Before you know it, your baby will be highly mobile--and into everything. That's why it's a good idea to make your home a safety zone well before your baby starts crawling. Besides taking such common-sense measures as locking up guns and keeping matches and hazardous chemicals out of reach, installing special childproofing equipment early on is a prudent step. (You'll have time to get acquainted with it before it has to do its job.) Many of the accidents that injure or kill more than 2.5 million children age 4 and under in the United States each year could be prevented if adults took time to safeguard their homes.

You can childproof your home yourself or hire a childproofing service. Either way, you'll want to keep the preventive measures we outline in place until they're no longer needed or effective. For instance, a safety gate's useful life ends when the child is about age 2 or big enough to climb over it. And a toilet lock probably won't be necessary beyond 3. Other measures, such as having locks on cabinets to thwart access to off-limits items, may not be needed when your child shows some judgment, maybe by age 4 or 5. And then again, much of the basic safety advice we mention will kick in when your child is a toddler and will remain relevant well past the preschool years. But childproofing isn't something you do once and then you're done. It's a constant process, especially when your baby becomes a toddler. In fact, a study in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) showed that childhood injuries peaked at 15 to 17 months of age.

Still, it's not realistic to be vigilant every single moment. "You're human. You will get distracted," says Robert Sege, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston. Instead, think one step ahead and try to minimize the dangers in your child's environment. The room-by-room guide that follows can make your home safer--for your child and for you.

CLEANERS IN BEVERAGE-TYPE BOTTLES ARE A POTENTIAL HAZARD Some all-purpose cleaners sold in clear, beverage-style bottles are orange, blue, green, or purple and even smell fruity. It's easy for young children to mistake them for fruit juice, and unfortunately these cleaners don't have child-resistant caps, nor are they required to have them. So use locks or safety latches, and lock up cleaners, detergent, bleach, and other harmful products. Keep all chemicals in their original containers; never transfer them to soda bottles or other beverage containers. Labels often give important first-aid information.