The importance of baby-proofing the house
You never think it can happen to you, until it does.
It was a normal day in the Fraser household on December 17, 2019. 17-month-old Daniel Frasier was a happy little curious boy. However, his happiness was halted by a door frame at 6:30am.
Daniel’s mother heard a “blood-curdling scream” from her son after he caught his index finger in the door frame. There was no way of saving it, so the doctor had to amputate it. According to his mother, the finger was amputated “from the first joint of the finger, right through the bone and off entirely“. Daniel was only 1.5 m away from his mother who was preparing for work in the bathroom.
Watching your child going through such enormous pain is every parent’s nightmare. This is what inspired his mother, Leila Fraser, to share this story on the Mamahood Facebook group.
This Bedfordview mother of one was horrified and wanted to warn other parents.
Her message to parents?
“Please please, baby-proof your doors so that they cannot close/be slammed.”
It was important for the Frasers to share this story because they regretted not baby-proofing the house 100 times over. She never thought that the door would be cause for such an accident.
It is easy to think that there is no way your child will pull the kettle cord or take out medicine from the cabinet. Little humans are explore this big, fascinating world and nothing is uninteresting.
So here is a quick baby proofing checklist for your curios human:
-Place baby gates if you have stairs at the top and bottom of the stairs
-Blinds should be removed if they have looped cords
-Place safety covers over electrical outlets
-Move tall, unstable lamps and furniture
-Mount your TV and hide all electrical cords
-Cover sharp edges of your furniture with bumpers
-Put latches on drawers and cupboards
-Unplug appliances that are not in use
-Remove reachable tablecloths
-Install stove knob covers
-Remove sharp utensils, cleaners and heavy items from baby’s reach
-Install a doorknob cover and a door stopper
As we always say, perfect parents do not exist, and accidents can happen anywhere, anytime. It can also happen in a split second, and you cannot have your eyes on your baby 24 hours a day.
So create a checklist before your little one starts crawling and start ticking things off.
It is parents like Leila Fraser that remind us that no child and parents should go through something like this. Their son’s life has been changed forever, and they don’t want the same reality for other parents.
Little Daniel is taking this as the ultimate champion, with sufficient pain management.
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