Safer environments for baby
Baby proofing your home is a task that should be listed as one of the most important things that you can do for your new born. This means you need to take a close look at the environments that your baby will face. It’s important to try to see things as a baby / toddler would. Achieving this comprehensively may not be as easy as it seems as we have unconsciously learned allot of our safety skills.

You will need to continually revise the measures that have been taken to make environments safer as the baby develops. Prior to introducing your new born to his/her new home, it is advisable to fix or remove potential household hazards.

In this article we try to share the options available for babyproofing your home.  We also present a built list of hints and tips to help parents that intend to do it without professional advice.

How to babyproof your home
We would say there are two ways to baby proof your home:

1.    Get the professional in they have reviewed many homes and are skilled in knowing what to look for, they even give you a list of all your requirements by room and a £150 voucher to spend against the products recommended

The down side is there is a reasonable cost for the service. The up side is that it will be done professionally; you should get recommendations as regards the best type of product to use and an estimate for installation costs.

2.    Get a number of publications read them and come up with your own bullet point list of items required. This may take a long time but if you have lots of time it may be a good option. Go around your home looking at and listing hazard centric rooms, objects, passage ways, doors e.t.c. as a baby would see them work assess the risks associated with the items when seen from a hazardous perspective e.g. bumping into, falling over, falling off, touching, licking, eating, activating, deactivating, drinking and hearing. Then take that list to a baby proofing shop and ask them to advise on the acquiring of the appropriate safety devices.

The down side is: that you may over do it or under do it; the amount of time it takes is protracted; you can’t be sure that you have all the best information and you may get advised to buy what’s in the shop as opposed to the product which is best suited to your requirement. The up side is that: You are more likely to retain the safety knowledge and you will not have to pay a fee for a professional to do it.

Both options will require that you are handy enough to fit the devices or that you commission someone to do it.

Protect Life offer a professional Home Safety Baby Proofing Consultancy Service (call 0871 050 0880 or send an email to enquiries@protectlife.com). When you book your Home Safety Baby Proofing consultancy via the web shop (www.protectlife.com), one of our team will call you back the same working day to schedule an appointment at a time that suits you. At a scheduled time a trained child safety consultant will arrive at your house and do a thorough safety walkthrough of your entire home with you.

The consultant’s trained eyes will point out potential hazards and dangers to your child. They will discuss ways to create safe zones for your children to explore which will be suitable to your home and your lifestyle. They will further recommend products to install and/or items you can remove to make your home more child friendly. Within three working days of our visit, we will provide you with a written report detailing our recommendations on how you can make your home a safer place.

The service features:

•    Fully Trained Baby safety consultant to visit your home at a time suitable to you.

•    Detailed and comprehensive hard copy report about every room of your home.

•    £150 Protect Life voucher redeemable against products or fitting cost Included in your report.

•    Detailed recommendations specific to the areas we have discussed at your home as well as general recommendations about maintaining a safe environment for your toddler to grow up in.

•    Our consultant will also recommend a range of products to solve areas of concern for you to decide which are appropriate to your level of safety.

•    The written report will include an estimate for fitting costs of the products required, based on time required to fit.

For further information: Call Protect Life to discuss your requirement on +44 (0)871 050 0880 (then select option 1) or send your requirement via email to enquiries@protectlife.com

Hints / tips to help you baby proof your home
The following is properly researched but is not an authoritative guide. It should be seen as useful hints and tips for newborns and infants under three months and for four months to one year (or until baby is walking).

For newborns and infants (under three months)

•    Use a modern crib that carries CE certification.

•    To prevent the crib from collapsing, try to ensure all bolts, screws and other hardware are securely installed.

•    Try to ensure that your child can’t slip between the mattress and crib. The mattress should fit snugly, you should be able to slide just one finger between the mattress and the side rails and headboard.

•    The slats on the crib should be less than 2 3/8 inches apart so baby’s head cannot get trapped between them.

•    Do not put heating pads, soft bedding, electric blankets, pillows or stuffed animals in a crib.

•    Try not to use a crib that has decorative cut-outs or elevated corner posts in the headboard as loose clothing could become snagged and cause strangulation or a baby’s head could become trapped there.

•    Use a safety belt when your baby is sitting in a swing or bouncy seat.

•    If you use a playpen with mesh sides, the mesh ensure it is free from tears or small holes to prevent an infant from becoming trapped.

•    To prevent fire keep nightlights at least three feet away from the crib, bedding and curtains.

•    In case of a fall, place a rug under the changing table and crib, it should cushion the fall a little.

•    Set your water heater to 120 degrees F or below.

•    Install and always use a safety belt on your infant’s changing table.

Be careful when buying used products and using hand-me-downs
•    Before you buy or accept any used item, make sure you review the Top 10 List of Recalled Children’s Products a survey found the products most commonly found in resale stores were recalled children’s products.

•    Family hand-me-downs (including family heirlooms) often fail to meet safety standards and can put your child at risk of injury or death. So low-cost shops and car boot sales are great places to shop for new parents, but many older items are ill advised and hygiene issues may be a health risk.

