Baby-proofing advice needed

[Meganeliz9]

And thanks for reminding me about securing furniture to the walls...

[dncegrl]

I covered up the outlets-ds1 never had any interest but ds2 is very interested in the outlets.
Put up a baby gate blocking the way from the living room to the kitchen.
Keep all doors shut especially the bathroom.
Put the baby locks on the cabinets.

I don't have any stairs but would def put up gates before baby was mobile.

[luvsviola]

We actually kept our stairs gate even when we didn't have any crawling babies. For awhile it was just newborn DD2 and 4 year old DD1, but our 4 year old sometimes was disoriented when it is dark, and it kept her safe in the middle of the night.

[jam's mum]

FYI, if you have an Ikea close by, they have a kind of one stop shop for safety stuff in their 'Ikea family' section - furniture boltish things, cabinet thingies, corner softening stick-on thingies, electrical outlet plugs, etc.

[DottieHarley]

We are pretty laid back but these things were useful-

- we put in outlet covers, just the super cheapies. DD has never shown any interest, she would much rather use her fork to get food :-). No need to buy the pricey ones right away.
- gate at the top of the steps was crucial, bottom not so much. However, my cousins kids came over before DD was fully mobile... Immediately ran up the steps and fell all the way down!
- they will be able to reach cabinet drawers etc before you know it.
- make sure you know where your bathroom keys are - you know the funny stick-looking thing? DD was about 16 mos when she toddled into the bathroom - dH thought no biggie, there is literally nothing for her to get, right? Well, she slammed the door shut and somehow locked it, locking herself alone in the dark ;-(. Dh later found the key. IN the bathroom. Bad idea!

[kanga1622]

We covered outlets and locked the basement door so DS could not open it. We put away all the breakables into our basement storage area. All blind cords got wrapped around the top of the blinds so we have a hard time working them but no kid could reach it.

We moved all meds and chemicals either way up high (I almost can't reach even on a step stool) or locked them away in our basement storage.

DS figured out the cabinet locks the day they were installed and figured out the doorknob covers within a matter of days.

Some kids have totally different needs for baby proofing. Some are extremely curious and some leave everything alone. I think your basic common sense ideas are a great place to start and then your baby will let you know what else needs to be done.

Sent from my iPod touch using DS Forum

[neuro_mom]

Originally Posted by Meganeliz9 Can't I just bubble paper the house?!

It might be easier to bubble paper your lo.

Just kidding

[DottieHarley]

Oddly enough, one of my bosses mentions (regularly) that when his kids were little he once went to Sams or etc, and got a bunch of tp. Got a lot of funny looks loading it all in the car.
Took it home and built a fence for LO out of it. In front of every potential hazard, he just piled up TP.
I guess maybe his wife was away?
He mentioned this to me EVERY DAY while I was pg.

[sisu]

Originally Posted by DottieHarley Oddly enough, one of my bosses mentions (regularly) that when his kids were little he once went to Sams or etc, and got a bunch of tp. Got a lot of funny looks loading it all in the car. Took it home and built a fence for LO out of it. In front of every potential hazard, he just piled up TP. I guess maybe his wife was away? He mentioned this to me EVERY DAY while I was pg.

This sounds like something my husband would do.

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.

[RunawayBunny]

We super proofed one room and did all the things you mentioned for the rest of the house. I wanted one room where baby could play, pull things down, explore and I wouldnt have to constantly say "no". Sure, I was still there supervising, but I didnt have to be right on top of him.