Safety Guide For Buying Kids Furniture

Your little one is precious, so safety is the first thing tolid. Test it yourself before buying
keep in mind when shopping for furniture. Follow the- Place a lock or door guard on swing-out or pullout
guide below to ensure that you make all the safetyclosets to avoid being accidentally pulled open by your
considerations before making the purchase.infant
1. General Guidelines- Choose painted finishes for closets and avoid top
- Read the label and check if the product meets thepressed laminates. Laminate adhesive can wear out
US Consumer Safety Commission standard for theover time and due to humidity. When the laminate lifts,
particular furniture type or model - products especiallyit can be a splinter hazard to your child
for babies and young kids require this rating4. Bunk Bed Safety
- Consult the US Consumer Safety Commission- As your child outgrows his crib, the next logical
website for any furniture recall to know what to avoidsleeping furniture is a bunk bed. It is perfect when
when buying a specific furnituresharing the room with other siblings or when optimizing
- Look at the furniture construction. Make sure it isbedroom space by locating storage or the study area,
sturdy, durable and rated to carry your child's weight,under the elevated bed. However, there are still
size or agereported cases of injuries or hospitalizations due to
- Avoid furniture with rough or sharp edges. This is andefective bunk beds. Entrapment, falling and
obvious hazard to your child. If you cannot avoid such,suffocation are the most common cases. Follow the
buy corner or edge guards from Home Depot andadvice below to avoid them
install it before letting your child use the piece of- Make sure the space between the guardrail and the
furnituremattress or bed frame is wide enough to allow your
2. Prevent Furniture From Tipping Overchild to slip through. Death by strangulation has
- Anchor furniture to the wall or floor to ensure thatoccurred on children whose head get stuck in such
they do not tip over on the kid. Children are veryspaces
adventurous and they always want to climb, conquer- Check the durability of the way the guardrail is
and test furniture, so avoid having one of the 10,000attached. Make sure it can resist your child's weight so
children brought annually to the hospital for furniture tipit cannot dislodge and let your child fall while sleeping
over injury- When lodging the bunk bed against a wall, make sure
- Place heavy items like TV's or heavy books at thethat there is no gap between the bed or bed frame
lower part of bookcases or display cabinets. This alsoand the wall. Reported deaths have occurred when
ensures the furniture will not have a tendency to tipkids rolled off the bed's wall side and got stuck in
overbetween the wall and the side of the bed. If there is a
- Keep your kid's stuff low and within their reach.remote possibility that this can happen, install a second
Avoid placing them on top of bookcases or displaydurable guardrail
cabinets. No matter where his or her favorite teddy is,- If using a double bunk bed, an unsecured mattress
your child will climb to get it. So discourage thatfoundation can dislodge when the kid in the lower bed
3. Toy Chests, Closetskicks upwards to the upper bunk. Avoid this by
- When buying toy chests, avoid buying the ones withsecuring the upper bed mattress foundation by placing
a vertically opening lid. Such an opening has a dangeradditional cross ties underneath the foundation
of having the lid fall onto your child when he or she- Make sure that the size of the mattress fits the
reaches inside to get a toy. If you cannot avoid buyingstructure of the bunk bed structures. A mattress that
a vertically opening toy chest, make sure that it has ais too short will have a gap with the frame.
hinge that locks into position and prevents a free falling