Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to commonly asked questions about child safety and the work we do to reduce the number of children and young people killed, disabled or seriously injured in accidents.
Burns
Yes, they do. Old water bottles can break and cause serious burns.
Things that affect your hot water bottle:
- Regular use
- Filling it up using boiling water
- Storing it near a heat source, like an airing cupboard or radiator
- Damage from something sharp
- Storing it full of water as this can degrade the rubber.
Please check yours regularly for signs of wear and tear.
This flower symbol, found on hot water bottles, indicates exactly when it was made.
The number in the middle is the year it was made, the flower segments represent the 12 months of the year and the dots inside those represent the number of weeks. So this hot water bottle was made in April 2021.
But it may take some time between manufacture and arrival in shops. So most reputable manufacturers guarantee your hot water bottle for two years form the date of purchase rather than the date of manufacture.
Cool or lukewarm water is the best first aid for burns. It can still work up to 3 hours after the burn happens.
The key steps for burns first aid are:
- Remove clothing, nappies and jewellery
- Cool the burn for at least 20 minutes with cool or lukewarm (not cold) running water
- Cover the cooled burn with loose cling film, a plastic bag or a clean non-fluffy cloth. Don’t cover the face
- Put nothing else on the burn as this will stop it healing
- Give painkillers
- Get medical advice for a burn bigger than a 50p coin.
Remember to cool the burn not the person. Keep the rest of your child warm while you cool the burn.
Only use cool or lukewarm water on a burn.
Don’t put toothpaste, turmeric, ice or any other substance on a burn, these will make the burn and scarring worse, not better.
The key steps for burns first aid are:
- Remove clothing, nappies and jewellery
- Cool the burn for at least 20 minutes with cool or lukewarm (not cold) running water
- Cover the cooled burn with loose cling film, a plastic bag or a clean non-fluffy cloth. Don’t cover the face
- Put nothing else on the burn as this will stop it healing
- Give painkillers
- Get medical advice for a burn bigger than a 50p coin.
Remember to cool the burn not the person. Keep the rest of your child warm while you cool the burn.
If your child is burned it’s important that you administer first aid as quickly as possible. Getting the burn under cool or lukewarm water for at least 20 minutes can mean the difference between lifelong scarring and a child who heals well.
The key steps for burns first aid are:
- Remove clothing, nappies and jewellery
- Cool the burn for at least 20 minutes with cool (not cold) running water
- Cover the cooled burn with loose cling film, a plastic bag or a clean non-fluffy cloth. Don’t cover the face
- Put nothing else on the burn as this will stop it healing
- Give painkillers
- Get medical advice for a burn bigger than a 50p coin.
Remember to cool the burn not the person. Keep the rest of your child warm while you cool the burn.
It’s not recommended to freeze a hot water bottle because it can cause the rubber to degrade, making it unsafe to use as normal.
If you’re going to freeze your hot water bottle, please don’t use it with hot water later. It could break and cause serious burns.
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Bath time
Bath time can be a fun but it can also be a bit stressful. Sadly, very young children can drown quickly and silently, even in very shallow water. Babies can never be left unattended – not even for a moment – and a baby who is sitting well can still topple over suddenly.
Get everything ready before you put your child in the bath, leave your phone in another room to avoid distractions and if you need to leave the room take your child out of the bath and with you.
To avoid serious bath water burns, always run cold water first, then add warm water slowly until it feels comfortably warm but not hot. Use your elbow to test the bath water temperature before you put your child in.
Sadly, bath seats have been in use in a number of cases where babies have drowned. It’s possible to be lulled into a false sense of security that your baby is safe in a bath seat. But this is far from the truth.
Bath seats are helpful but they’re NOT designed as a safety device, even though it can seem like this with some product advertising and pictures.
Button batteries
Car seats
It’s ok if your baby falls asleep in the car seat while travelling, but when you reach your destination take them out and put them in a clear crib or cot with a firm mattress.
Pre-term or young babies should not travel in a car seat for long periods of time. They may be at risk of breathing difficulties if they travel or sleep upright for too long.
The safest place for your child to travel is in the back of the car. It doesn’t matter if that is behind the driver or the passenger seat. The most important thing is for the car seat to be fitted properly and your child to be properly secure in it.
If you do need to put your baby in the front seat the airbag MUST be turned off. It can hurt your baby if it activates in a crash.
Baby seats are based on weight and/or height of your child, not age. It’s safest to keep your baby in their rear-facing car seat for as long as they fit the seat. Once they have grown out of the seat you can move them into a child car seat with a built in harness or shield.
Try to keep your child in their child car seat until they’ve grown out of it. If it’s a rear-facing car seat and the right size for your child it’s ok for their feet to be touching the back of the back seat.
When their eye line is above the back of the seat it’s time to move them to the next size of seat.
For older children, high-backed booster seats remain the safest option as they provide side impact protection and support. The most important thing is that the seat belt sits across your child’s collarbone and hips rather than their delicate neck or tummy area.
Children must use a car seat until they are 12 years old or 135 cm tall, whichever comes first.
If a child is tall for their age and is over 135cm tall, then they can safely use the adult seatbelt.
Remember though, the back seat is the safest place for children, as it offers the greatest distance from the point of impact in a crash.
Lie-flat car seats can be useful for very young babies or those with medical needs, but a properly fitted rear-facing seat is safe and effective for most babies. The most important thing is to follow the manufacturer’s instructions and take regular breaks during long journeys so your baby can be taken out of the seat.
