When it comes to child safety in the home, parents often focus on window restrictors and childproof locks. And for good reason – these are the aspects of childproofing that are most often discussed. However, one crucial element that goes unnoticed is the importance of a sturdy stair rail. Here are five reasons why children need a KiddieRail to use the stairs:

Preventing Falls: Children are naturally curious and tend to explore their surroundings, including the staircase. Without a sturdy rail to hold onto, they are more likely to lose balance or trip while climbing or descending the stairs. This could potentially lead to painful falls. KiddieRail provides a reliable handhold, reducing the risk of accidents.

Independence and Confidence: As children grow, they develop a desire for independence. Having a rail on the stairs allows them to learn how to navigate them safely on their own. This newfound confidence is crucial for their overall development and helps them gain a sense of responsibility.

Aiding Balance and Coordination: Developing balance and coordination is a crucial aspect of a child’s physical development. A KiddieRail provides the necessary support for them to practice and improve these skills as they climb and descend the stairs. This gradual improvement can be especially valuable for toddlers and younger children.

Safety During Emergencies: In case of an emergency, such as a fire or other household hazard, a KiddieRail can be a lifesaver. It offers children a secure way to quickly exit the home or reach a safe area, reducing risk of injury.

Teaching Stair Safety: A KiddieRail also serves as a visual reminder to children about the importance of stair safety. Parents and caregivers can use it as a teaching tool, explaining the proper way to use the stairs. By emphasizing the need to hold onto the rail, they can instill good habits that will last a lifetime.

In conclusion, a KiddieRail is not just a functional addition to your home but also a crucial safety feature, particularly for children. It promotes their independence, aids in their physical development, and, most importantly, helps prevent accidents and injuries. Investing in KiddieRail is a wise decision that can grow with your child due to its’ adjustability, thus contributing to a safer and more secure home environment for the entire family. Get yours here.

We are absolutely delighted to let you know that we have been recognised as Winner in the prestigious Made for Mum Awards. The Organizers proudly announced: “After 3,000 judging hours, more than 1,100 products sent out to families and mountains of testing with babies, toddlers and parents, we can now reveal the results of the 2022 MadeForMums Awards.” 

KiddieRail was awarded the Silver Winner category.

The recognition went on to say:

“Why it’s a winner: This clever handrail has been specially designed for children under the age of 5, to make going up and down the stairs safer.  It’s height-adjustable so it can grow with your child, and the kit can be customised to suit the layout of your staircase. It will help your child negotiate the stairs with ease, and can be fitted by anyone with basic DIY know-how.

In the words of parent tester Katy, who tested this with their 2 year old: “This rail has given my kids more confidence going up and down our stairs, even in the short time it’s been up. For that, it’s invaluable.”

Childproofing the bathroom

There are more obvious areas than childproofing the bathroom. This is due to the fact that it is very unlikely that your child will even ever be out of reach in the bathroom, let alone left to their own devices. However, it is very important that you do as much as you can before your little one arrives, because:

1. You don’t know how much time or energy you will have for this once your baby arrives;
2. It is good to do to recognise the potential danger spots in the room. This will put you in the right mindset to childproof other areas of your home;
3. It may lead to you recognising a danger you have overlooked in a room you have already childproofed, such as a hard floor with no mat or rug over it.

How to childproof the bathroom

The first thing to do is to get an outer–door lock! This is a key step as the best way to ensure nothing happens to your child in the bathroom is to ensure they cannot even gain access in the first place. There are many different locks and bolts that will do the job.

After that, the bathtub itself is probably the most dangerous part of the bathroom. This is because it has three separate risks – the potential for your child to slip, the potential for your child to drown and the potential for your child to ingest bodywashes or shampoos and poison themselves.

It is important that there is a non-slip mat in place, preferably both inside and outside of the bathtub, but at the least on the inside. Stopping your child from drowning is more a matter of being present and ensuring the bath is not too deep, but it is still definitely worth finding a way to cover the taps over. Finally, moving the various self-care products well out of harm’s way is your best bet. This will ensure they are not played with.

After that, it’s really just a case of identifying specific target areas unique to your bathroom. Toilet seat locks cannot hurt, and neither can making sure bathroom cleaning products are well, well, well out of reach. Trust yourself, but be sure to accept that short of wrapping everything in cotton wool, you cannot create a fully safe environment. It’s important to also accept that this doesn’t make you a bad parent. Good luck!

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The art of governing a toddler may never become a science to any degree, let alone an exact one. They are whimsical, happy-go-lucky creatures. Furthermore, any one member may not conform to the general ideas surrounding its species in every (or any) way. However, as every parent knows, a great way to ensure that they do something is to explicitly tell them not to do it.

The lengths young children will go to just to disobey orders is undoubtedly funny, but it can also put them in danger. This is especially true when it comes to trying to stop them climbing on tip-risk furniture. This is a serious issue; 77% of all fatalities from furniture tipping over from 2000-2019 were children aged 0-5. Therefore, it is vital that all rooms in your house are thoroughly childproofed for tip-over risks.

Heavy furniture are still tip risks…

Even if a piece of furniture is hefty, a small child is still fully capable of causing it to fall if its’ centre of gravity is affected. This disturbing video from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission demonstrates this. The sturdy-looking chest of drawers has had its’ centre of gravity affected by the television perched on it, causing it to fall on the ‘toddler’ with devastating consequences.

