Child Safety Raising Children Network: the free, ad-free parenting site that answers safety questions at 2am
Raising Children Network is Australia's government-funded parenting website. What its safety section covers for babies and toddlers, the picture guides for CPR and choking, the guides in other languages, and how to find what you need fast.
Is the bath too hot? Is that toy small enough to choke on? Does the second-hand cot you were offered still pass? Most safety questions turn up at odd hours, with a baby on one arm and a phone in the other hand.
Raising Children Network is where to look. It is free, it carries no advertising, and real experts check every page.
What it is
Raising Children Network is Australia's parenting website. The Australian Government funds it, and it is run by the Parenting Research Centre and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute with The Royal Children's Hospital Centre for Community Child Health in Melbourne.
It calls itself free, independent and non-commercial. Nobody pays to be on it and it sells you nothing. Each page ends with who last reviewed it and when. The baby CPR guide, for example, was last checked in December 2024 by a paediatric emergency doctor at The Royal Children's Hospital.
It covers pregnancy to teens. This post is about the part most parents of little ones need: safety.
What the safety section covers
Pick your child's age (newborn, baby, toddler, preschooler) and go to Safety. For babies you'll find:
- CPR and first aid. Baby CPR and choking first aid as step-by-step picture guides, each with a printable version for the fridge.
- Home safety. A whole-house child-proofing guide, room by room, with links to every hazard: falls, burns and scalds, poisons, blind cords, button batteries, small strong magnets, jammed fingers, things stuck in noses and ears.
- Safe equipment and furniture. What to buy, borrow or hire for a new baby, and how to check cots, portacots, mattresses, highchairs, prams, gates and baby carriers against the Australian Standards.
- Bath and water safety. Watching your child in the bath until they're at least five, a safe bath temperature of 37 to 38°C, pools, beaches and dams.
- Airways, choking and strangulation. How to keep a baby's airway open in sleep, the car, the pram and the carrier, with a short animation. Anything smaller than a 20-cent coin is a choking hazard.
- Dogs and children. Close supervision around the family dog, and how to stop bites before they happen.
The toddler section adds CPR for children, first aid for sprains and breaks, and outdoor safety as your child starts climbing and running.
Why it is worth bookmarking
Search engines will send you to shops, forums and overseas sites with rules that don't apply here. Raising Children is written for Australian families, follows Australian first aid guidelines and Australian Standards, and lists its references at the end of its guides.
The picture guides are the best bit. When your hands are full and you're frightened, a numbered set of pictures is easier to follow than a page of text.
In other languages
Raising Children has articles, videos and picture guides in 19 languages and in Auslan, including Arabic, Burmese, Dari, Dinka, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin, Simplified Chinese, Swahili, Tamil and Vietnamese. If a grandparent or carer reads another language better than English, send them the page in theirs.
What it costs
Nothing. No account, no app to download. There are free email newsletters, from pregnancy to the teen years, if you want them.
How to use it
- Go to raisingchildren.net.au.
- Choose your child's age from the top menu: Newborns, Babies, Toddlers or Preschoolers.
- Tap Safety. Everything for that age sits on one page, grouped by topic.
- Open the CPR and choking picture guides now, while things are calm. Tap Download printable version and stick them on the fridge.
- Use the search bar for anything else.
What it is not
It is not a first aid course. Raising Children says so on its own picture guides: reading them is no substitute for training. Do a hands-on class too:
- St John WA's Tiny Tots First Aid
- Heart Beat Club in person
- First Aid for New Parents, free online in 15 minutes
It is not an emergency service either. If your child is hurt, unwell or has swallowed something:
- 000 for an ambulance
- 13 11 26 for the Poisons Information Centre
- 1800 022 222 for a nurse at healthdirect
Sources
- Raising Children Network: About us (free, independent, non-commercial, funded by the Australian Government, member organisations)
- Raising Children Network: Babies safety (CPR, home safety, equipment, bath temperature 37 to 38°C, supervision to age 5, 20-cent coin choking hazard)
- Raising Children Network: Toddlers safety (CPR for children, RICER first aid)
- Raising Children Network: Home safety for babies and kids
- Raising Children Network: CPR for babies under 12 months, in pictures (printable version, reviewer, last reviewed 20 December 2024)
- Raising Children Network: Languages other than English