Child Safety at Home: What to Do, in Order
Child Safety at Home: what is worth doing, what is worth avoiding, and when to stop and see a doctor.
Preventing the injuries that most commonly bring children to hospital. Most serious childhood injuries at home are predictable and preventable, and the highest-risk items are ordinary household objects.
Key takeaways
- Burns first aid: cool under running water for 20 minutes
- Button batteries: a swallowing emergency; can burn through tissue in hours
- Most useful single change: Cool any burn under running water for a full twenty minutes.
- Commonest mistake: Whole nuts and whole grapes for children under five.
- See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to speak to a doctor" below apply to you.
Do
- Cool any burn under running water for a full twenty minutes
- Cut grapes and cherry tomatoes lengthways for under-fives
- Fit stair gates, window restrictors and cupboard locks
- Keep button batteries and liquid laundry capsules completely out of reach
Do not
- Whole nuts and whole grapes for children under five
- Leaving hot drinks within reach; they scald for many minutes
- Ice, butter or creams on a burn
The numbers behind the list
The list is built from the numbers below, which come from the bodies cited at the end.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Burns first aid | cool under running water for 20 minutes |
| Button batteries | a swallowing emergency; can burn through tissue in hours |
| Choking risk foods | whole grapes, whole nuts, popcorn under 5 |
| Medicines and cleaning products | store locked and out of reach |
| Blind cords | a strangulation risk; keep them tied up and out of reach |
If you change one thing
Cool any burn under running water for a full twenty minutes. It heads the list. If you take nothing else from this page, take that.
Where to go next
- Making Sense of Child Safety at Home
- Child Safety at Home: Separating Myth From Guidance
- Child Safety at Home — the reference entry
- Childhood Vaccinations: Sorting the Evidence From the Noise
- Fever in Children: What Published Guidance Supports
When to speak to a doctor
Call 999 immediately if a button battery may have been swallowed, for any suspected poisoning, for choking that does not clear, for a burn that is large, deep or involves the face or hands, or for a head injury with vomiting, drowsiness or confusion. Do not make a child sick after a suspected poisoning.
Where this comes from
- NHS — Child safety at home
- Child Accident Prevention Trust — button batteries
How this page was put together
Every figure, recommendation and warning above is taken from the guidance named in Where this comes from. Nothing on this page is inferred, summarised or generalised beyond what those bodies publish: where they give a number, it is their number, and where they are silent, so are we. Pages are rebuilt whenever the underlying record changes. Sign-off by a named clinician, where it has happened, is shown at the top of the page along with the date.
Medical disclaimer
This article is general information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your own history, medication or circumstances. Always speak to a GP, pharmacist or another qualified health professional before making changes that affect your treatment, and never delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read here. In an emergency, call 999.
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