The following are some helpful guidelines and practical safety information designed with a family of multiples in mind. There is no way cover all of the possibilities of having more than one child of the same age and of the possible dangerous situations that they could get into. Keep an open mind as well as an open eye at all times, daily perusing your environment for potential hazards. Remember that no precautions are foolproof in the face of more than one determined child.
THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE ALTERT ADULT SUPERVISION AT ALL TIMES.
In the Home
As the majority of the early years are spent in and around the home, this is a main focus area.
- Childproof your house every day. Crawl around your house in order to view it from a child's point of view.
- If there is an item that you don't want broken, put it away for safe keeping.
- Make sure that you have a house key hidden outside of your house.
- Make sure where you are visiting is also childproofed, e.g. Gramma's house, friends' house, etc.
- Never leave the children alone in a bathroom or in the bath.
- Children can be really hard on a pet and/or they may get scratched or bitten as a result. Teach them to respect pets.
- While you are dealing with one crisis with one child, it is the most probable time that the other will get into trouble because our focus is elsewhere. Stay Alert! Even though we are dealing with one child, we still have others that we are also responsible for. Those "eyes in the back of your head" can come in very handy. While dealing with one of her toddler twins who had fallen over and skinned her knee, my neighbour found her other twin daughter had, in the meantime, found a fresh pile of dog excrement and was playing with it.
- It is important for everyone looking after your children to be equally safety conscious, i.e. Dad, grandparents, relatives, friends, babysitter, housekeeper, etc. When my girls wanted to play with a neighbour's child, it was easier for me to have the child over to our house than to let my girls go to the neighbour's. I knew very well that, while my neighbour was an excellent parent, she was not clued into what children of the same age could possibily get into or how quickly. I was more relaxed and less stressed when everyone was at our house. It was easy because they all played together leaving me to get some household chores done. More was definitely better in this case.
- Tape electrical cords to the floor/walls for the time being.
- Make sure your hot water heater tank is not set too high. Kids have been scalded when a sibling turned on the hot water tap.
- Watch for loose air vents in your home. Small children can slip down them. As well they make good receptacles for toys, bottles, food and anything else they may want to watch "disappear".
- Dresser drawers are good to climb. Purchase low dressers, bolt a higher dresser to the wall or turn the drawer side into the wall until the climbing stage is over.
One family put the dresser into the closet to prevent climbing and then bolted the closet door. Several children have been killed or seriously injured when trying to climb the dresser. The kids pull out the clothes and climb into the drawer and they can then reach the next drawer. The thrown out clothes muffled the falling dresser and children's cries.
- Bookcases as well make good climbing apparatus. Either turn them to the wall or securely bolt them to a wall.
- Secure access to fireplaces (one twin pushed his co-multiple up into the chimney where he got stuck), fridges, dryers, ovens.
- Two (or more) children can push a chair across the room to climb onto countertops or to reach their desired object. One mother had her kitchen table chairs upside down on the table for about two months after she found her twins "dancing" on the tabletop. Another mother found one of her twins sitting on the top of the stove, playing with the buttons. The two of them had pushed a chair across the kitchen floor and one had climbed up on to the stove.
- Do not place cribs near windows. Screens can be removed and kids have been know to fall out the window.
- Watch all medicines and cleaning chemicals. Those "child-proof" containers are not necessarily so when set upon by two or more determined children. One father found his twins had eaten a bottle of vitamins. While fighting over the bottle, they had managed to "push and turn" the cap and got the lid off.
- Many incidents/accidents occur during nap-time. The children often share the same room and "encourage" each other in their creativity and exploration. As well, this is often the time when the primary caretaker may also take a nap. Some reported nap-time adventures have included: peeling off the wallpaper, emptying dresser drawers and climbing the dresser, taking the screens off and falling/getting out of the house, finding the talcum powder and emptying it around the room (another filled a vaporizer with the powder), taking off dirty diapers and "decorating" the room, climbing up on crib rails and found balanced between nearby dresser and crib rail, and the list goes on... Using a portable intercom may reduce potential hazards. If you wish to rest at the same time as the children, make sure you place the intercom right beside your ear.
