Talk to me about babyproofing

[anna*]

You'd think I'd be experienced in this but honestly we really didn't need to do anything with Stan. By the time he was mobile, he was perfectly willing to be distracted from anything dangerous. We never had to use cupboard locks, socket covers - we had stair gates but that was literally all. I honestly think that to this day he may have no idea that there is a cupboard under the sink in the bathroom. If he ever noticed it, as a baby, it certainly never occurred to him to open it. I guess part of all this too is likely that as the only child he was never far away and probably not left to his own devices for long.

I have a distinct feeling that Miss Monkey is going to be an entirely different kettle of fish. For a start she is crawling and pulling up to stand a good 2-3 months before Stan is. We often find her 'playing electricity' i.e. crawling around among cables, chewing cables etc. This morning she saw me get something out of the cupboard in the bathroom and immediately came and started to try to figure out how to open it. She is pulling up to stand on EVERYTHING (even things way too short).

So what's the list of what we really truly need? What did you have? Also, stair gates, are there ANY that are just easy to install and to operate? We've got a temporary solution up but it's not ideal because if anyone accidentally hip checks it the whole contraption is going to SPROIIING apart. I'd rather have one that is just easy to open and close and which also doesn't have a bar across the floor - makes me nervous as a trip hazard for the older kid.

[becj86]

DS was standing in the middle of the room at 7 months and walking just before 9 months, so pretty mobile early on but we haven't really done much baby proofing... DH put some things on the drawers to stop them opening but they let them open just enough to squish a finger and DS watched me open one a few days after installation and he could open them too.

I taught DS to climb the stairs at 6 months and that has been a really great thing. Getting down them was more challenging but he always seemed to know to wait for me til he could do it himself Maybe that was lucky or temperament - he's pretty cautious until he knows he can do something successfully, then he's off like a mad thing and scares everyone who sees him.

We do have socket covers. Having had a little brother who stuck his fingers in sockets regularly, we have them.

Sorry, that's probably not much help...

[Fiver]

We've got cupboard locks in the kitchen and stairgates top and bottom with no bar across the floor.  They screw to the wall, so not that easy to install, but they're ok to open.close (from Mothercare) and are adjustable for width.

No socket covers here.  Neither child has shown much of an interest in sockets and there's some debate about whether they actually make it safer or more dangerous (http://www.fatallyflawed.org.uk/)

DS is quite good at telling me when DD is doing something she shouldn't be, either by calling or telling her off   When he's not here, I can keep a better watch on her myself.

[becj86]

Your sockets are way different from ours!

[amayzie]

my friends little guy can pop them out- creating a chokimg risk!!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I bought entirely new plates for the sockets that are child proof:

http://www.saferkidsandhomes.com/Decora-Sliding-Outlet-Cover-3-pk-_p_662.html

Not sure if the UK has anything similar.  Otherwise we had stair gates and one across the main living room.  Oh, and a few cupboard locks, but only on the sink cupboard where I used to keep the bleach.  I don't have alot of breakable/precious things, but what I do have is out and very much in reach and always has been. They don't really notice it, and although I suspect they both have touched things they haven't broken anything (yet!) and they are both very spirited.

Oh, and the childproof doorknob covers...not sure why I still have those up as Spencer can now open them, but they kept her out of the rooms I didn't want her in (and the pantry).

[<Catherine>]

I bought cupboard locks but never used them, and didn't actually find we needed them tbh. I had (and still have) a gate at the door of our living room because all DH's bikes (yes, he has a few  ) and cycling stuff is kept under the stairs so for us that area was the most dangerous to a crawling/standing baby, so we'd often have that shut so he couldn't access any other part of the house. If he was anywhere else (kitchen etc) then we would be with him. Having said that though, he wasn't the type to be into something the second you turned your back - if you left him for longer then yes, but it took him a while to think of the mischief  If a tube of cream was left in reach though, or a pen, that was a different matter 

We also have socket covers, might consider removing these after reading Amanda's post though  TBH there are very few sockets that he could get to in our house, and he's never paid much attention to them anyway.

We also had a gate at the kitchen door, and at the top of the stairs. I basically baby proofed the one room (our living room) and put a gate at that door so that he could be left in there, safe, if I needed to do something. I still do that now. I didn't need to babyproof that too much either - just removed any photo frames or ornaments that were in reach etc.

[amayzie]

The main place we need to gate off is the kitchen- but there's no way to do that AND still open the fridge and we need to eat... I'm thinking of getting some sort of guard to go around the oven when it's on...

[becj86]

I'm thinking of getting some sort of guard to go around the oven when it's on...

We do 'HOT!' when its on and let him play with the over door when its not to help take away the mystery. He knows not to touch anything that's 'hot'.

[amayzie]

let him play with the over door when its not to help take away the mystery.

i wasnt sure what to do for  the best with thst...

[creations]

We do 'HOT!' when its on and let him play with the over door when its not to help take away the mystery. He knows not to touch anything that's 'hot'.

