Baby Proofing the House
Hi Everyone! Sorry if this is in the wrong spot!
I'm starting to think about baby proofing my house. Was just wondering what other peoples experiences with this have been. What things do I really need (power point plugs for sure I think!!)?
I don't want to over do it - so I just thought I would see what other people have done!
xoxo
I use the powerpoint plugs and have tied rubber bands around the door handles so that they are not permanent
Crawl around on your hands and knees! It'll help you see the house from the baby's pespective. That way you'll know what things to protect bubs from. Good luck, happy baby proofing!
BellyBelly Member
I also found it depended on the child. My SIL had to pack away all her books within the bookcase (coz bubs would tear them off the shelf), ALL ornaments, photoframes within arms reach she had to put away, every cupboard in the house had those baby proof locks on, all powerpoints had those plastic covers.....i did nothing. I found my girls werent interested in the book shelf, or the DVD buttons or the kitchen cupboards. I dont know why. But i didnt have to 'childproof' much at all. Like i said, i have found it depends really on the child.....
PS: I dont know a child/baby that hasnt at one stage picked up a remote control (tv/DVD/Aircon)....
BellyBelly Member
I tend to agree with this.
We were in the "pack away everything and nail it all down" category, our dd did (and still does) get into absolutely everything and no amount of NO or time out makes a lick of difference. She's a VERY curious child and even though she knows she's not supposed to she absolutely cannot help herself when something catches her attention.
We really had to childproof well for our own sanity as well because we found ourselves screaming at her all day long not to touch/get out of the fridge/cupboard/don't climb up there...it just was not the way we wanted to spend the next two years LOL.
So we have power point things, latches on all cupboards and drawers, and on the fridge and pantry, the bookshelves are cleared on the lower shelves and now have her toys in them,, we also have door handle covers that keep her out of our office and upstairs bathroom. Our house is fort knox LOL.
Registered User
All we did was put plugs in the power points.
Zander was taught, from the second he could crawl that he was not to touch certain things. We figured that if we were at a non baby proofed house it would be far easier for him to know the types of things he wasn't allowed to touch. We have candles down low & have had for a long time & the only problem there is him blowing them out now LOL! He has never ever touched the DVD player / stereo / foxtel box & they are within his reach. I also have cleaning chemicals in a cupboard at floor level & he has never gone to touch them after being told no once. There are things he pushes the boundaries with - the DVDs often get pulled out, but it's not going to hurt them & he liked to open the doors on the TV stand. We're pretty laid back though. Zander has always been allowed to touch the remotes & now at two he knows how to turn the TV on himself. He can also turn on the XBox to watch his movies.
It really depends on you & the baby how far you want to take it....
BellyBelly Life Subscriber
Yeah, we haven't really babyproofed much. I've got 2 cupboards locked up, the one under the kitchen sink, and the bathroom. We also have plugs in all the outlets.
We actually have a babyproof room setup and gated off. It works out really well, coz the kitchen bench/sink overlooks it, so he basically has the entire back room for his books & toys, and the tv in there has the playpen around it LOL. So it's entirely babyproof, and it's somewhere that he's safe while I cook or iron.
When he's not in there, we've just taught him not to touch things.. can get a bit trying! But I agree - not everyone's house is babyproof, so he needs to learn.
Registered User
We had bookshelves in our lounge room.. theyre now gone.. too dangerous. Be careful where you put heaters. My girlfriends DS fell onto a heater the other week and burnt his hands. Plants.. move outta reach.
But yeh anything they can get to that you dont want them to.. move it, as they will find a way.
We are another one that has never baby proofed the house. if we don't want the kids to touch or go near something they are told No.
Love
Registered User
We had to babyproof...Sammy has gotten into everything!!!! He climbed into the dishwasher at 12 months old..so we had to put a gate up to keep him out of the kitchen! Any cleaning products he gets into if he gets a chance, recently and luckily it wasnt something else he grabbed vinegar and had a taste! Power points need to be covered and hidden out of the way because he has tried to do 'wok' (work) with a screwdriver!!!!! Fishfood needs to be put away otherwise the fish in the pond get overloaded!!! Bathroom shampoos, etc need to be out of reach otherwise he likes to get into it and tip it over. More recently Sammy got into the laundry and tipped some disinfectant onto the vacuum cleaner...hes seen us and tries to ''help" us do the same with the lawn mower...the list goes on. We are consistent in saying no, moving things, and trying to keep him safe but some children just seem more determined than others. Ive never had to babyproof my house like we have with him...so its probably good to bear this in mind! The personality of your child may be a deciding factor in just how far you have to go!
Jo
BellyBelly Life Subscriber
I think that's so true Jo. No amount of No's stop Tallon at the moment, so I'm so thankful we have our 'safe zone' where I can put him to play while I cook or whatever. It'd drive me mental if he had access to the kitchen all the time. I reckon we probably would have to babyproof more if he had free reign of the house 24 hrs.. I'd never get anything done!
I like that we have both.. so when he's out of the play area, he's still taught not to get into drawers and play with the dvd etc.
Registered User
We are just starting to think about this in our house too. Our little one is a while off crawling yet, but many of my friends in Mum's group have little one's crawling. I'm going to try & go for the "no" option, but will still baby proof some stuff. We got rid of our coffee table, I hear they are a hassle as the bang their heads & dent them by banging toys on them.
One great piece of advice I got from the CHN was to empty the bottom draw in your Kitchen & put safe stuff in there your bubs can play with (ie. bibs, containers, a toy etc). That way if you can't keep them out of the Kitchen they can happily play in that draw. Sounds like a good idea to me, just got to figure out where I will now put my recipe books
Registered User
We are just starting to baby proof our house since DS has started crawling this month... We hope to be able to tell him 'no' for most things and it is working so far, but we have put plugs over the power points, moved chemicals etc out of the low cupboards and this weekend I plan to tie up/shorten the cords on the blinds. We also bought one set of locks for the kitchen cupboards to do the cupboards with glasses, pirex dishes etc. Our study will be 'locked up', as will the toilet and bathroom doors.
There's so much to think about but there are some great ideas in here! Thanks girls!
Oh, and we also need to have our TV anchored down...it's not overly stable in the TV unit so we'll tie it down from the back...that's another job for this weekend coming...
Registered User
The only thing i am worried about is the kitchen (so we putting gate up), powerpoints (so they getting plugs in them) and the pool (already got gate - just still a worry)... Other then that Izzy would be told no, she'll have to learn that there is certain things she can touch and things she can't...
I don't want to baby proof much, for the same reason someone said up there - when going to another noproofed house, id like her not to touch also...
Registered User
I agree with this, didn't think about it until now. But I remember before I had my bubs if my cousin came around with her 3kids it was nuts. I'd be on edge the entire time as they didn't have any boundaries. I would dread it when she rang to say she was coming around. Also I don't want to spend the entire time i'm out running after my little one if they can't understand "no", so will try & teach him that best I can. But they often don't uderstand for a while.
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