--- title: "A Child Locked Inside: What to Do in the First Five Minutes" description: "A toddler has turned the lock, or the door has shut with a baby inside. When to ring 112, when to ring a locksmith, and how to keep the child calm through the door." url: "https://locksmithibi.es/blog/a-child-locked-inside-the-first-five-minutes/" business: "Locksmith Ibi" --- # A small child on the other side of the door A toddler has turned the key or the thumb-turn, or the door has swung shut with a baby in the cot. When to ring 112, when to ring a locksmith, and how to keep a child calm through a closed door. 23 October 2026 · 4 min read It happens more often than parents admit. A toddler finds the thumb-turn on the inside of the front door, or the key left in it. A gust of wind closes the door with a baby asleep inside and the keys on the hall table. A child locks the bathroom from the inside and cannot work out how to undo it. ## Minute one: is anybody in danger? Ring **112** straight away if: - the child is very young and alone, or cannot be heard or seen; - there is a cooker, a bath, a heater, a window or medicine within reach; - the child is distressed, unwell or not answering; - it is a car, on a warm day. 112 can send the emergency services, who will force a door if they have to. A locksmith is the right call when nobody is at risk and the aim is to open the door without breaking it. ## Minutes two to five: keep talking - Stay by the door and keep your voice calm. Talk, sing, tell them what you are doing. - If the child can reach the lock, try simple instructions: “turn the little handle the other way”. If they cannot manage it after a couple of tries, stop asking; frustration makes it worse. - Do not let them try to climb out of a window. - Send somebody else to make the calls while you stay at the door. ## When you ring a locksmith Say straight away that a child is inside, and how old. Say what kind of door it is and how it closed: a door that swung shut on its latch is usually opened in minutes and without a mark, while a door locked with the key takes longer. Describe the address precisely; in a block, the floor and the door letter, and whether the street door is open. [How each kind of door is opened](https://locksmithibi.es/door-opening-ibi/), and [what happens on an emergency call](https://locksmithibi.es/emergency-locksmith-ibi/). ## A car is different Children and animals in a closed car are at risk much sooner than in a house, especially in the sun. Ring 112 first. Then a locksmith for the door: [opening a locked car](https://locksmithibi.es/car-lockout-ibi/). ## Afterwards Take the key out of the inside of the front door, and think about a bathroom lock that opens from outside with a coin. Small changes, and it will probably never happen again. No danger, but the door will not open? Most doors that only swung shut are opened through the latch, without damage. [Door opening in Ibi, through the latch before anything else](https://locksmithibi.es/door-opening-ibi/) Two more from the same town - [The car is locked at Sant Pasqual, with the keys inside](https://locksmithibi.es/blog/keys-locked-in-the-car-at-sant-pasqual/) · 4 min - [Shut out of the rented flat, with a meeting at eight](https://locksmithibi.es/blog/locked-out-of-a-rented-flat-on-a-work-trip/) · 5 min - [All the guides for Ibi](https://locksmithibi.es/blog/) ## Quicker to ring than to read on? Ring, or send the lock and your location on WhatsApp. Open 24 hours · 7 days [+34 678 583 290](tel:+34678583290) [WhatsApp](https://wa.me/34678583290?text=Hi%2C%20I%20need%20a%20locksmith%20in%20Ibi.%20Where%20I%20am%20(street%2C%20barrio%2C%20the%20partida%20or%20the%20industrial%20estate)%20and%20what%20has%20happened%3A)