how/ what/ when will you childproof?

[jsh7809]

This is our first baby, and she's not crawling yet but is definitely interested, and already wants to grab everything she can reach. Yikes! Our house is definitely not baby friendly yet, and my friends' older babes coming over have me nervous. So, any recommendations for what, how, when, how much to start childproofing? Obviously we'll keep the knives and poisons out of reach but what about non-dangerous stuff? Anyone just let the babies explore and keep picking up after them? Or is it best to have everything out of reach/ off limits?

Would love to hear some different perspectives.

[P.J.]

My DS is almost 4 months and we need to start childproofing soon, as he can already commando crawl and puts everything into his mouth. What we're going to do is get one of those gates that goes in the doorway, and do one room at a time.
Here is an article about childproofing for more specific ideas.
As for your friends with older babies, we've had the same situation and the way I see it, it's their responsibility to look after their baby. We had friends with babies long before I was ever pregnant, and I didn't feel the need to babyproof my house just for a visit then, nor do I now. What I do is a quick sweep of the rooms we'll be in before they arrive and take up the big stuff they would get into, but other than that it's the mama's job to keep her LO out of trouble, just as I do w/my DS when we go out or to other people's houses.

[jenfl]

Hi, Jess! It's going to depend a lot on S's personality. Nugget never really tore apart our house. We did the usual stuff -- cover outlets, make wires inaccessible, secure cabinets with chemicals, stuff like that -- but other than that, just normal supervision kept her from destroying things. She wasn't big on pulling things down or tearing things up and was easily distracted from troublesome behavior.

Now, with Sprout, it'll be different. He's showing signs of getting into things more, plus we have to deal with the tiny toys Nugget plays with. We haven't done anything so far except put him down in safe areas, but as soon as he gets his stomach off the floor and starts rocking back and forth, we'll be making sure all the outlets are covered, moving the Legos into Nugget's room, etc.

[ann_of_loxley]

DS1 - we didn't childproof anything. We didn't need to. Some things were slightly annoying, but thats life - or at least that is how I saw it then. Sure, he empties everything in the bathroom drawers and throws it down the stairs - but it only ever took me a few minutes to clean up and as a reward, I got an extra half hour sleep in! Sure - he takes out all the pots and pans, but at least I can cook us a meal whilst he did that! hehe... Nothing was ever dangerous and he was very late to actually move so by then I could show him how to do it safely.

DS2 on the other hand ...think he will be on the move sooner. So we will just have to take it one day at a time. But whilst he may be on the move sooner - he is also more attached so it may be that he is physically able to do something but stays pretty near me anyhow which would be a benefit (safety wise!).

My motto then (and now really) is...'will it kill him?'....if the answer is 'yes', do something about it! If the answer it 'well, no...it might not be pleasant but he will learn'....then leave it! lmao

[ann_of_loxley]

Then get a sign that says this

[holliebug]

We put a gate at the bottom of the stairs (the stairs are in our living room), covered the outlets, and put a lock on the cupboard under the sink.
This is all we have needed to do so far, other than vacuum all the time! I swear this kid will try to eat the tiniest thing!
Otherwise I let him have at it, and remove items when needed.

[PoetryLover]

My son is 7 1.2 months old. He isn't crawling, but he has begun rocking back and forth on his knees and getting around a bit more. (He gets to the other side of the living room by rolling!) I covered the outlets and still need to secure the wires. I guess there's something that's supposed to cover the wires?

He has gotten the alarm clock and night light that we keep on the headboard, so we will be moving those things. And we'll be securing the bathroom and kitchen sink cabinets.

I'm interested in what people do with things like pet food. We keep dry food and water out all the time for our cats and so far DS has not gotten into it. Also, the litter box is currently in the what we call the cold room (because in the winter things literally freeze in there). But as it gets colder, we'll have to put the litter box in the bathroom. I thought of putting up a child gate, but I'm unsure both the cats can get over it. I'm wondering what other people do.

I look forward to hearing more ideas!

