Let’s Play … Help Me Learn

Help your baby discover her body.

To help her find her feet and hands:

• Put brightly colored or striped socks on her feet.
• Put brightly colored "scrunchies" (like the ones women wear in their hair) or sweatbands around her wrist or ankles.

To help your baby see herself:

• Place her in front of an unbreakable mirror.
• Tap the mirror to draw attention to it.

Safe Playthings

As your infant begins to put things into his mouth, be sure that he has safe things to play with.

Safe playthings:

• Are too large to fit into your baby’s mouth, ear, or nose
• Are light enough so they won’t cause harm if your baby drops them on himself
• Are nontoxic and made of nonbreakable materials — never glass
• Do not have spikes or wires in them and are not sharp
• Do not have pinch points that might catch your baby’s fingers, skin, tongue, or lips.

Begin now to inspect your child’s toys to make sure they are safe. Even at this young age, children can have serious accidents with toys. Infants can partially swallow rattles while sucking on them or by falling on them when rolling over. The rattles can get jammed into the throat, causing the child to choke.

Squeeze toys and other teething toys have also caused babies to choke. Make sure that no part or end of a rattle can fit into your child’s mouth. A baby’s mouth is very flexible and can stretch to hold larger shapes.

To keep your child safe:

• Take all toys out of the crib when your baby sleeps.
• Do not hang pacifiers or toys around your baby's neck and avoid hanging them from long strings above his bed. They can come loose and get tangled around his neck.
• Don’t give plastic bags to your baby as playthings.
• Remove stuffed toy animal eyes and buttons if they are loose or pinned on.
• Remove loose metal squeakers from squeak toys.
• Buy toys that are washable. Children suck and chew on toys, so the toys should be easy to keep clean.
• Regularly check to see that the toys are not broken or about to break.
• Use the safety straps on an infant seat and keep it on the floor, away from steps and other dangers. Your baby is now strong enough to wiggle out of an infant seat and tip it over.