Really mobile at a young age- how do you deal?

[DevaMajka]

How do you deal with babies who are really mobile at a young age? It might not be "really early" but ds2 is mobile much earlier than ds1 was this mobile, and I always thought ds1 was average in terms of mobility.

He's 7 mos old, and can crawl anywhere, rather quickly if he's motivated. He pulls himself to standing on anything, even things that aren't sturdy - then they tip with his weight. We are mostly baby proofed, but there are little things he can still get into, like the recycling in the kitchen.
As it is now, it's doable. But I can just tell that he's going to get more curious and more into things. And better able to get places he shouldn't be. lol
Plus, I don't think my cupboards are lockable. There are no knobs, and they don't shut securely.

Is the best thing to do just babyproof everything, completely? Can babies this young learn what's ok and what isn't (in a gentle way, obviously)?

We have a toy tote that he's pulled himself up on a couple times, and it tipped and he fell. He stopped doing it, so he must have learned, but letting him fall isn't really an option, kwim? lol

[elmh23]

We babyproofed everything really well, put anything they could tip into storage and tried to watch them as much as possible (easier with my first than my second.) Dd was crawling at 5 months and cruising a week later. She was really fast within a day or so. Ds was crawling at 3 months, got fast around 4 months, and also started cruising at 4 months. He was the one that was harder because he started climbing by 5 months so nothing was safe anymore and we had to watch him ALL THE TIME! If not, he'd be climbing the shelves. It's only been in the last couple months we've had a coffee table again.

[lifeguard]

Ds moved really young & I found I had to just babyproof everything 'cause he really didn't understand & it's irritating to spend the whole day redirecting them.

[hakeber]

My son was active like that at that age, and it coincided with exam time at the school I worked for, which meant lots of running around while trying to mark 160 essay exams. We baby proofed as much as we could, and he bumped and bruised himself a lot too.

I got those inside cupboard locks the kind that catch from the inside and you have to reach in and press down, but he figured it our pretty fast rendering them useless, so we just moved all dangerous objects up high.

When I really had to concentrate on something or couldn't give him 100% of my attention for some reason I sectioned off a safe part of the house with baby gates and played Einstein videos for him. Not my best parenting moments, sure, but better than letting him pull the bookcase down on himself or letting him swallow laudry soap because I had to take an important call.

[Madalyn]

I know exactly how you feel right down to the recycling lol. That and the dog food/water bowls are the first things my son flies too when he's in the kitchen! I don't even know how I can baby proof dog bowls?! I keep our kitchen doors shut 99% of the time but if it's cracked for the dog to get in you can bet 15 seconds later I'm prying dog kibble from his hands or washing them after he's decided to play in the water bowl. *facepalm*

[DevaMajka]

Yep- the dog food bowl! Ds1 was ALWAYS into the dog food bowl. lol. Ds2 was into it a lot too, until I moved it to the "non baby" section of the living room. That's only gated off with a superyard type fence, so it's only a matter of time before he figures out that he can just push it open.

When ds1 was a year old, he was halfway decent at not touching stuff that he wasn't allowed to play with (or at least waiting until dp or I could help him explore it). Hopefully ds2 will be "teachable" by then too!

[Norasmomma]

My DD was like that too, she started crawling and cruising at 6.5 months. We built safe zones, strapped stuff to the walls and DH made gates. I'm thinking things will be different with DS, but he is rolling already and is being almost identical to his sister, my babies don't want to be babies for long.