I do 'hot' too but still don't let him play with the oven when it's cold either.  Different approach.  DS isn't interested in playing with it (he has his own cooker with knobs to turn etc) so it isn't a case of removing the mystery for us, it's more a case of him absent mindedly touching it whilst playing with something else, or just walking around the room and backing into it!  For this reason I reinforce that he mustn't touch it but also have a gate at the kitchen and he isn't allowed in when the oven is on.  Mostly I plan oven cooking for when DS is taking a nap and try to stick to hob cooking when he is up and about.

Anna I think A is old enough for you to be telling her 'leave it' and 'danger' on the electricity cables for any that you can't hide away or block off.  She'll understand pretty quickly if you're consistent with it.

One thing I got was was a TV strap.  It screws into the back of a flat screen and has two straps which screw into the table or stand, this stops it being pulled over or falling if the stand is knocked.
If you have lots of books you can make them harder to get at by really jamming them into the shelf and LO won't be strong enough to pull them out.
And we have one of those things that goes over the top of the living room door to stop fingers getting trapped.

[becj86]

Quote from: becj86 on Today at 07:18:53 AM
let him play with the over door when its not to help take away the mystery.

i wasnt sure what to do for  the best with thst...

My take on it is that DS is a curious little fellow and will touch it anyway when I've got my back turned for a second and then wonder why I won't let him touch it if nothing bad happens, yk? We also have an open plan kitchen and not even with two walls to be able to put up a gate (which would have to be 3 or 4m wide...) so I cannot prevent access to it.

Oh and with kitchen cupboards, he has a cupboard that he can play in, with 'Logan's Cupboard' written on a sticker on the door. Any other cupboard he went for, he was redirected to his cupboard and its not an issue now. Did have to be hyper vigilant and really consistent at first though...

[lilybug25]

I also have built in socket covers on most of my sockets and covers on the rest (my landlord is slowly replacing all sockets with the bulit in ones which is great), they work great even though so far neither child has ever shown any interrest in sticking anything in them LOL.
I have never had locks on the cupboard doors, I put canned goods and tupperwear in the ones right by the sink and pots and pans in the others, anything glass and my cast iron frying pans go in the drawer under the stove and when filled with cast iron there is no way the kids can open it. knives on the back of the counter and over flow knives go in a container on a shelf in a top cupborads. All cleaning supplies go into the lanudryroom. TADA kitchen done LOL
I have a baby gate right off the livingroom so Alyssa can't tummy crawl backwards onto the stairs. I find having a gate right on the stairs dangerous when you have a baby and a toddler, so I moved it back and no problem. You have to screw it onto the wall put it's very strong( baby/toddler can lean on it and the gate will not come off, yet another reason not to have the gate right on the stairs) no bar on the botten and the plasic is like a big window which all kids seem to love.
http://www.toysrus.ca/product/index.jsp?productId=2689249

[CCCmom27]

We did socket covers, door knob things on doors going outside (once DS1 started opening doors), cabinet locks where we have cleaning supplies, knives I moved to the back of the counter rather than doing a drawer lock.

[nwmm]

We have the sliding socket covers.  Ours are made to move up and dose.  They are normally installed to move down.  We installed them backwards to make them more tricky for busy kids.  Harder for young kids to manipulate them that way.

There are gates that don't have the bar at the bottom. 

We even manipulated things so that there is plenty of landing room, at the top of the stairs, to not loose your footing.  Does that make sense?

We found a company that will walk you thru your home to tell you what you "need"--for free.  They were very good at accepting us not buying everything they suggested.

[amayzie]

You could go crazy with this stuff!! We've also tried to get the dangerous stuff out of reach instead of just locking it up IYKWIM. In that like others we put al of the chemicals on high shelves in the laundry and the knives and such are also kept up high.

I did have a babyproofing fail today though- i have babyproofed the bathroom cupboard by putting a hair band around the 2 doorknobs. At the moment it works- EXCEPT he can open it JUST far enough to wedge his hand in up to his wrist and then get totally stuck!! So- in this case the solution may cause more damage than the original hazard!!

[creations]

Katy, many of the cupboard/drawer locks are like that anyway!  They allow the drawer to be opened just enough to get fingers stuck in there.
Like bec said they learn really quickly where they are not allowed to go in if they are consistently ltold and redirected.  I don't have enough cupboard space to give one over to DS but he does have his own cooker in the kitchen and a box full of kitchen toys to go with it.
I've found that at each developmental stage he will re-test the rules on everything so at the same time, or just after, a bout of SA there is also a phase of doing all the stuff he knows he shouldn't, just to see if those rules remain the same.  It's at those times that you need to be consistent again if your LO re-tests the way mine does.

[Shiv52]

Only have a minute but wanted to say LIDL's deal of the week was stair gates for £15. 

Something like this one:
http://www.lindam.com/product/safety-gates/safety/easy-fit-plus.html

[*Becky*]

Henry was into absolutely everything at an early age so we had and still do have...
stairgates top and bottom of the stairs
plug socket covers
cupboard locks
we also had some thick padding along some exposed brick but it did not last long and he kept ripping it off.
I also tried a toilet lock as he was ALWAYS trying to get in the darn thing but it did not work very well.

For me cupboard locks are a must. One time I was in the kitchen and putting washing on and he managed to take a liquitab out and bit into it. Worst moment of my life. He was fine but so scary.