one year old and a little help needed...

[etoilech]

My DS is one year old and has become increasingly mobile (crawling). We are continuing to babyproof the house and it's pretty good, but there are a few things that I can't babyproof and he of course goes *right* to them. I try to redirect him, but once it's in his sight, no amount of redirection helps. I just remove him from the situation now, but I would like to teach him not to touch (power cords for lamps etc.). How do you do this? If anyone has more babyproofing suggestions, just LMK too. My soon isn't overly verbal... but I think he understands things like "no" to a point.

I am just starting out here so I am very willing to listen to suggestions and critiscism. I am a bit of a yeller when I am angry : : and I am working on that.

Thanks in advance... I lurk a lot here, gathering insight... but, this is my first post.

Olivia

[BunintheOven]

: also looking for answers LOL

My co-sleeping 1 yr old is now getting out of bed without hurting himself or waking us LOL
I was sleeping lastnight on the couch while he slept with daddy and I hear him calling out 'Mama!' LOL there he was in the kitchen staring around

[zipperump-a-zoomum]

How about pulling the cord out of the plug and letting him play with it? Or getting an old lamp (the dump, garage sale, on the side of the road for trash pickup) and letting him play with that?
Kaly

[maya44]

I don't think letting him play with lamps is a good idea. Its too confusing at this age.

At this age, the best thing to do is to always combine your words with action. So you gently move him away from things and at the same time say something like. "No touching the lamp it could fall and hurt you" "No touching the outlets, they could hurt you"

The first time I said this I would be serious but calm. If he makes a game out of it you do the same thing but try to convey a demeanor of "Look I am bored but whatever, I will continue to move you away"

[sntm]

I agree with everything maya said. We usually start with "sockets/plugs/cords are a no touch. S/P/C can hurt Jack" and then redirect him to something else. If he persists, I usually get between him and the object of desire and try to engage him in something else. If he gets upset, I acknowledge that he is upset and that he wants to touch whatever, but reinforce that he still can't touch it.

[KellyB]

My son is 12 months, too..doing the same things...
I just keep moving him back...and redirecting..I usually have to take a deep breath and tell myself "this might take a minute....but he'll eventually get bored with this"....makes him kind of mad at the end, though...lol...he'll skake his fist at me like an old man and proclaim "eeeEEE!"....I just tell him I understand his frustration...oh, also, I use "dangerous" instead of "no"...just because I think there's really a subtle difference between the two restrictions, and I hope to instill the concept early.
For the most part, though, he's a free-range baby...there's only 2 "dangerous" things he can get close to, and one of them isn't life threatening by any means...just " a lesson waiting to happen"...(it's 2 light weight cake pans on the top shelf of a shakey baker's rack).

[zipperump-a-zoomum]

Yeah, we definitely have a higher tolerance level for what others find to be safety issues

But, that said, why do you think he wants to explore the lamp? Isn't there a safe way to meet his need to do that?

The way I personally feel about a lot of these issues is that unless something is really and truly a safety issue, it is disrespectful to the child to frustrate what is a totally normal and neccesary urge to explore.

I also believe that children can make subtle distinctions at an early age- ie, it is dangerous to play with an outlet or anything attached to one, but this unplugged vacuum cleaner is ok.
Kaly

[jacksmama]

My ds is 15 mo and very busy. He's into everything. Sometimes it drives me absolutely freaking mad. It seems just when I pull the roll of toilet paper out of the toilet I turn around and he's emptying my underwear drawer. I've found the only effective way to deal with this is to baby proof. I know there are some things that can't be babyproofed...and in that case we removed it. Yelling just isn't effective - especially at this age. They just become overwhelmed by your emotion and the loudness of it all. Hitting, beside being a poor discipline choice, also doesn't work. You could keep slapping your baby's hand 20 times and they're STILL going to come back to the same outlet. I know how much chasing after a mobile baby can suck the energy out of you, but my only advice, IMO, is that this type of situation falls solely on the parent and not the child. I don't believe you can teach your child at this age to not explore certain items. I don't see a little one being able to discern or be made to discern about what they can and cannot touch. There may be others who disagree - but I stand firm on this one. That's not to say that I don't tell my son, "Gentle with the dog, nice touch." 7,000 times a day when he grabs a fistful of her hair. He'll get it eventually, but in the meantime I make sure I monitor him all the time and re-direct him. I don't expect him to make that call himself, now or anywhere in the near future.

[famousmockngbrd]

Honestly, I think there is very little that can not be babyproofed, and at this age that is the way to go. Can you tape the cords to the baseboard, for instance? We did this with DS when he went through his "obsessed with power cords" stage. Sometimes he tried to pull the tape off, and that is when we would remind him about not playing with them and try to engage him in something else. I think having a physical barrier like tape or a chair in front of an outlet or something, A) hinders their access and B) serves as a tangible reminder that this object is off limits.

My DS is almost 2 and he recently figured out how to take the outlet covers off.

Oh, and another idea I got from a mama on this board - if your babe likes to push the button on the TV, tape a baby food jar lid over it. That worked like a charm for us, in fact it's still there, lol. Just get yourself a roll of duct tape and you'll be fine.

[jacksmama]

Originally Posted by famousmockngbrd

My DS is almost 2 and he recently figured out how to take the outlet covers off.

famousmockngbrd, Noooo! Say it isn't so........!

