Tribe of Five

  BABYPROOFING We hear about baby proofing all the time, and when we talk about it most people's minds go to the most common items such as oven doors ,  outlets , Stove handles , cabinets , doors and even toilets .   Unfortunately, a commonly overlooked babyproofing item is furniture…YES, furniture! I am a facts and data kind of person, so I want to discuss the statistics first to help illustrate why this is such an important step in babyproofing. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) February 2022 Tip-Over Injuries report, there were an annual average of 22,500 emergency department treated injuries between 2018-2022, and 581 fatalities between 2000 and 2020.   Of those 22,500 injuries 10,000 were from children under 18 years old and of the 581 fatalities 472 were children under 18.   A few tools and a safety strap under $8 can save your child’s life. ( 2020 Tip-Over Report (cpsc.gov) ) Back in 2009 I had a close encounter with what could have been a t