He's In To Everything!! (what do YOU do?)

[JordanKX]

I really should've made this a Poll, because I'm curious how many people 'contain' your mobile babies... or if you just let them get into everything.

Because my DS is everywhere!! :-) He's almost 10 months and has been crawling for about two months. I've baby-proofed the house (removed all supplies up high, removed anything I don't want damaged/broken/dropped/drooled on); safety-proofed everything (cords, plugs, outlets, etc.); he has a special drawer in the kitchen of things he can get in to.I have a gate to the office and to his step-brothers room (more so, because it makes DSS crazy to find baby drool on his toys!).

But pretty-much, I just let him explore. I let him take stuff off the book-shelves and rummage through the bathroom cabinets. I know HE is safe (he can't drop anything heavy), and there's nothing really for him to hurt.

What do you do with your babies on the prowl?

[Pookietooth]

Not mobile yet here but looking for what others do, especially those with older siblings (mine has a tendency to leave his choking hazard toys everywhere).

[Bokonon]

We've babyproofed the living room pretty well, which is where we spend most of our time. DD still tries to "escape" by climbing over whatever barrier we have up to keep her from getting out (we can't put up a gate in that spot), but I try to get out of the house with her A LOT because she's into everything.

DS's toys are mostly in the playroom, and she gets into them, but we keep a close eye on her and try to keep any choking hazards out of there.

It hasn't been easy! DS never got into anything he wasn't supposed to, never put things in his mouth - DD is the total opposite!

[Chamomile Girl]

I'm kinda in-between really. I can only handle the tornado that is my son unleashed for finite periods of time...so we have a gradated containment system.

The safest room is the living room. It is the only room in the house that is almost totally child safe. There is a gate from the LR to the hallway and the doorway to the kitchen is easily blocked. This is also where we keep all his toys...and the lower shelves of the bookshelf are all his.

The kitchen is pretty well childproofed. He has a drawer and a cabinet he can rummage through and play with the contents (tupperware/lids and pots/pans). As of his b-day he has a play kitchen in there too. He likes to slide things around on the floor (and eat whatever crumbs he finds down there...just like a dog, sheesh!). I have the pantry and the laundry room blocked off with babygates.

He is not allowed to crawl around in the master bedroom or the bathroom. The master bedroom is where we have our books and the bathroom is usually just...gross. His bedroom is almost ready to unleash him into, but he has found too many unsafe things in there for me to be fully comfy with it being a place he spends lots of playtime. We're almost there though. Almost.

One issue that we have had is that our house is really small, so its been hard to find places to put things that would be out of his reach. We have gotten rid of a lot of stuff because of this. There just isn't enough room to shuffle things around...especially since we have rats in our backyard "storage" shed.

The other issue is that my kid loves to create chaos. He's a pull-all-the-books-off-the-shelf, unroll-all-the-paper-towels, stick-his-fingers-in-the-fan, pound-his-fists-on-the-china-cabinet-glass kind of guy. One of the reasons I don't let him loose in his bedroom is that he loves to open all the drawers of his dresser and pull out ALL the clothes into a giant floorpile. Same with the too-large clothes we keep in his toychest. He does this with a gleam in his eye and a huge smile on his face. Then he moves onto the next thing (like trying to pull the curtains down onto his cute little fool head). Constant. Motion.

Its exhausting. I would almost look forward to him being able to walk so I could let him loose in the backyard, except I don't know if childproofing that is even feasible. We are constantly finding huge shards of glass, rusty nails, old bones and other dangerous/interesting stuff on the ground (we livei n a historical district...so some of this stuff is really old.)

