Clever baby-proofing ideas?

[Nikki_M]

We had our coffee table pushed against our TV cabinet as our TV is low... that way the boy could stand up to it, but not wipe his grubby hands all over it...

[Lucy]

I didn't need to baby proof with Olivia......I found that when I just had one, it was easy to keep an eye on her and talk her out of getting into stuff.

However, as soon as I had Charlie (and of course then Lexie) this house has become a baby proofed haven!

Talking works fine, but not if you cannot physically be in 3 places at once, LOL!

So:

~ Dogs bowls in the laundry: our laundry is external, and has a doggy flap.
~ Bins in the loos and in the bathroom have been raised to the window sill. Attractive, NOT, but it saves little fingers getting trapped in the lids, or them strewing old razors/empty shampoo bottles round the house!
~ Tiolet brushes on the same window sills........nothing worse than finding a toddler sucking a toilet brush!
~ Door locks on everything, and the "under the sink" chemical cleaners (bicarb, washing up liquid, dishwasher powder, jaysol etc) in a plastic tub with a lid.
~ I used to have a large freestanding kitchen bin......which Charlie delighted in getting into......I know have a smaller bin shut away under the sink.
~ Wine racks.........have been relegated to the garage
~ Keep the BBQ cover on the BBQ so they can't fiddle with the buttons
~ Get a lock mechanism for the rainwater tank tap so they can't empty it.
~ Wall mount the dryer so they can't get in it, or put other stuff in it.
~ Wall mount the TV and DVD so they can't pull it onto themselves/fiddle with the DVD player.

[leebee81]

We aren't at the baby proofing phase yet but I plan on gating off the bathroom. For starters, its falling apart - the sink is propped up with a bit of 4 x 2 so its not a safe place to be until its renovated, but even then we keep the cat food and litter box in there. "The cat box is not for snacking!" is a concersation I never, ever want to have.

[Liz]

We gated off a whole room, and that is the 'kid safe' area. The TV in there is in the playpen, and the rest is just lounges and a cupboard of toys. Our kitchen overlooks it so it is just perfect. The rest of the house isn't baby proofed except for safety plugs in the sockets, and locking the bathroom cupboard. It's good like this, coz they can be free to do what they want without me having to hound them whenever they go for something, but at the same time, if they're not in there, there's still opportunity to teach them what not to touch iykwim.

[AnyDream]

Ok, ladies, I fess up - we didn't baby proof very much with #1 DD either. There were two of us and one of her and plus she was quite obedient about not fiddling with things we'd told her not to. However DD2 is quite different, she is a natural born 'fiddler' (fingers always busy), plus we now have an older DD who is prone to leaving little bitsy bits around *sigh*. But the main thing that has changed is that DH now works away, I need to be able to relax and not be on hyper-vigilant mode 100% of the time.

Anyway some really good tips here, another one I remembered:
The other day I found a single extension cord that splits into two plugs. So instead of having a fiddly double adaptor, you can have the one extension cord running behind a piece of furniture then have two things (lamp and baby monitor) connected out of reach.

PS I'm going out to Bunnings today to get the magnetic door locks.

[nay23]

Hi
Although I agree with baby proofing I also think that teaching "No" is a good idea
I have power socket covers and will get locks for our bathroom cupboard and kitchen cupboards with chemicals in them. But some things ( obviously things that arent very special! ) I have left where DS can reach them so that he knows some things are his, and he can touch them.... and others are "special" and he can't!
I am more aware of this cos when we go to the grandparents houses they have so many lovely shiny things at little person level that he needs to know he can't touch everything!
I know you can get a bathroom kit from Target that has a spout cover, themometer, non-slip bath stickers, draw locks and a few other things, I found it really useful cos it was all in the one kit! But good luck baby proofing!
Take care
xox