[rhiOrion]

My dd isn't crawling at all yet either, but we're starting to think about this. The two things we've done so far are put a cat door in the door to the basement and put lattice around the bottom of our second floor screened-in porch. Those were the two things that were the most difficult to do and also seemed the most catastrophic. We'll put covers on outlets, and I need to think of something to do with the surge protector in the dining room where we tend to keep our computers. I'm planning to buy something to lock the under sink cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom.

I also need to think of what to do with medicines. Right now they're either in a drawer under the sink in the bathroom or they're in my top dresser drawer. I need them to be easily accessible, since I take them every evening. The less-used stuff (cold meds, etc) can just be locked under the bathroom cabinet, I assume.

[Norasmomma]

I am one who baby-proofs as it becomes a problem. I am a mom of 2, so with DD I had more gates to keep her on lockdown, our medicines and chemicals(which are few) are up already. With DS I'm more lax, due to DD needing her independence, so I don't have a gate where I used to for our computer room. It honestly has made it easier with DS, that and other things.

For me it's outlet covers, vacuuming, gates at top/bottom of stairs, gate to the laundry room/dog-cat feeding area, getting all the kids books up because toddlers just throw and knock books down(and rip them up). Keeping any of DD's little toys up. Breakables up, but I do have a china cabinet with my great-grandmother's china in it and various breakables-the kiddos know that is a no-go zone. We'll be getting a grate to go around our pellet stove.

I'm one to like to leave one cupboard for the kids to get into with pots, pans etc.

Oh when they are older-fridge lock, we are going to have to do this for DS, he's in the fridge as soon as you open it. He's pretty food obsessed.

[busymama77]

This was all mentioned during DS's 6 month check up. We've already done this outlets - did that even before he was born. Still need to do the kitchen area and some doors and that's it. The stairs, sure, when it comes time, but the little guy is just learning to crawl, but hasn't made it much farther than a foot or so.

[Dena]

I'm with Ann. I worry about the stuff that will kill/maim the kids. There are locks on the poisons and there will be a gate at the top of the stairs when the babies start to crawl. Knives are out of reach, and ever since I found dd1 carrying it across the kitchen, the cast iron skillet has lived on top of the stove. Also, anything fragile that you really like should be put out of reach for the duration.

My thought is, I can keep a pretty close eye on my kids, but I can't watch them every minute. So, if there is something that they could get into while I am in the bathroom for five minutes and cause severe injuries or death in that time, up it goes. If its just going to be a pain or a mess, I don't worry too much about it. And corners on tables, etc., that we don't worry about at all. Yes, my kids have had some bruises, but our ped agrees with me that is part of learning how to navigate the world.

As for pet food, the dog's bowl is there in the kitchen, and I am pretty sure both my kids have tried dog food at some point. If they get too interested in it before they are able to chew, we put the bowl on the counter between dog meals. Dd1 also washed her doll clothes in the dog water once, and dd2 used to think the dog water was her personal fountain.

A lot of it depends on the kid, too. Dd1 was content playing in the pots and pans, tupperware, and kitchen towels. Dd2, however, is part monkey and has climbed up and retrieved large knives, glassware, etc.

So I guess my advice would be to start with the potentially scary stuff, and then follow her lead, putting stuff out of reach if it becomes a problem.

[snoopy5386]

RE - pets: we've got our litter box in the basement and will move food/water down there too once DD2 becomes mobile. For the gate you can - put it up a little higher so the cats can go under but your DC can't or cut a cat sized hole in the gate so they can get through it.
Our biggest issue this time around will be DD1's toys. Other than that we'll put the gate back up on the basement stairs and re-childproof the bathroom drawers and kitchen cupboards (mostly rearranging). We'll do outlet covers if needed, but almost all our outlets are covered by furniture so that is not a biggie. Our biggest problem is we live in an old house where you basically have to slam all the doors as forcefully as possible to get them to actually shut. So we need to fix that somehow so we can shut the doors and keep DD2 out of DD1's room and the bathroom.

[redvlagrl]

Our house is already baby proofed from DD, but here is what I would do again now that I know what I know:

- outlet covers - good, but not totally necessary until old enough to try poking things in them. And kind of pointless anyway, as kids can just pull out a plug that's in there and then electrocute themselves.

