babyproofing with an older sibling around

[DevaMajka]

If you have older dc's around, how do you babyproof for the baby?

Ds2 is 5 mos, and is starting to get mobile- he can get a few feet to reach something, and is already getting up on his hands and knees. Oh, and he puts *everything* in his mouth

Without another dc, it would be much easier to just keep every single choking hazard out of the living room. (We'll gate off the living room as a baby safe room, but he'll still be in other rooms at some point. The only off limits room will be ds1's room). But I'd like ds1 to have some stuff in the living room as well.
How do you go about this? Ds1 is 5yo, so it's not like he plays with a lot of stuff that's ok for the 3 and under crowd. What types of toys do you leave in the "public space" for your older dc's? I thought about puzzles and books. That might be ok.

[xelakann]

[EmmaJane]

Originally Posted by xelakann

Me too! We're going to try to make the kitchen the baby-safe room -- but am not anticipating a smooth transition with DD1 (4)...

[monkaha]

We have had lots of talk, starting when the baby was a newborn, about what kinds of toys babies can have and how little stuff needs to be kept in their rooms or up out of baby's reach. It's been pretty much a constant conversation, and seems to work really well. There have, of course, been superballs forgotten in the living room, star wars guys with removable helmets in the family room, and markers here and there, but mostly, big kid stuff stays in the big kids' rooms and baby-safe toys are out in the living/family rooms.

In our house, there is no way to just block off a room except for the bedrooms. And the big kids still enjoy the baby's toys, so I don't feel like I've locked them in their rooms to play all the time.

[dawncayden]

I've been keeping ds1's stuff in part of the livingroom and ds2's stuff in another part.
If legos or small objects are played with, we need to be careful with all pieces.

The older one knows (mostly) what the baby can play with, and can't play with, so he helps me.

[JL83]

I"m planning to do what my sisters have done. They kept out "safe" versions of big kid toys in the main parts of the house. So they didn't put away Duplo when their older kids were ready for lego, they left it out.

Then all "choke-able" toys were in the older kid's room (in one case) and in a special big kid playroom (extra bedroom) in the other. Any small toys found in the main part of the house were confiscated for some preset length of time.

In our case there will be craft supplies in the main area of the house, but out of reach of all children. So she can always do crafts if she wants to play with big kid stuff around the new baby. Then her room, on the second floor, will have her dollhouse and her lego.