[JordanKX]

Originally Posted by Chamomile Girl

I would almost look forward to him being able to walk so I could let him loose in the backyard, except I don't know if childproofing that is even feasible. We are constantly finding huge shards of glass, rusty nails, old bones and other dangerous/interesting stuff on the ground

Yeah, the backyard is completely off limits. I'm not sure what we're going to do in the future. DP always has "projects" going, which we're going to have to find One Place for said projects (like the garage). But still, 1/2 our yard is this teeny bark which gives me splinters like mad... I can only imagine if the baby were to crawl off the grass. (It's a new house, so we haven't fully made the landscaping "ours" yet). We have our work cut out for us before next summer. This summer he stays on the grass, just feet away from me. Most outdoor stuff we do is Not at home.

[cristeen]

I let him, for the most part. During the day, I keep the office door locked, and a gate on the kitchen door so he has free rein of the LR, DR and his bedroom, for the most part (except for the litter box area, of course). I keep an eye on him, because there are certain things I don't want him breaking (like the crates of homebrew or my harp) or destroying (like my cookbooks) - but I have other things right there to distract him with (gallon jugs of vinegar are fascinating, apparently; and old magazines are almost as much fun to tear up as books).

Now, when I have to go into the kitchen, I either carry him (if I'm just getting a drink or a snack), or lock him on his side of the gate if I need 2 hands (he can see me, but he doesn't like it). If he's being really needy I'll put him on the floor of the kitchen, but that's not safe for more than a minute or so - he's too quick. If I have to pee, then he comes with and I put him on the floor in the bathroom - he hasn't shown any interest in the bathroom cabinets, but loves the toilet paper. Or he'll crawl out of the bathroom into the mudroom and trash whatever he finds there.

A source of endless fascination to him is the big box of packing peanuts. I just have to keep an eye on him because he likes to eat them.

[carmel23]

Originally Posted by Pookietooth

Not mobile yet here but looking for what others do, especially those with older siblings (mine has a tendency to leave his choking hazard toys everywhere).

My youngest is 3, and so far so good with mobile baby + kids with small toys. I ask them to be toy cops, and just make sure he doesn't get anything. They're pretty good. If I really can't pay attention, I put the baby on my back and then the living room is a safe place for him--no small toys or anything he can't have is allowed on the living room floor. But they don't really want him rampaging their stuff, so they don't really leave ti there anyway.

So have a carrier, have a safe room/space for baby, and then watch baby. I am a fan of baby gates for places where baby absolutely cannot go--some houses its the kitchen, in our house it is down the hall into the big kids' room. But otherwise, he can really go anywhere (my room, his room, living room, kitchen, dining area...

[tjjazzy]

we have gates blocking the little man off in the "safe" area of our downstairs: the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, and the playroom are all wide open to him. lots of room to play outside, our yard is fenced in. in his room, he sleeps in a playpen and in our room, i gate him in and have toys for him to play with. in the playroom, our older son's toys are in a closet that the littler guy can't open (yet.) there's a latch at the top of the screen door b/c he can open it and latches on any cupboards we don't want him to get into in the kitchen. other than that, he's good to go.

[kismetbaby]

We have issues with this also. . .DS is crawling and pulling up like a fiend now. And he recently discovered that drawers and cabinets open, fantastic fun for him, but an endless source of mess and worry for me. We've basically been childproofing as necessary-- i.e. I just bought cabinet locks (although I only plan to lock two of them--put the dangerous stuff in those two and let him explore the others). Although I am very worried about him closing his fingers in the bedroom drawers. I now have to close the bathroom door and often close the office door too. If either the front or back door get left open he guns for it. . .so we have to watch that also. We did get rid of our coffee table entirely and so the LV is a pretty safe space for him, but I can't do much about the bookshelves or the fireplace. So far we have no baby gates. His bed is a mattress on the floor of our bedroom, so that is the hardest space.. .he obviously needs to be in there, but it is so hard to babyproof--the fan, the drawers, the closet doors, the space under our bed. Agh.