- stair gates - very useful

- cabinet locks - not entirely necessary. I have them but they don't always work, so I have the few poisonous things (windex, dishwasher detergent) up on top of the fridge.

- Blind cord storage thingys - we have the ones that you screw onto the window frame. Very essential - DD likes to tie them aroudn her neck, LOL.

- door locks - have been slack about this as DD can open door knobs and there is a door to the basement that she can open but it doesn't have a lock. No problems so far but she is never far out of my sight. I do need to put one on though.

- Tether tall furniture - a MUST. We have all bookshelves tetherd to the walls. They *will* try to climb them even if they are chilled out kiddoes like DD.

[PoetryLover]

Originally Posted by redvlagrl

- Tether tall furniture - a MUST. We have all bookshelves tetherd to the walls. They *will* try to climb them even if they are chilled out kiddoes like DD.

This is what I have to do!

[katroshka]

The pp's covered all the danger spots, I think, but I will just add that I strongly believe it is better to anticipate and prevent problem areas rather than wait for them to become problems. I told this story in detail a few days ago on the thread about a baby with a skull fracture, but will quickly recap:

My oldest daughter was somewhere around 6-7 months old, and totally stationary... so I thought. So I would do dishes and let her sit on the kitchen floor with some toys, plastic bowls, etc. to play with, and not worry about her going anywhere. One day I heard a shriek and she had not only started crawling (she hadn't EVER crawled before, barely even scooched on her butt or anything), she had crawled over to the top of the basement stairs (at least 15 feet away) and fallen down, luckily only 4 steps as there was a landing, but of course it scared the bejeezus out of me. This only took a minute or so to happen. So you can kind of apply this to lots of situations. Basically, your baby/ toddler may suddenly do something that he or she has never done before, and it may be hazardous. Use the wisdom of parents before you and try to anticipate what could be dangerous before you have a near-accident or real accident.

I would also suggest getting as much done before your baby is moving around... you'll have less time and energy to get stuff done by then! I always wished once my daughter was on the move that I had gotten it all done before she was born- now I'm pregnant (after 8 years, so nothing is baby-proofed now) and will definitely be getting this all done before the baby comes.

[cristeen]

We did the bare minimum, and it all waited until he was mobile. Basically his bedroom, the LR and the DR he has free reign. We put upelectric cords and rearranged furniture so he cant get to the litter box. The office is kept lcked (hook and eye), and a gate on the kitchen door. The sink cabinet has a lock on it, but hes already figured out how to open it, so he only gets access while im in the kitchen. None of the other cabinets are locked. The back bedroom s kept gated also, thats where the cat hangs out, her litter and her food. And i mostly keep the bathroom door shut. He likes to open the drawers while i pee, but i dont let him in there unsupervised.

The one thing we have a problem with is the bookshelves and figuring out a way to prevent him from pulling down all the books and shredding them.

[beebalmmama]

We mainly deal with any real safety concerns, outlets, electrical cords, stairs.

Also the pet bowls/litter box. Our cat food/water is up on a small cabinet because the dog will get it. The dog food/bowl is outside. The littler box is currently turned around in a corner, with just enough room for the cat to go up and over (mainly because dog will get in there too). In our old house we had a cat door to the basement where her food and litter box was. The dog water bowl is an issue, but it's more annoying because ds makes a mess of it.

Other than that it's really a matter of what you want to deal with cleaning up. I got frustrated picking up book and cd's off the floor and worried they would be ruined. So I put those on high shelves or put them up. We only have cabinet locks on our under the bathroom and kitchen sink, no cleaners, but stuff I don't want him getting into.

We don't have high bookshelves, but it would be a good idea to anchor those down. Actually I'd anchor down most dressers too (still need to do this ). I never thought of anchoring down our 3-4 foot dresser and when ds was 2.5 yrs, he had all the drawers pulled out and it tipped forward. Fortunately we were right there and caught it, but it made me realize that just because it was low and sturdy didn't mean it couldn't get knocked over.