Mom is Dying to Go Out with Baby
As soon as a new mom is feeling up to it, she’s dying to get out of the house with her new baby. In a few weeks or months, she may try a jaunt to the playground. After all, it’s a great place to meet other moms. But now that the little social butterfly out of the house, what about playground safety for baby?
Obviously, new babies will sit in their strollers just soaking in their surroundings at first. However, as soon as they gain a little mobility they will want to take part in the action. Here are a five of my personal tips for playground safety for babies:
1) Pick an age-appropriate playground ““ Big kid playgrounds are not the place for babies or even toddlers. Not only is it dangerous for a baby to be hanging out where there are lots of older kids running around (they run the risk of getting knocked over), the little one will want to start doing what the big kids are doing. Keeping them from that might result in a headache for you. And as a mom of a big kid as well, we don’t want to have to reel our big kids in because YOU have your baby where they shouldn’t be.
2) Slide safely ““ Even though your baby can sit up, it doesn’t mean they can control themselves on a slide. Make sure the slide is low enough for you to hold their hand all the way down. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a baby fall back and hit their head near the bottom of the slide.
3) Be smart around swings ““ I am the mother of a toddler who got hit by a big kid on a swing. It was terrifying and it wasn’t the big kid’s fault. The worst part was that I was holding her hand and she broke free and ran straight for the swings. I was literally chasing after her to catch her, but she was too fast. So therefore, I recommend visiting playgrounds where the play areas are far away from the swings…or ones with no swings at all.