Choking
It’s advised to cut up grapes for children up to five, as they have small airways that can easily be blocked by a grape.
But primary school children may still have small airways, though they’re better at chewing and swallowing.
That’s why there’s no fixed cut-off age for cutting up children’s grapes.
You know your child best. Do they sit down still to eat? Do they chew their food properly? Do they eat quickly when distracted, excited or in a rush?
If in doubt, give yourself peace of mind and cut them up.
Electrical safety
Modern power sockets are built to be safe. They have an inbuilt shutter mechanism to stop access to live connectors.
Which means socket covers aren’t necessary.
Socket covers may have some value in stopping young children plugging in appliances such as irons or hair straighteners which could burn them or start a fire.
Falls
Doctors are sadly seeing increasing numbers of cases of children dying or being seriously injured when they have fallen from an open window. In several cases the window lock or restrictor has been overridden.
When it’s hot or you need to let cooking or cleaning fumes escape, it can be tricky to know what to do. But children can move quickly when your back is turned for a second, they are curious and will often want to see what’s going on out of the window or may love to climb.
They are more likely to topple because their heads are heavy compared with their bodies, which means they have a higher centre of gravity than adults. So even leaning slightly can make them topple.
Magnets
No. Quality toys, built to the right standard, that are age-appropriate and used according to the instructions, should be safe for children to play with.
Cheap copycats, often from online marketplaces, may not meet our safety standards. The magnets could be easily accessible or have a much higher strength than is safe for a child’s toy.
That’s why we recommend buying from reputable retailers where possible, and check who and where you are buying from when shopping online.
Avoid small magnets if you have children under 3 in the house.
Toys bought for older children can be dangerous for little children to play with too.
Children can find magnets in:
There may be no symptoms to warn you a child has swallowed magnets, so don’t wait for them to show. By the time symptoms start to show, more damage has likely been done.
Symptoms can include stomach pain and tenderness, nausea or vomiting, and not being able to keep down fluids. You may suspect a stomach bug or appendicitis.
If you think a child has swallowed magnets act fast.
Take them straight to A&E or phone 999 for an ambulance. Don’t delay, trust your instincts.
Product safety
As a small charity we unable to offer free safety equipment, and we are aware that there are fewer organisations nationally who can supply child safety equipment free of charge.
You could get in touch with your local Citizen’s Advice who may have contacts who could help. Depending on where you live local housing providers may also be able to offer advice.
Baby walkers are no longer recommended by health professionals. They are linked to a high number of injuries and do not help children learn to walk. Time spent rolling, sitting, crawling, and playing on the floor supports natural development more safely.
Road safety
In the UK, there isn’t a minimum legal age to walk to school alone.
The age your child will be ready to walk to school on their own depends on many things such as environment, distance to school, and their confidence and maturity levels.
You know your child best.
Safe sleep
Toddler beds will usually be low enough to the ground not to be a serious fall risk if a child does fall out of bed.
You can keep a clear space next to the toddler bed so there’s no risk of a child hitting their head if they do fall out of bed.
Bear in mind that children should only move up to a toddler bed when they are old enough or they’re starting to climb out of their cot which is causing a fall risk.
If you are going to use a bed guard:
- Ensure the bed guard is made to standard BS7972:2001+A1:2009. If it isn’t, don’t use it.
- Only use bed guards made to this standard for children 18months to 5 years.
- Make sure it is fitted exactly to the fitting instructions. If there are no instructions, don’t use it.
- If there’s any doubt about the suitability of the bed guard you’re fitting, don’t use it.
- Always leave 250mm on each side once it’s fitted to avoid strangulation risks from smaller gaps.
If you use a bed guard on an adult bed, there’s a risk the child can fall either side of the guard or even fall climbing over it.
For any sleep surface used for a child under the age of about 4 years, it’s important that the bed is arranged so that the child can’t become wedged between the bed and another object, like the wall or another piece of furniture.
It is not possible to describe every potentially risky setting, but if there is a potential gap into which a small child might wriggle and get stuck, this is something to think about and avoid.
You may want to consider how heavy the toddler bed is – can your child push it away from the wall? Is the mattress very deep creating a deep gap between the mattress and the wall?
Ideally the bed and the mattress are snug against the wall and the bed is not easily moved with little force.
Find more simple ways to keep your child safe from accidents
Sometimes, the choices you’re faced with when it comes to sleep arrangements for your family are far from ideal. You may have limited space, a baby that is ill or won’t settle, multiple children needing you in the night, the list goes on.
When it comes to co-sleeping with your baby the advice from the Lullaby Trust is clear – the safest place for your baby to sleep is in their own clear cot with a firm, flat mattress.
If you need to co-sleep with your baby follow the Lullaby Trust’s co-sleeping advice for practical tips to make co-sleeping safer.
Find more simple ways to keep your child safe from accidents
Every home is different, so it’s not possible to advise on every scenario. If you need specific advice or have special requirements, please speak to your health visitor.
In general terms, toddlers should be able to free themselves from bedding, so co-sleeping becomes safer than it is for babies.
It is important to ensure there are no gaps between your bed and the wall or other heavy furniture that your toddler could become wedged or trapped in.
For general tips on safer co-sleeping check the Lullaby Trust’s co-sleeping advice
Find more simple ways to keep your child safe from accidents