Expert tips on how to ‘baby-proof’ your hotel room

Dr Harvey Karp, author of Happiest Baby on the Block, shares some of his best tips on keeping your room baby-proof while staying at a hotel.

Dr Harvey Karp is a paediatrician, child development specialist and assistant professor of paediatrics at the USC School of Medicine in California. He specialises in child development and has taught thousands of parents — from soothing babies to reducing tantrums and promoting patience.

Below he shares his top ten tips to keep your precious little ones safe:

1. Don’t be afraid to get down! Crawl around the floor to find loose staples, plastic bits, buttons, etc.
2. Check sofa cushions for loose change. Room service might have missed small objects.
3. Close up any electric outlets with tape or little blank stoppers. It’s best to bring outlet stoppers, or even a roll of tape while travelling.
4. Make sure your toddler can’t pull over any of the hotel furniture, drawers, or TVs.
5. Hide any dangling cords (like curtain pulls) that can get around a child’s neck.
6. Put a bit of paper medical tape + a cotton ball over any sharp corners or hard metal/brick edges.
7. Make sure the smoke alarms/fire extinguishers work and you have an exit strategy in case of fire.
8. I like people to also have smoke hoods…(in case of fire, smoke is usually the biggest danger).
9. Keep your medicine and first aid handy. Bring them in one small travel bag.
10. Have the # and location of the local hospital, doctor and friends nearby.

Dr Karp’s work is translated into over 20 languages and is taught by thousands of specially trained educators in Happiest Baby classes. These classes are available in hospitals, clinics, teen parent programs, postpartum depression clinics, father support groups, military bases, the current opioid-addicted newborns’ crisis and child abuse prevention programs, in hundreds of communities across North America and around the world.