administration says to put smoke alarms in and outside every bedroom and on every level, test them monthly, and replace each one 10 years after it was made. It recommends carbon monoxide alarms outside each sleeping area and on every level^{[15, 16]}.

If there are firearms in the house, the AAP advises storing them unloaded and locked, with the ammunition locked separately^[17].