Baby safety equipment Baby safe tips

Simple tips and products to make your home baby safe

We've listed useful equipment and gadgets to help you childproof your home and keep your baby safe. While you may be able to get by without them, these clever devices will give you extra peace of mind.

Take a look at our baby safety equipment page for details of the essential items you need to keep your baby safe.

Radiator guard

These prevent your baby from burning themselves on a hot radiator. Try a DIY or homeware store.

Door slam stoppers

These prevent doors from shutting on children's fingers and also stop children from shutting themselves in a room - essential once babies start walking. Some types of stoppers prevent fingers from getting trapped in one side of the door but not the other, so the hinge side might be protected but the door can still close. 

Alternatively, a doorstop can prevent the door from moving at all.

Drawer catches stop a drawer from being fully opened

Drawer and cupboard catches

Drawer and cupboard catches are designed to only allow a cupboard or drawer to open a few centimetres, unless an adult releases the catch.

Drawer and cupboard catches are essential once your baby starts crawling and exploring to keep baby fingers safe from sharp objects such as knives or breakables such as crockery and glassware. 

Children will eventually learn how to operate them, but in the meantime they can provide a degree of reassurance.

Baby safe appliances

If you're replacing a washing machine, oven, hob, tumble dryer or other , look for models with baby safe precautions, such as child locks or buttons and levers that are located out of harm's way.

A rubber bath mat will prevent slipping

Bath mats

Water adds to the risk of accidents, especially when young children see the bath as a fun play area and will want to stand up and mess around. 

A simple rubber bath mat will help prevent your baby from slipping in the bath. Add a bath mat to the base when your baby starts sitting up and is able to pull up without your support.

Baby monitors

Baby monitors shouldn't be regarded as a safety device – they are more for convenience, so you can hear your baby crying if you are in another part of the house or in the garden. 

However, baby monitors can alert you to potential hazards such as your baby climbing out of the cot or bed.  

Read the Which? review of baby monitors to find out details of our latest Best Buys.

Isofix lets you secure a car seat without seatbelts

Isofix for child car seats

Isofix is the standard system for all new cars and child car seat manufacturers, designed to make installing your child car seat quick and easy.

You simply ‘plug in’ a compatible child car seat to mounting points in the car. If you have an Isofix child car seat and Isofix points in your car, there's no need to attach seat belts to secure your child car seat. 

For more about Isofix and to see which child car seats have it, see the Which? child car seats review.

Socket covers

Fortunately, electricity isn't a major contributor to child accident statistics - and there is currently a question mark over whether socket covers are a good idea. Government advice is that socket covers should not be necessary to keep your baby safe, and RoSPA agrees. 

Our socket covers review has more detailed information, along with tried and tested socket cover recommendations, if you do decide to buy them.

If you are concerned about electrical accidents, consider protecting your house's wiring with a residual current device (RCD). This is an electricity cut-off device, which protects against electrocution by automatically cutting the electricity supply within a fraction of a second if it detects a fault or unusual surge.

Our baby safety equipment page lists the essential items you'll need to keep your baby safe.