AIBU to do no babyproofing whatsoever?

[MogwaiTheGremlin]

DS (8 months) has just started crawling and every single person has reacted by saying 'ooooh time to babyproof your house'. Maybe I'm thick but I have no idea how to babyproof a house - surely it's virtually impossible?
Ours is split level so we'd need about 5 stair gates, endless door/cupboard keep-shut thingys and god knows what else. Aside from all the hassle, i don't want to live in fort bloody knox! Plus I'm sure DS would find the one thing I hadn't 'proofed' to bump into/chew/destroy.
Our cleaning products are already stored in a cupboard well out of reach so I am planning to leave everything as it is and over time teach DS how to negotiate his way through our home. And in the meantime I'll supervise him at all times.
My NCT class looked at me as if i was the most neglectful mum ever when i admitted this. So am I being unreasonable or just incredibly naive?!

[marzipananimal]

We did very little baby proofing. Got a fire guard and moved stuff we didn't want him touching out of reach. We never had stair gates although in some houses I would, depending on the stairs

[FreyaFridays]

I think your plan sounds pretty sensible, though I would be still be tempted to install stair gates myself. Besides, at some point a child will HAVE to be brought into somebody else's non-proofed home, and will have to learn that some things are to look at, not to touch/not for children, etc.

[ScarletLady02]

I didn't really baby-proof. I was sensible obviously and didn't leave dangerous things lying around, but I didn't use all the cupboard door things etc.

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

that's fine, of course it is

show baby how to come down stairs safely (on tummy, feet first)

breakables like china/glass in upper cupboards

secure freestanding stuff such as dressers to the wall

get some foam C shapes to prevent finger traps in internal doors

bear in mind you won't be able to supervise at all times, you would be superman(mum?) to do that

[AnnIonicIsoTronic]

I haven't baby proofed for DC4. Figured that the only thing than no stairgates.... Was a stairgates left open by a careless sibling!

With stairs - the trick is to teach them to go feet first & slide down on their bellies.

[freddiefrog]

We didn't make a massive effort

We just put up some stairgates and moved cleaning/dangerous stuff to higher cupboards.

We did end up with a tide mark of precious belongings where stuff gradually got moved up to higher shelves as we got fed up with removing precious objects from little fingers

[maddening]

Baby proof one area that can be gated off to contain dc if you have to. Good to choose one central location if the house is v complex.

React to your baby as they change - what we needed to move etc changed as ds got older.

We have a lock on the more dangerous cupboards and the fridge and freezer (as he now likes to try and choose his own snack and we don't need the freezer defrosted) and stair gate at top of stairs - would like one at bottom as they are steep wooden stairs in a cottage down to a slate floor but ds is mostly good about not going up.

Depends on the dc and each will change as they grow anyway.

[AnnIonicIsoTronic]

I have a consequence of linear and non linear consequences.

Bumping your head on the coffee table or getting your fingers jammed is door teaches you about the world around you & isn't ultimately too serious.

Cleaning products - get them high - the consequences are far more drastic.

[squeakytoy]

Playpen and a fireguard were all my parents had... bearing in mind the house had glass internal doors, lots of stairs, and unlocked kitchen cupboards... I never had any accidents.

[purpleloosestrife]

not unreasonable...

a tad naive, maybe. I would put stair gates in, at least. If only because you will never be able to go to the loo/shower/answer the 'phone/door whilst your DS is in the middle of his "training" and he won't know yet how to avoid falling down the stairs .....

[Squitten]

We put a lock on the cupboard in the kitchen with the cleaning stuff and a gate across the kitchen door because our kitchen is very small so if stuff is split or dropped, any small people underfoot are likely to get hit.

We also put a stair gate across the bottom of the stairs, because once they worked out how to climb them that was their FAVOURITE game, and put locks on the dresser cupboards to stop them emptying them every 5 minutes!

I think you will find giving your inquisitive baby access to everywhere is going to create a LOT of work for you

[CatsRule]

We didn't babyproof either, we just moves anything obviously dangerous out of reach.

I've just put locks on a couple of cupboards...he still got in and they were a total pain! We do use stair gates, they are good as we're open plan so can't just shut a door.

Ds is never left alone so we kind of adjust as we go along to suit. The only strict rule we have is that he is not allowed in the kitchen when any cooking is going on.

I think people do go overboard. As long as you apply some common sense he will be fine.

When people go on I apply the good old mumsnet nod and smile

[rocknrollchicken]

We didnt do anything apart from common sense stuff like moving cleaning products and keeping toilet lid down. Despite the scaremongering, DD never tried poking fingers in a plug socket and showed little interest in the inside of cupboards. We had a couple of trapped fingers and a banged head occasionally but she soon learned to shut a door carefully and manoeuvre herself more observantly.
So YANBU, do whatever suits you and your DC.

