Cooking safely with a crawling child in the house

Why the kitchen changes once your child crawls

As long as your baby lies on a mat or in a bouncer, cooking is just cooking. That changes the day your child starts crawling, pulling up on cupboards and your legs, and suddenly seems to be everywhere at once. The kitchen is the room where heat, sharp objects, cleaning products and hurry come together, often at the busiest moment of the day. Most kitchen accidents do not happen because of one big mistake, but because a child gets closer unnoticed while you are busy with something else. Our article on the gas cooker covers the hob itself; this article is about the habits and the working routine around it. With a few fixed agreements with yourself, cooking becomes relaxed again, even with a crawler at your feet.

Hot drinks: the risk is not only on the cooker

A cup of tea or coffee is one of the most common causes of burns in young children, and that surprises many parents. A hot drink stays hot enough for a long time to burn a baby's thin skin, and a cup that tips over often hits exactly the face, neck and chest. Never drink anything hot with your child on your lap or on your arm, and do not pass your child to or over someone holding a hot drink. Keep mugs and cups well away from the edge of the table and worktop, and not on a low coffee table your child can reach. A mug with a lid helps, but is no free pass: hot liquid can leak from it too. Make it a house rule for everyone, including visitors and grandparents.

Fixed kitchen habits

• •Cook on the back burners and turn handles inwards
• •No hot drink in your hand with your child on your lap or arm
• •Mugs and cups well away from the edge, never on a low table
• •Your child in the playpen, high chair or behind a gate while you cook
• •No tablecloth and no cables over the edge of the worktop
• •Drain and deep fry only when your child is safely seated or asleep

Where is your child while you cook?

The most important choice in the kitchen is not which gadget you buy, but where your child is while you cook. A playpen in or right next to the kitchen, a high chair with the straps fastened at a safe distance from the cooker, or a safety gate in the kitchen doorway are all good solutions. Crawling freely around your feet while pans are on the heat is the riskiest scenario, because you can also trip yourself while holding something hot. If another adult is home, agree who watches the child and who cooks, instead of everyone half paying attention. Save the busiest jobs, such as draining and deep frying, for moments when your child is safely seated or asleep. A fixed spot with some toys of their own also makes it easier for your child to stay there.

Pans, handles and the back burner

Cook on the back burners or zones as much as possible, so a hand reaching up cannot get to them. Always turn pan handles to the back or the side, never over the edge of the hob, because a sticking-out handle is exactly the grip a child looks for. Never carry a pan of hot water or oil over your child, and do not walk across the kitchen with it while your child is crawling freely. Drain at the sink with your child in a safe place, and look around before you turn. Let hot pans cool at the back of the worktop, not in a low spot or on the table. Set the extractor hood and lighting so you keep a good view of what is happening on the hob.

Oven, kettle and air fryer

It is not only the hob that gets hot. On many ovens the glass of the door gets hot enough to burn a hand leaning against it; check in the manual whether your oven has a cool door, and otherwise keep your child away while the oven is on. A kettle belongs at the back of the worktop with a short cable that does not hang over the edge, and a cordless model on a base is ideal for this. An air fryer and a deep fryer get hot on the outside and at the air outlet, and the oil in a deep fryer stays dangerous for a long time after use. Place such appliances well back on the worktop and let them cool there. A dishwasher with its door open is also a kitchen risk, because of knives in the cutlery basket and dishwasher tablets your child may mistake for sweets.

Cables, tablecloths and the edge of the worktop

A child pulling up grabs anything that hangs over an edge, and that is exactly why cables and tablecloths are so dangerous. A cable from a kettle, hand blender or iron dangling from the worktop is an invitation to pull. Do not use a tablecloth while your child is crawling or just walking, or choose placemats, because with one tug everything on the table ends up on the floor. Keep the front edge of the worktop clear and push knives, scissors, glasses and hot items to the back. Store cleaning products and dishwasher tablets high up or behind a cupboard lock, not in the cupboard under the sink. Look around your kitchen at crawling height to see what your child sees.

Warming baby food without risk

Warming bottles and jars is safest in a bottle warmer or a bowl of hot water. If you do use a microwave, know that it heats unevenly: the outside feels lukewarm while there are hot spots inside. So stir or shake food well after warming and let it stand for a moment. Test milk by putting a few drops on the inside of your wrist, and taste solid food with a separate spoon or feel it with your finger before feeding. Never warm a bottle in the microwave with the teat on, because the pressure can make it shoot out. If you are unsure how best to prepare food for your child, ask at the consultatiebureau (child health clinic).

If something hot falls anyway

Cool a burn immediately with lukewarm, gently running water for at least ten minutes, as the Dutch Burns Foundation (Brandwondenstichting) advises, and keep the rest of your child warm. Remove wet, hot clothing straight away, because soaked fabric keeps burning the skin, unless the fabric is stuck to the skin. Do not put anything on the wound and do not burst blisters. After cooling, cover the wound loosely with clean, lint-free material. With a baby, always contact the GP or out-of-hours GP service for blisters, a wound larger than your child's palm, or a burn on the face, neck, hands, feet, joints or genitals. If in doubt, call your GP, the out-of-hours GP service or 112.

A routine that runs by itself

After a few weeks these habits become automatic, and then cooking safely takes no extra effort. Back burners, handles turned in, hot drinks well away and your child in a fixed spot: that is the core. Explain the agreements to your partner, the babysitter and the grandparents too, because a kitchen is only safe when everyone works the same way in it. Adjust the rules as your child grows: a toddler who climbs on a chair can suddenly reach the worktop. Use the kitchen checklist in this app to also go through the fixed measures, such as cupboard locks and knob covers. That way the kitchen stays the cosy place it should be.