mobile babes & plants

[octobermoon]

we have a few plants that DS will be getting into very shortly as he is almost crawling. two of these are quite large, on or near the floor and easily tipped over. i'm not sure what to do. we live in the city so plants indoors are necessary for better air quality however not at the expense of our son of course! from what i can tell the plant saps are poisonous at a 3-4 level, so to me a definite concern. not only that but they could topple over on him. i will be able to put them outside for the summer but will have to bring them back in during the fall before the frost. what would you do? would you get rid of them or what? please advise. thanks.

[Asparagus78]

I would first make sure they are not toxic, just to be on the safe side in case your LO did eat a leaf of two... Whatever is toxic would get tossed or put way up.

Speaking from experience with DS1 and a house full of (non-toxic) plants, we always allowed him to dig through the dirt and even rip off some leaves. The novelty wore off pretty quickly and he left them alone. DS2 is just starting to crawl and he makes for them as soon as he's put down on the floor. We'll see how that tactic works...

[Icehockey18]

I agree with pp, if they are toxic, toss them. If not then keep them! For plants that could topple, I just put up a small baracade while I don't feel like being on disaster duty. But I do let him explore the plants if I can be near enough to avoid a bad tumble. For the more sturdy plants I let ds play and pull at, and like the pp said, the novelty does wear off. Ds hasn't tried to dig in the dirt yet, but I'm sure I would let him if he tried! He loves the dirt outside though

[hildare]

i disagree! i am not tossing any of my indoor plants. some of them i have had for years, some of them from my father's funeral. i've worked hard for those planties, and they're not going anywhere.
however, we have a "plant room." we are looking to babyproof this week, and move everything up higher, but it might be easier if you have a good spot to put all of them together. they can get placed around the house once your little taster is no longer so interested in exploring the world through tasting.
maybe shelving, or those temporary window shelves, depending on the size of the not so big plants will work for you? or a baker's rack turned backwards in front of a window for the big ones-- you can put them on the bottom shelf.
i've been brainstorming possibilities for us, too, but i think we're just going to do a baby gate and confine the plants for now. or.. if anyone gave you a pack and play or play yard you don't use, you could put the plants in it rather than the baby!!