Child Safety Checklist: Infants and Young Children

An independent educational resource prepared by Mark M. Simonian, MD, FAAP

Sources checked: August 2, 2026     |     Medical review completed: August 2, 2026

This page is for general education only and does not replace individualized medical advice. This resource does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. For questions about your own child, contact your child's current healthcare professional.

Magnolia Pediatrics, Valley Children's Healthcare

2497 E. Herndon Avenue, Suite 101, Clovis, CA 93611     |     559-538-3070

Use this as a starting checklist and repeat the review whenever your child gains a new skill, visits another home, or receives new equipment.

Urgent Safety Actions — Check This First

CALL 911 NOW

  • A child cannot breathe, speak, cry, or cough effectively; turns blue; becomes limp or unresponsive; or has a seizure

  • A child was submerged and has breathing trouble, needed rescue breaths or CPR, or is not acting normally

  • Severe bleeding, a firearm injury, a major burn, or another life-threatening injury

GET EXPERT HELP NOW

  • Possible poisoning: use webPOISONCONTROL or call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 immediately. Do not make the child vomit and do not use syrup of ipecac. Call 911 instead if the child is unconscious, having a seizure, or having trouble breathing.

  • Possible swallowed button or coin battery, or a battery in the nose or ear: go to an emergency department immediately. Do not wait for symptoms and do not delay transport to obtain a home remedy.

  • Possible swallowed high-powered magnet or more than one magnet: seek emergency evaluation immediately.

  • A serious head injury, chemical or electrical burn, eye exposure, or any injury when the child is not acting normally: get prompt professional guidance and evaluation.

Sources and medical review

Safe Sleep and Infant Equipment

What families can do

  • For every sleep, place an infant on their back on a firm, flat surface in a safety-approved crib, bassinet, or play yard. Keep the space empty of pillows, loose blankets, bumpers, positioners, and toys.

  • Move a sleeping infant from a car seat, swing, carrier, or stroller to a firm, flat sleep surface as soon as possible.

  • Check product recalls and instructions before using new or secondhand gear. Avoid inclined sleepers, weighted sleep products, crib bumpers, extra mattresses, and sitting baby walkers with wheels.

  • Keep cribs and beds away from windows and cords. Use cordless window coverings whenever possible.

When to get help

Questions about a sleep product or setup: contact your child's healthcare professional or the manufacturer before use. Breathing trouble or difficulty waking: call 911.

Sources and medical review

Poisoning, Medicines, Batteries, and Magnets

What families can do

  • Lock medicines, vitamins, cannabis products, nicotine liquids, alcohol, cleaning products, laundry packets, pesticides, and automotive fluids out of sight and reach. Child-resistant packaging is not childproof.

  • Keep products in their original labeled containers. Never put chemicals or medicine into food or drink containers.

  • Secure battery compartments on remotes, key fobs, toys, hearing aids, scales, and musical cards. Store new and used batteries and high-powered magnets locked away; used batteries can still cause severe injury.

  • Save Poison Control—1-800-222-1222—in every caregiver's phone. Do not keep or use syrup of ipecac.

When to get help

For a possible poisoning, call Poison Control immediately even if the child has no symptoms. For a possible button-battery or high-powered-magnet ingestion, go to an emergency department immediately.

Sources and medical review

Choking and Strangulation

What families can do

  • Have children sit upright and stay still while eating. Cut round, firm foods such as grapes and hot dogs lengthwise and into small pieces; avoid whole nuts, popcorn, hard candy, gum, and thick spoonfuls of nut butter for young children.

  • Keep balloons and balloon fragments, coins, small balls, toy parts, batteries, magnets, pen caps, and other small objects away from infants and young children. Check floors at the child's eye level.

  • Use cordless window coverings. Keep monitor cords, charging cables, necklaces, drawstrings, and plastic bags out of reach.

  • Take an age-appropriate CPR and choking-response class and review the steps with every regular caregiver.

When to get help

If a child cannot breathe, speak, cry, or cough effectively, call 911 and begin age-appropriate choking first aid. After a significant choking episode, seek medical advice even if the object seems to have cleared.

Sources and medical review

Burns, Fire, and Electrical Safety

What families can do

  • Install working smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms on every level and outside sleeping areas. Test them regularly and practice a family escape plan.