[Destinye]

What *is* it with power cords! They are magnetically attracted to them and my 9 mo old dd knows exactly where they are! We have *almost* babyproofed her room and I have just started to sleep in there with her so there is one safe place she can explore to her hearts content (my dh does not think we need to attach the changing table to the wall but I do....) Anyhow I think some things *are* a safety issue and definitely would tape the cords down or someone here suggested using foam type squares to block off area's like the cords behind computers (which seemed like a good idea to me). Well not sure this answers your question but I do empathize!

[MarineWife]

I agree with zipperump. The child is just wanting to explore and learn. I think a child that age can make a distinction between a lamp cord that is plugged in and dangerous and one that is for him to play with. Why not let him have a cord of his own?

[canadiangranola]

We've had thie same problem with the cords, there is one in particular that ds (16 months) loves to play with...particularly likes unplugging it from the wall, when i'm not looking. What scares me is that he now knows that he gets in "trouble" for unplugging it/touching it, so if he has unplugged it when i am out of the room and he hears me coming back in, he quickly tries to plug it back in....the chills that run up my spine when i think of little fingers getting b/w the plug and the socket...so we just had to put something in front of the outlet so that he would not see it every day and be as tempted, and when he does touch it, we pick him up, move him away gently but intentionally IYKWIM, and say "Dangerous". He gets mad and cries, and is right back to it in a few seconds, but i read somewhere that they aren't trying to be disobedient at this age, but they follow their gut reaction "oooooohhhh, fun and interesting...muuuuust touch that!" because that is more prevalent in their wee little minds than the "no" of 10 seconds before.

I guess with something like electrical cords, I wouldn't take the chance of "letting them explore with unplugged ones". The opinions on that seem mixed here, but i guess for me, the risk that my child wouldn't diferrentiate b/w which cords were safe/unsafe is too great, and I know I would have a hard time forgiving myself if something happened. JMHO.

Good luck, and many wishes of patience sent your way. Take heart, in a couple months the obsession will be something completely different.

[Destinye]

Originally Posted by canadiangranola

I guess with something like electrical cords, I wouldn't take the chance of "letting them explore with unplugged ones". The opinions on that seem mixed here, but i guess for me, the risk that my child wouldn't diferrentiate b/w which cords were safe/unsafe is too great, and I know I would have a hard time forgiving myself if something happened. JMHO.

Me too just seems too confusing to me at this age to know the difference. Of course they seem to know unnerringly what *not* to play with though!

[RubysMom]

We have not been very good babyproofers. My dd (4.5yo) was never too nosy, but I always had a drawer or cabinet full of "dangerous" looking goodies to play with (plastic plates, knives, cups, etc) and she went for that. Easily distracted, eh. My new ds (11mo) is definitely more inquisitive, but we just move chairs in front of outlets, heaters (in summer anyway), climbable shelves. House looks like shit, but hey people know we have little kids around. Whenever we find him doing something or playing with something dangerous, we just say "danger" redirect him then remove the danger.

[jacksmama]

Not sure if you've seen the outlet covers where you can keep your power cords plugged in but they are protected. I think they are about $2.00 U.S. dollars a piece. That's not such a high price to keep your baby safe physically and stop him from getting yelled at. Babyproofing is not a sign of weakness. It just means, to me, that I want to spend my energy on situations other than repeatedly correcting my ds.

[etoilech]

Thank you!

It is nice to know that I am not the only one repeating myself about oh, half a million times a day. I am of the theory that I don't want my son to hear "no" all the time. I feel it's really negative and sometimes it is all they hear, KWIM? We've removed MOST of the furniture. Taping the power cords is an excellent idea. I will do this. Using "dangerous" instead of "no" is also a good idea, thank you.

We went to IKEA yesterday and got some good plug covers (They have some really grear baby proofing stuff actually, just FYI). Our outlets are all protected already... that's how the outlets come here in Switzerland... the holes don't open unless pressure is applied on 2/3 points (we also have round pins instead of the flat like in North America)... but, I think it's just better to cover them up.

We gave Erik his own keyboard (like Papa's)... maybe we should give him one of the old power cords? SO is in the computer field so we have more power cords than the normal family... we are working on more wireless stuff.

Thank you all for the suggestions. My son hasn't even started to walk yet... oy. I keep telling SO this is just the beginning...

Olivia

[jacksmama]

T They are opening a new Ikea on November 10th. WOO HOO! I've been counting down the days! I had no idea they had items like this. I've never been and only have looked at the catalog. Sorry to go off topic I'm just so EXCITED for this store to open!

[MarineWife]

That's so cool about the outlets being built more safely. I gave my baby an old keyboard because he was so interested in hitting mine I could never get anything typed. Now he'll sit next to me and bang on it for at least a bit while I'm on here. I think it's always good if we can give the baby's and children their own "adult" things to explore.

[etoilech]

Ot

IKEA, yes I LOVE it. It is a great store, they have so much more than what is in the catalog. They have good baby gates, oultet covers, door stops (to keep baby from jamming their fingers), traction strips for stairs, cabinet latches, etc.

Sometimes the Swiss are GREAT with thinking ahead with stuff for kids... (the oven being up high so a little guy can't reach it, outlets, windows being virtually impossible to open unless you're an adult, tap locks etc.). Then sometimes they lapse... big gaps in the balcony rails... . I guess you can't have it all- LOL.

We duct-taped the cords to the outlets. Very good IDEA!

Olivia