Baby-proofing advice needed

[aaiya]

Originally Posted by MarchMama2010 I found that it was easiest to focus most of our baby-proofing energy on one room where I could plop my kid(s) when I needed to get something done. Remove everything sharp, anything that could tip over, anything breakable, etc. Neither of my kids showed any interest in electrical outlets until we stuffed those safety plugs in them, and then they were suddenly the coolest. thing. ever. The outlet plates that have the covers that you shave to slide over before you can plug something in worked much better for us. But yes, you definitely need to do *some* baby-proofing because it's nearly impossible to stay sane if you have to keep your eyes directly on your kid 24/7.

I agree entirely. I HATE those little outlet plugs (always seemed like a choking hazard to me if you forget to put them back in after vacuuming or something). But then again, we only have a handful of exposed outlets...and my two kids haven't been terribly interested in them. I did get some of the slide covers (like these http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/...mSource=Search) for the few outlets that seem to draw their attention. Honestly, I'm not too worried about them trying to plug things in to outlets (an important skill, I think) and I just make sure I don't leave bobby pins or random pieces of wire or metal utensils laying on the floor where an experimental baby could pick them up and go sticking them into holes.

We actually used a giant piece of cardboard to make a gate between our living room and dining room (big archway that no reasonably priced gate could span). That way, I had one space that the kid could roam (mostly) free and I didn't have to baby-proof the whole house at once...pretty sure that would have sent me over the edge.