  • Keep hot drinks, pan handles, appliance cords, matches, lighters, and space heaters out of reach. Do not carry a child while holding a hot drink.

  • Set the hottest water at the faucet to no more than 120°F (48°C), and test bath water before placing a child in it.

  • Cover unused outlets with non-choking protectors and use ground-fault circuit interrupters where appropriate.

  • For a small thermal burn, remove the heat source and cool the area with cool running water for about 5 minutes. Do not use ice, butter, grease, or home remedies; cover loosely with a clean nonstick dressing.

When to get help

Call 911 for a major burn, smoke inhalation, breathing trouble, or loss of consciousness. Chemical, electrical, deep, large, facial, hand, genital, or circumferential burns need prompt professional assessment.

Sources and medical review

Falls, Windows, Stairs, and Furniture

What families can do

  • Keep one hand on a baby on changing tables, beds, sofas, and other raised surfaces. Place the child in a crib or play yard before stepping away.

  • Use properly installed gates at the top and bottom of stairs. Do not use sitting baby walkers with wheels.

  • Install operable window guards above the first floor; screens do not prevent falls. Move climbable furniture away from windows.

  • Anchor dressers, bookcases, televisions, and other top-heavy furniture to the wall using suitable anti-tip devices. Keep tempting objects off furniture tops.

When to get help

After a fall or head impact, get prompt medical advice if the child vomits repeatedly, is unusually sleepy, has a seizure, loses consciousness, has worsening symptoms, or is not acting normally. Call 911 for severe symptoms.

Sources and medical review

Water Safety

What families can do

  • Stay within arm's reach of infants, toddlers, and weak swimmers in or around water. The supervising adult should be capable, attentive, and free from phone use, alcohol, and other distractions.

  • Empty bathtubs, buckets, wading pools, and other containers immediately after use. Never leave a young child in a bathroom or near water with another child as the supervisor.

  • Use a four-sided, climb-resistant fence that separates a pool or spa from the house and yard, with a self-closing, self-latching gate. Covers and alarms add protection but do not replace fencing and supervision.

  • Use a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket around open water and on boats. Floaties and swim lessons do not make a child drown-proof.

  • Swimming lessons can begin after the first birthday when the child is developmentally ready, but supervision and barriers remain necessary. Caregivers should learn CPR and safe rescue.

When to get help

Call 911 after a submersion if a child has breathing trouble, needed rescue breaths or CPR, is unusually sleepy, coughs persistently, or is not acting normally.

Sources and medical review

Motor Vehicles, Bicycles, and Wheeled Play

What families can do

  • Use the correct car seat or booster on every trip. Keep a child rear-facing until reaching the seat manufacturer's height or weight limit, then move through each restraint stage according to instructions.

  • Install the seat using both the car-seat instructions and vehicle manual. Use a certified inspection station if you want hands-on help. Keep children in the back seat through age 12.

  • Never leave a child alone in a vehicle. Lock parked vehicles and keep keys out of reach.

  • For bicycling, use a properly fitted helmet labeled as meeting the CPSC bicycle-helmet standard every ride. Use the activity-specific helmet for scooters, skating, and other sports as recommended by the manufacturer.

When to get help

Replace a helmet after a significant impact or according to the manufacturer's instructions. After a crash, call 911 for severe injury or abnormal behavior and seek medical advice for concerning head symptoms.

Sources and medical review

Firearm Safety

What families can do

  • The safest home for a child is one without a firearm.

  • If firearms are present, store every firearm unloaded and locked, with ammunition locked separately. Children and teens must not be able to reach keys or combinations.

  • Ask about firearm storage before playdates or visits. Teaching a child not to touch a gun does not replace secure storage.

When to get help

For a firearm injury, call 911 immediately. If a child or teen may harm themselves or someone else and has access to a firearm, separate them from the firearm without putting yourself at risk and call 911 or the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Sources and medical review

Emergency Readiness

A short family checklist

  • Post the home address and emergency numbers where every caregiver can find them.

  • Save 911, Poison Control (1-800-222-1222), the child's current healthcare professional, and emergency contacts in caregiver phones.

  • Keep an age-appropriate first-aid kit and current medication list available, but keep all medicines locked away.

  • Learn CPR, choking first aid, and basic first aid from a recognized training organization.

  • Recheck the home at floor level whenever the child starts rolling, crawling, climbing, or opening doors and containers.

Sources and medical review