Safety first, clean clothes never. Here's how to baby proof your life.

But jokes aside, this is serious stuff. Every year, 280 Australian children die as a result of injury. For every child who dies from an injury, 5000 need medical attention.

Get in early, before your baby arrives, and make your home and car as safe as possible. Here’s a handy guide.

1. The whole house.

• Make sure your home has an electrical safety switch, to minimise the risk of electric shock. Some older homes might not have them.
• Curtains or blinds with loose or looped cords are a strangulation hazard. You can get kits to keep cords out of the way.
• Stick plug-in covers on power points to stop kids poking things into them.
• Glass in windows, doors and furniture can be replaced with safety glass or covered with safety film.
• If you have windows above the ground floor, use locks or latches to make sure they can’t be opened any more than 12.5cm. Flyscreens don’t offer enough protection.
• Install safety gates at the top and bottom of stairs.

2. The kitchen.

• Store all dangerous things – knives, glass and china, cleaning products, heavy pans, plastic bags, vitamins, etc – out of children’s reach. Buy childproof latches for lower cupboards. It’s a good idea to have one unlatched cupboard full of things that are fine for kids to play with, like plastic bowls and ladles.
• With cleaning products, throw away any you don’t really need and consider using ones that are more child-friendly, such as vinegar.

• Make sure appliances like toasters are pushed back to the wall and unplugged, with no cords hanging down.
• Think about installing a stove guard to stop your child reaching up to pans and hotplates.
• If you’re worried about your child getting into your rubbish bin, you might want to switch to a small one kept next to the kitchen sink or inside a cupboard.

3. The bathroom.

• Talk to your plumber about getting the hot water limited to a maximum of 50°C. This will massively reduce the risk of scalding.
• Buy a non-slip mat for the bathtub.
• Use a bath thermometer to make sure the water in your child’s bath is 37°C or 38°C.
• Keep dangerous objects – nail clippers, razors, shampoos, medicines, etc – out of reach or in a cupboard with a childproof latch. Always move hairdryers and hair straighteners out of reach as soon as you finish using them.
• If you’re worried that the bathroom has just too many dangers for your child, think about installing a hook-and-eye latch up high on the outside of the door.

4. The living room.

• Make sure any furniture that kids could climb or pull down on themselves is bolted to walls. TVs should be attached to walls or pushed as far back as possible.
• Polished wooden floors aren’t very child-friendly. Think about getting a rug with a non-slip underlay.
• If you have a coffee table with sharp edges, you can put corner protectors on it. Or you might just want to swap it for something softer, like an ottoman.
• Put ornaments up high or pack them away till the kids are bigger.
• Keep any items containing button batteries, such as remote controls, out of reach.

5. The car.

• Choosing the right car seat for your child is really important. Babies need a rear-facing baby capsule or convertible car seat, because they have relatively big heads and weak necks, and a rear-facing restraint will support them in an accident. They should stay in the rear-facing restraint for as long as they can fit. The Britax Safe-n-Sound Unity ISOFIX has the highest shoulder height markers, meaning children can stay in it for longer. It is Australia’s only infant carrier suitable for a child up to approximately 12 months.
• Make sure that the car seat meets the most recent Australian safety standards. This is especially important if you’re hiring one that’s not brand-new.

• Do your research before hiring a baby capsule. You should never hire one that has been involved in a car accident or is more than 10 years old, and you should always inspect it thoroughly for cracks or frayed straps. Although hiring a capsule could be cheaper, buying a convertible car seat – which can be turned from rear-facing to forward-facing – might end up being a better option. The Safe-n-Sound Platinum SICT ISOFIX is Britax’s safest convertible car seat, while the Safe-n-Sound Meridian SICT is the most popular. They’re both suitable for children from birth to four years.
• If you are unsure, get the car seat installed by professionals. It’s estimated that 70 per cent of children are incorrectly restrained.

How have you baby-proofed your life?

Just in case you missed it, here are some of the (very) best from the Instagram account @kidsaretheworst: