Fan in Toddler's Bedroom - Safety Issue?

Updated on October 12, 2011
H.1. asks from Des Moines, IA
14 answers

Hi Ladies,
I am getting ready to move my son to a toddler bed (he is 17 months old) and realize it has to be very safe in there as he will be able get out of bed and roam his room without our direct supervision. He has always slept with a box fan on for noise, but we always worry about sticking a finger in there and getting injured. How can we keep him safe from this at night time without taking the fan away???

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C.O.

answers from Minneapolis on

Get a sound machine to use instead. They have one at Walmart (near the blow dryer section) that is only about 17 dollars and has a White Noise button that sounds like a fan.

1 mom found this helpful

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A.W.

answers from Kalamazoo on

Put a hook on the celing and hang it up?

2 moms found this helpful
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C.B.

answers from San Francisco on

I think you should install a ceiling fan. Fans are very attractive to small children and they almost can't help but to stick their fingers in there. If you put it up high, you still have the cord which could be pulled on and the fan fall on top of your child while running! No, I would do the ceiling fan!

2 moms found this helpful

M.L.

answers from Houston on

We have an oscillating fan that is really safe. My boys can stick their fingers in there and it wont hurt as bad as the typical box fan. They sell smaller ones you can put on top of a dresser and angle the fan part down to blow on his bed.

I for one, cannot sleep without a fan on, even in the middle of winter. I need the white noise and moving air :)

2 moms found this helpful
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☆.A.

answers from Pittsburgh on

We have O. fan that is like a tall, thin tower--NO blades, & NOWHERE to stick any fingers. Kind of like this O.:

http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/hvac/fans/office/holmes...

My cousin used to work for a moving company and had to be treated for PTS because she was at a home when a little boy stuck his arm into a fan and she saw first hand what happened. No way would I have a conventional bladed fan in a room with a toddler!

1 mom found this helpful
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S.H.

answers from St. Louis on

tower fans work great.....have one running right now for naptime!

ceiling fans are great, too.....but much quieter.

Some nights, we run the attic fan....which is a lot of white noise!

1 mom found this helpful
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L.J.

answers from Louisville on

Ourch! I remember that I put my finger in a slow moving fan when I was little. It must have been just barely and I don't know why I didn't cut off my finger.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.R.

answers from Davenport on

I would say you could still use the same fan - just go to the store and buy some window screen replacement screen on a roll - take the grille off the fan on both sides, put a piece of screen under it and screw it back on. Or get a white noise machine or CD.

For J.w.w. - a great way to clean the dust off ceiling fan blades is to use old pillow cases - put the case over the blade, use it to dust/wipe the dust off and the dust falls into the pillow case, turn to next blade, repeat!

J.✰.

answers from San Antonio on

get a white noise machine.

get small fan to go on top of the dresser instead.

wait and see what happens - does he attempt to put his finger in there when he's awake and in your presence? If not, then he's likely not going to do it when he wakes up and gets out of bed.

M.J.

answers from Minneapolis on

I get the tower fans with grills that are too small to put a finger in, and its a rotating cylinder that doesnt have blades. So not so dangerous or painful. Its same white noise as well and as many posters here I am a person that can not sleep with out moving air. Did you think about installing a ceiling fan? I did that in my babies room, works better usually, and I have a radio on a shelf out of reach that I put on classical or relaxation tapes.

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S.A.

answers from Milwaukee on

We use air purifiers in ours and our kids rooms.Sounds like a fan and has 3 settings, low, medium and loud. We all love it. No blades,so no fingers to worry about.

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J.W.

answers from Washington DC on

I second the ceiling fan suggestion because it's so practical for circulating cooler air during the summer (and warmer air during the winter), even though aesthetically, I hate the way they look and I hate having to figure out how to clean the dust off it. The benefit of our ceiling fan besides better air circulation is it does calm and distract my baby as I slip out of his room during naptime. At Home Depot, we got ours for ~$70 on sale which our landlord reimbursed us for, and my husband was the one who took down the old broken one and installed the new one.

We also have used a white noise machine (Sleep Sheep), but sometimes I wonder if research will find some reason for us to keep it away from babies. (Risks to developing ears???)

Another option we've used is the Dyson bladeless fan. (Sadly, I do have a weakness for such beautifully designed gadgetry.) It's mighty expensive but with a 20% coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond on top of an in-store sale, we didn't blow his entire college fund on a mere fan.

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S.K.

answers from Minneapolis on

Can you place it somewhere higher where he can't reach/pull or hang it on the wall or something? If not, you can buy a white noise machine and get a celing fan.
I wouldn't risk letting a toddler alone with a fan. My son is 17 months as well , so I know they do a lot of things that are unsafe out of curiosity these days.

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M.M.

answers from Washington DC on

Ceiling fans cost as little as $50-$60.
They are not that hard to install.

I never had fans in my kids rooms, except celing fans. They are too dangerous.

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