The most effective ways of childproofing vs. tip-over furniture hazards to prevent this ghoulish demonstration becoming a reality are:

• Securing all furniture with metal wall anchors. These are inexpensive and fairly easy to install. The heavier the furniture, the more anchors that should be used.
• Never put a TV on a set of drawers, especially in a child’s room.
• Don’t put anything on top of drawers that may be an incentive to a child to climb them. This includes toys and other electronics.

To summarise, tip risks are one of the most dangerous risks in the home. Injuries from tip accidents can have the most devastating impacts on families. It is very important to ensure that your children’s rooms especially are childproofed thoroughly, and your home as a whole as well.

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Why is dismounting furniture properly important?

As your baby becomes better able to move around, they are naturally going to want to explore this newfound mobility. Unfortunately, due to their lack of a sense of danger, coupled with their soft bodies, this could lead to some nasty bumps and falls as they learn how to navigate their surroundings and dismount safely, unless your home has been made childproof. One of the most common fall injuries for babies is related to falls off of furniture; this is because it is harder to childproof furniture (whilst at the same time keeping it comfortable for you!), and therefore babies can find themselves in trouble whilst attempting to slide off. Therefore, it is wise to teach babies the best way to dismount furniture.

How do I teach my child to dismount properly?

Believe it or not, this is best done as soon as they are mobile. This may seem silly, but there is evidence, namely from the Instagram page milestones.and.motherhood, that it is worth doing; her little one started ‘furniture falling’ at the tender age of just 4 months old, and had it (nearly) mastered by 11 months old! Our best guess is it is a case of unconscious procedural memory that kicks in once the baby gets used to the process of safely tumbling off the furniture. Regardless, here is the best way to teach your child to safely get off furniture:

• When you see that they are attempting to dismount the couch/sofa, it will most likely be a head-first attempt, in typical baby fashion. Gently grab their waist at this point.
• Turn them 180 degrees, until they are dismounting the couch feet first; it is also advisable to have them be on their belly for this.
• With hands still around their waist, slowly let them slide themselves off the furniture.
• Keep hold of them until their feet have touched the ground, then let go, so they can realise that they have successfully dismounted. Then praise them! It will help to build positive reinforcement around the idea of dismounting in this safe way.
• Every time they go to dismount, repeat this process, except gradually lessen the supporting hands around the waist; eventually you will barely be interfering in the process at all!

Remember…

It is only natural to be worried and overly protective of your little one during this process, especially if you start them very young; but persevere with it, and you will soon have the peace of mind of knowing that your child can safely dismount furniture, and will eventually be able to do so unsupervised.

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We at KiddieRail know that there are few things that bring a child more pride at a young age than feeling they are emulating their mummy or daddy. Whether it is pretending to talk on a toy phone, having their own steering wheel in the backseat of the car, or even using the grown-ups’ toilet for the first time, your little one loves to feel that they are ‘all grown up’ and able to do just as you do.

However, there are situations where this desire to copy can put a little ones’ safety at risk. One of the most prevalent is when they try to go up or down flights of stairs, trying to use a handrail that in most cases is too high for them to safely hold on to.

The Solution

We at KiddieRail have noted that there has been considerable parental concern over banister safety, and with good reason. Staircases are hard to childproof; stairgates are useful, but children find ways over them. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has reported that an estimated 58,000 children fall down stairs every year. In addition, falls on stairs in the home account for 44% of all children’s accidents.

With this in mind, we endeavoured to provide a solution, and we are proud to now announce our newest product: KiddieRail, a stair rail built for your child. With an adjustable handrail, it can always be in the most convenient position for your child to grab onto in order to make ascents and descents much safer.

KiddieRail: Childproof

Furthermore, we recognise that children are not the gentlest, which is why Kiddie Rail is incredibly durable. In independent testing the product withstood a load equivalent to an 18-month child hanging from it for a period of two weeks without any sign of failure. This is why we confidently offer a 5 – year warranty with every individual KiddieRail. Your child can have trust in KiddieRail, and you can have trust in us.

In recent weeks, the KiddieRail Team has been honoured by the presence of Great British athletes and their children. You may recall that we have been ever so proud that the KiddieRail and Cardea Solutions has been approved to use the ‘Made in Britain’ endorsement and these acknowledgements reinforce that theme, whilst highlighting authentic athletes that are also parents.

First, Helen Galashan attended our HQ with her eighteen months’ old daughter, Ellie. They used the KiddieRail for ascending and descending the staircase. See her experiences and comments on the video below.

Helen is a former British Champion in gymnastics and represented Great Britain for five years. Her greatest achievements were competing in two Commonwealth Games, making the finals in both and also being part of the 2004 Olympic Games test event.  She later went on to represent GB in diving, adapting seamlessly to a new sport to win a bronze medal in the European Championships.

Athlete, Ben Quilter is a British athlete in judo. He represented Great Britain at the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics. A former World Champion, in 2012 he proudly competed in the Paralympics, where he won a bronze medal in the under 60kg Men’s category. We installed a KiddieRail in his Home giving peace of mind to both parents and their toddler. Watch the video to see the ease of assembly, installation and benefits brought to childproofing the residential environment.

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We are at pains to stress that whatever the height of the child or children, the KiddieRail with its agility and adjustable height flexibility, means that this award winning safety product can be used for most babies and toddlers from the time that they are able to stand and walk.  A lot of the pictures on the website show our little people who are of nursery age and into reception.  Here we are pleased to introduce Ollie, fresh from drinking his bottle of milk and proudly wearing his nappy.  You can see just how much reassurance he gets from taking hold of the KiddieRail to ensure that he is balanced.