- Put safety catches on all cupboards, drawers, screens, kitchen and basement doors.
- Put covers on all electric plug outlets.
- Stereos and TVs have been known to be pushed off of the entertainment centres. You may wish to either put them higher up for the time being or bolt them down securely. One family with triplets removed all rugs, ornaments and pictures from the walls in their living room. They were down to one couch and chair and a TV bolted to a TV stand. The kids had climbed on the back of the sofa and removed the pictures from the wall. Sometimes it is easier to go with the flow at this time-limited stage rather than have the situation become negative and stressful for everyone.
- If you have stairs in your home, it is beneficial to begin teaching them as soon as they are crawling to go down backwards. I would stand at the top and have the girls turn around and go down backwards while I stood on the stairs just ahead of them. It wasn't very long before they had this method figured out themselves and the stairs weren't quite so risky.
- Absolutely no pushing, shoving or running on the stairs. Many siblings have been pushed too hard in play.
- When walking down the stairs with children remember that kids, when they are speaking to you, will often stop and look up at you as they speak. If you are carrying something (such as a laundry basket) in your arms, it may block your view of your child as he stops to speak to you and you may inadvertently knock him down the stairs. A safer idea is for you to start down the stairs first, followed by your child(ren). In this way, if one trips, you are in a position to catch him.
- Use gates and closed doors (perhaps locked) to seal off areas of the house where you don't want them to go. For example: laundry room, garage, basement, exterior doors.
Baby Equipment
- Make sure all baby equipment is in good repair. Check each piece at regular intervals as it gets a lot of use with so many children using it.
- Make sure clothing and blinds have no long cords which can entrap and choke a child.
- Never assume the suggested age-range for baby equipment is appropriate for your child. Check each one carefully and individually and know what each of your children is capable of safely handling.
- Make sure each child is safely harnessed into swings, car seats, highchairs, etc. One can easily undo the other and then he gets into mischief.
- Security gates are rarely secure. Watch these carefully. Kids can climb them, push them over and yank the security bolts out of the wall. Three determined toddlers can be. very determined and gates, even those bolted to a wall, may not be able to withstand constant climbing and shaking. Regularly check to be sure the wall bolts are holding. Don't even consider purchasing the suction-cup kind of security gate. It won't stay stuck to the wall for very long with two or more kids climbing on it.
- Cribs should be dismantled when the kids try to climb out of it. If they are "trying", it won't be long before they succeed. Take the initiative and either move the mattress and covers to the floor or invest in a "real" bed.
- Carefully check out any secondhand equipment. Look for outdated safety features, cracks or rips. If you are in doubt about its age or durability, don't use it.
- A baby backpack (with frame) should only be used after a baby is capable of holding up its head.
- If you purchase a new car seat, keep the manufacturer's instructions so that they can be included with the seat when you want to sell it. These instructions indicate the correct way to install the seat and provide the construction date of the seat, an important point when it is recommended that a seat not be in use for longer than 10 years.
Toys
- Purchase toys that appeal to kids and encourage play. This discourages them from seeking out alternative measures of entertainment.
- Toys of older children can be a source of danger.
- Always check out second hand toys prior to purchasing. Look for small pieces that might break off, sharp edges or broken parts. Toys receive a lot of use by families with multiples and the quality of the toys needs to be able to withstand all that extra use.
- Crib mobiles are not meant to be played with as toys. As soon as a child can reach it, remove it. It could be placed over a change area where there is adult supervision.
- Never assume the suggested age-range for a toy is appropriate for your children. Know the capabilities of each of your children and purchase toys to suit their skills.
- It is not unusual for toys to be used as a "weapon" against a sibling. Watch carefully that the drum stick (or truck or doll) is not also used to hammer heads!
In the Vehicle
- Teach everyone to stand clear when closing any doors. Discourage the slamming of doors. Someone could get hurt or fingers get caught.