Four Months to One Year (or until baby is walking) Once a baby is walking, keeping your home safe will now become a daily exercise. Important things to watch for:

•    Shorten blind and curtain cords.

•    Keep any item that is small enough to fit inside a cardboard toilet paper roll out of infant’s reach e.g. balloons, nail scissors, coins and small toys.

•    Remove or replace the plastic end caps on doorstops with a one-piece design.

•    Drill breathing holes into any toy box in case an infant gets trapped inside. You may also want to buy toy boxes that have a removable lid or install safety hinges to prevent the child getting pinched fingers.

•    Cover every electrical outlet / power point in your home with a child-resistant appliance cover (plastic plugs may be easy to pry out).

•    Remove hanging toys from the cot as soon as your child can reach them.

•    Install safety gates at the top and bottom of stairways with two or more steps. (If using pressure-mounted models make sure they are strong enough.)

•    Try to know the names of all plants in case a child eats one of them. Houseplants should be kept out of infants reach.

•    Infant may use cot/crib bumper pads to climb out so remove them soon as your child can get up on all fours.

•    Lock any potentially dangerous substance in a cabinet which is out of infants reach. E.g. alcoholic beverages, laundry supplies, lighter fluid, fertilizers, household cleaning products, paint, charcoal, pesticides, insect spray, and medications (both prescription and non-prescription).

•    Pad sharp edges in the infants reach e.g. the edges of coffee tables and tile/brick fireplaces.

•    Place screened barriers around portable heaters, fireplaces and radiators.

•    Use fault circuit interrupters on electrical sockets near sinks and bath taps, they will generally stop the electrical current when an appliance gets wet.

•    Position audio/video equipment so children cannot pull them off.

•    Secure bookshelves, appliances, and freestanding furniture to walls as infants may use furniture to pull themselves up and stand.

Protect Life Home Safety department have a Baby Proofing section with a huge range of products to keep help you keep your baby / infant safer. Don’t leave it until tits too late brows Protect Life’s web site www.protectlife.com.

There is a lot of choice when you are looking at home gym exercise equipment , it can be overwhelming.

Here is a checklist for what to consider before you purchase.

1. What are your fitness targets?

Individuals have varying fitness goals and this will influence the type of exercise equipment that you need. The most common excuses for exercising are for weight loss, to build muscle or to lower your risk of certain health problems.

Many people will have more than one of these targets in mind but your home gym will be best equipped if you are clear about which of these motivations is most important to you and concentrate on it. Your exercise regime will be more effective that way, too.

Find out more personal fitness information.

2. How much should you spend?

Fitting out a home gym can be expensive and most people will sometimes have to trade off quantity and quality in some way. By this I mean that you may have to choose between having a greater variety of gym equipment, or having top quality home gym equipment. Making these choices will be simpler if you are very sure about your budget and how much you want to spend.

3. How much room do you have?

Before you buy anything, you need to think where to put it! Again, not an issue perhaps if you have a massive house with a big basement that you can equip to your hearts content, but most of us have some restrictions on how much space is available.

Gym equipment can be large and bulky and often it looks smaller in the shop. So take a tape measure when you go to the store or check sizes at the online home gym retailers before you order.

If you have some squared paper, you can draw out a plan of your home gym space and check precicely what will fit into it. Planning out your gym in this way can be a big help when it comes to making buying decisions.

4. What type of work-out is best?

Your fitness goals will come into play again here and also how much time you have available. Some types of equipment will give faster results than others, but they may not be the results that you want.

You also need to think about what type of exercise you enjoy. You may have a friend who had great results from an exercise bicycle, for example, but if you hate using a stationary bike then it might not be the best thing that you could purchase.

If you have been practicing in a local gym you probably have a good idea of the workout that suits you best and what equipment is needed for it. If not, you might think about taking out a trial membership before you go ahead and start to order your home gym equipment.

If you have been around internet marketing for any length of time, you have certainly heard the term “list building”. In fact, it is the basis upon which many internet marketers have built their businesses. Imagine building a list of 5,000 people who are interested in your niche. They are so interested in what you have to say that they actually gave you their name and email address so that you can share even more valuable information with them later. That is quite a deal in the internet world because people who surf the web tend to be skeptical of those who offer something for nothing.
 
Here are three important pieces of information that you must understand about list building before you start building your own opt in list:
 
1. What’s In It for Me? This is the one big question that every internet surfer thinks when faced with an opt-in page. They do not want to put their information into the form only to be spammed a hundred times per week. You must offer them something of VALUE to get their information. It is kind of like currency. When you are in a store, you do not expect the sales person to just give you the item. You have to pay for it. It is the same with building your opt-in list. You must pay the prospect by giving them some kind of valuable free information.
 
2. No Spamming: Once you have the contact information, do not abuse it! This is where so many people make a big mistake. You are trying to build trust with your list, so do not abuse that privilege by sending them sales pitches over and over. Continue to offer value and you will create a loyal following.
 
3. Partnering: One of the most overlooked ways to make money with a list is by joint venturing with others. If you have a list of people who came from your golf club site, you could partner with someone who sells golf carts, for instance. You could each offer a great deal on something (or a free report) to each others lists. This gives you the ability to double your list!

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