But we just have too small a house (really, its small) to block off areas or to move all the non-child-friendly stuff to a separate space. But on the plus side the house is so small that its hard for him to be out of sight. It is exhausting though to be so constantly vigilant. I am trying to teach him "yucky" and "hot", but so far he still wants to eat everything he can get his hands on. Our backyard is problematic too. Sigh. I think once he can walk and stops putting everything in his mouth it will be a lot easier.

He's a constant motion kid too. . .very, very curious. .. about everything. I'm sure this is a good thing, but man is it hard on mama.

[mamadelbosque]

I have gates up so that I can contain ds2 in one room or another, but otherwise he has free-reign. I just don't enjoy having to literally chase after him all day long. If you love it, whatever. Its just not for me.

[bcblondie]

I think in between is the way to go. I want to let him explore, but I'm not going to leave a coffee on the edge of the table for him to learn on his own that it'll burn you. (He already did that once )

[lalemma]

We're facing this, too.

We just moved into a new place, and it has a great room-type layout: the kitchen/dining/living space is essentially all the same area. So I think what we're doing with Mr. Scootsalot is not putting anything breakable/dangerous in the main area and gating off the kitchen in its entirety. So he'll have the roam of the living space and the family bedroom, with the kitchen/bathroom and office gated off.

I hope this works - having a mobile, everything-goes-in-the-mouth baby is kind of exhausting. This morning I caught him mouthing the threshold, which was a hazard I hadn't anticipated.

I have a question for experienced baby-proofers: we live in SoCal and tend to keep doors and windows open. This morning I noticed that it's possible for him to scoot behind the open main door - I think he could potentially get his fingers or toes caught in the crack (does that make sense?) - I don't know how to handle this. Should I cordon off the entire area?

[Chamomile Girl]

Originally Posted by lalemma

I have a question for experienced baby-proofers: we live in SoCal and tend to keep doors and windows open. This morning I noticed that it's possible for him to scoot behind the open main door - I think he could potentially get his fingers or toes caught in the crack (does that make sense?) - I don't know how to handle this. Should I cordon off the entire area?

Can you prop the door open with something so he cannot get behind it? We use the folded-up pack and play for this.

[leam811]

Our house is old, big, and continually under some sort of construction. Many walls have been removed, so lots of open space. Not many closeable doors. Not many potential gate locations. So, I have to follow her around. Or get her set up close by and in sight with a bunch of fun noisy stuff to mess with. And even then she'll crawl a few feet to the exposed joist along the door frame and stick her fingers in an ancient crevice filled with grit. Awesome.

I bought plug covers, but some of our outlets still don't even have plates on them, waiting for trim to get painted. So, covering the plugs doesn't really address the whole problem.

So yeah, the chase. But, I WOH and so the time I have to be with her/chase her around is pretty limited, and I don't mind it. But I can imagine if we SAH that I'd take her out a lot, or buy some sort of corral for inside!

What if you could train a sheep dog to keep babies out of trouble? You know, like a seeing-eye dog, except, a seeing-choking-hazards dog?

[JordanKX]

Originally Posted by bcblondie

I think in between is the way to go. I want to let him explore, but I'm not going to leave a coffee on the edge of the table for him to learn on his own that it'll burn you. (He already did that once )

This is me, but naively, maybe. I'm not going to leave anything exposed or dangerous out there. But I also met my DSS at 18mos and he was either not that curious, or past the stage of scariness... so I know he WILL grow out of it (all kids are different, blah blah).

Today my DS discovered water in the toilet. That I'd just bleached the toilet was Great, but also YECH because of the bleach. So bathroom must be off-limits. If it's not a clean toilet, he'll unroll the TP.

Since I wrote the OP, he's discovered the plants. And that brings a whole new thing because while we have some plants on furniture he could never pull-over, we have some on stands. He was Just About to pull one over today (and these are not tiny plants...these would hurt coming down on him)... so I grabbed all 3 and put them outside. Hope they enjoy the heat. Cause I don't have any more furniture in the house, and he Wants them. Badly.