- NEVER leave children alone in a car with the engine running. They can get loose and put the car into gear. This has happened on many occasions.
- ALWAYS put your car in "park" or turn it off when someone is disembarking. If you have to leave the car to assist someone disembarking, take the care keys with you.
- Play a road game of teaching the kids to identify road signs, e.g. One-way, danger, railroad tracks, name of the street where you live and others.
- Do not store articles on the floor in front of your children or put items on the back shelf window area. In a crash these items become flying objects and can inflict serious injury.
- When loading the children into the car, put them all loose into the car first and then fasten each into their seat. When removing them, get your stroller out first and set it up in front of the car door. Unloosen all of the children and then one by one put them into the stroller and fasten each in. The others are still loose in the car but can't get by your body to run off. If you were to put one down onto the sidewalk and turn to deal with another, the one you just put down will run off in who knows which direction. You need to know where they all are all of the time.
- Be aware that one child will probably not be able to undue his own car seat belt but it will be relatively easy for him to reach over and undue one of his siblings. If you find that this has happened to you, DON'T PANIC. Use your voice as a parenting tool to tell your child to stand still. Pull your vehicle over to the side of the road, stop completely and then deal with putting your child back into his car seat. Never try to put the child back into his seat while the car is still moving.
Water
- Get your children into swim classes at your earliest possible convenience.
- Do not leave your children in charge of an older sibling. An 8-year old cannot properly be responsible for two (or three) two year olds.
- Discuss water safety equipment and why we need it: life jackets, pool equipment, etc.
- No pushing, shoving or running around the pool.
- Never leave the kids alone in the bathtub. If the phone rings, leave it.
- Never let the children swim without an adult who can swim being present. If you are hiring a nanny or someone to assist you with childcare, you may wish to ask if they can swim.
- If you have a pool and your house is one side of the fence around the pool, make sure that the door to the house has a high and sturdy lock on it.
- If you are taking several children to the beach/pool, determine ahead of time who will be responsible for whom. "I will be watching Alice and Mary and you will be watching Jennifer and Kathy."
General Safety Precautions
- Right from the beginning, stress staying together on outings. The kids, too, have a responsibility not to get lost. Count heads every few minutes so you know right away if someone is missing.
- Practice, practice, practice: looking both ways and holding hands before crossing the road, reading road signs, recognizing danger signs. Keep repeating the safety rules so that everyone learns them and eventually they will learn to prompt each other.
- Firm reminders of safety rules may be necessary with consistent "time out" for reinforcements or infractions.
- On public outings, dress your children in bright colours to make identifying and locating them easier.
- When walking in crowded areas (e.g. stores, shopping mall), keeping them all in a stroller, cart or on a wrist harness may be the way to go. Make it as easy as possible on everyone.
- Stress to them not to cut each other's hair.
- Remember that some safety items are just not negotiable (such as using your seat belt).
- Teach them their phone number and area code as soon as they are able to learn it. It is easier to teach to them, and for them to learn, as a song melody.
- Teach them identifying landmarks in your neighbourhood as soon as possible.
- When your child is completing a difficult task, such as climbing the play climber, remind them to "concentrate" on what they are doing. This helps them to keep a focus on the task they are attempting to complete.
- Multiples will often attempt to "change" each other's diapers. Beware!
- Remember that your younger children are not the responsibility of your older children.
A ten year old cannot look after and make responsible decisions for 2 or 3 four year olds.
- Never carry your stroller up the stairs with the babies in it.
- Never leave the babies alone in a stroller.
- NOTHING beats constant, alert, vigilant adult supervision.
Complacency
A level of safety can be experienced by multiples and/or their parents when they are with each other. This level of comfort in togetherness can too easily create a feeling of safety and security that does not necessarily exist. "Oh, they are together. It shouldn't be a problem." This is particularly true of the middle, pre-teen and teen years. It is very important to talk openly about this perceived comfort level and to encourage each of your children to stay alert and make wise decisions as the situation make demand, e.g. walking home late at night, getting to a car with a driver who may be impaired, not wearing bike safety gear.
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