[ceeveebee]

We have 16 mo twins, and have stair gates on the living room door and the nursery door, and a foam thing on the sharp corners of the marble hearth and that's about it. No door catches or drawer stops or socket covers or anything. Lots of use of 'no', and no accidents so far!

[LittlePlasticPeople]

I used a stair gate so I could get on with stuff upstairs and not be constantly watching/retrieving the baby.

I put cleaning products out of reach and snipped blind cords to avoid hanging after reading a few horror news stories. Other than that I haven't done any baby proofing, ax a previous poster said, a bumped head or trapped finger is a risk that I'm prepared to take.

[TobyLerone]

The only babyproofing I did when mine were little was to put a stairgate at the top of the stairs. That was so that I could take my eye off them for a second while I was doing things upstairs (cleaning the bathroom or whatever).

[Stangirl]

I have 2 kids (3yrs and 20 months) and a house full of half landings so 4 flights of stairs in total. I never used stairgates and it's been fine. Have lifted anything breakable/poisonous off floor and locked away if necessary. In fact I hate stairgates and find them more dangerous than helpful.

[HorryIsUpduffed]

Do you have gas hobs? DS2 scared the life out of me by turning on the gas while I was on the loo. You can get knob covers - our knobs are on the front of the unit, not up on the counter IYSWIM.

So long as genuinely dangerous things (gas, knives, glass, bleach, etc) are unreachable I think YANBU.

[spiffysquiffyspiggy]

We didn't babyproof at all. We live in a three storey house that has multiple levels on each floor. It would have cost a fortune in stair gates. all three of them learned to climb stairs very quickly and have never had an accident. Obviously be sensible and keep medication and chemicals out of reach but no bought in babyproofing needed.

[MogwaiTheGremlin]

Ok thanks everyone.
Sounds like stair gates are a must for most people so we should probably consider that. Presumably we can get away with one gate at the bottom of the longest staircase because otherwise we're talking 8 gates in total? Is the issue that the babies are just too damn fast to get to in time?
Boys definitely not supermum by any stretch of the imagination(!) but at the moment DS comes with me whereever i go (sits in the bathroom while i shower etc) and if the phone/door goes i just scoop him up. If i need both hands free i plonk him in the jumperoo for 5-10 mins and he's happy as larry. Will all that change how he's such a big boy?!

[EasilyBored]

We have stairgates on the kitchen door and the top of the stairs, lock of the cupboard with the cleaning products on and those clips on the doors of the TV stand. Anything breakable or precious has just been moved out of reach for now. We try and teach him stuff (coming down the stairs safely, not touching plug sockets) but he's 14 months old so can't be trusted to do that stuff on his own.

[Juustanothermnetter]

I didn't do much but I did have a stair gate and locked the cleaning products away. I think its important to teach them to navigate stairs however I also think its so easy to put in a few stair gates that it's worth it in my opinion.

[MamaBear17]

We use stair gates, and a child lock on the cleaning cupboard. The way I see it is that if DD got into the saucepan cupboard the most she could do it make a mess. However, if she ingested cleaning product that could be very dangerous. Our stairs are in our lounge so there is no way we could shut a door on the steps. She can negotiate her way up and down them beautifully, but I am not willing to take the risk that she might climb up unattended and fall. I think it is important to be safety concious, but you do not need to be excessive. For example, I never leave a hot drink within reach, make sure saucepan handles are turned away from reach. Do what you think you need to do, you know your baby and your home best.

[HumphreyCobbler]

moving stuff out of reach IS babyproofing!

ds was seriously fast by eight months, he was the fastest crawler I have ever seen. So I put up a gate to stop him getting into the kitchen when I was cooking. I also had those foam things that stopped him getting his fingers slammed in the door. Dangerous things inaccessible. It is all common sense really, not some great project that you have to undertake.

I do know someone who stated smugly that she didn't babyproof, she just taught her son the meaning of the word "No". She changed her tune when her second son came along

[VinegarDrinker]

We have one stairgate - we live in a first & second floor flat and the stairs are internal so our hallway is at the top of a steep flight of stairs. The reason for that gate was mainly because DS rides his ride on toys around that floor and could easily accidentally end up down the stairs. When we leave it open accidentally he is the one who closes it! And he has never shown an interest in trying to escape.

No other stairgates or babyproofing. We taught him to do stairs safely early on. Heis pretty laid back though, some of my friends' toddlers are a lot more of a liability.