Is your home safe for your toddler?

If you need to leave your baby or toddler for a few moments to answer nature's call, or the front door, make sure you have a safe place to leave her for a few moments, without returning to a disaster.

Avoid buying tables, chairs and accessories with sharp, pointed corners. If you have them already, clip-on soft corners are available online and from baby-and-child shops.

A loaded bookcase or full drawer can weigh a huge amount and could cause fatal damage to a small child if it fell on top them. Attach the furniture to the wall with specialist wall anchors and fixtures.

Cords are a serious strangulation threat. Though most manufacturers no longer use them, they are still fitted on some brands and will be on second hand purchases of older items.

A footstool with a hidden compartment, lock-tight boxes, and cupboards with a lock and key all provide areas where breakable or dangerous ornaments can quickly and safely be stored away when toddlers make a visit.

Some houseplants look good to eat, but in fact can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, gastroenteritis and in some cases can be fatal. Popular houseplants and flowers to avoid include: daffodils and narcissi, poinsettia, Swiss cheese plant, heart-Leaf philodendron, peace lily, myrtle and ivy.

Most homes have several different kinds of cleaning products, usually stored under the kitchen sink or in a bathroom cabinet - easy places for toddlers to reach. Lock the cleaning cupboard, the alcohol and the pet food store and secure toilet seats to avoid the risk of drowning.

A quick pull on a tablecloth and it could all fall down, potentially cutting and bruising your child. So do away with tablecloths altogether, or use clips to secure the cloth to the table.

Children are inquisitive and will reach up to anything they want to see and hold. Sadly, burns to children are horribly common even though it’s easy to make the hob child safe with special guards.

Every kitchen has one, and it’s probably loaded with matches, string, glue, screwdrivers, thumb tacks, craft knives, medicines…a smorgasbord of high-risk items. Be sure your catch-all drawer is closed with a child-proof safety catch.