aga safety

[fullofbeans]

Just got back from A&E. DS 8 mths touched the aga this morning - I was holding him at the time and he just lunged forward. Now has blisters on 2 fingers and a big bandage! He screamed for about ages while I held his fingers under the tap then fell asleep - woke up in hospital and laughed and smiled so don't think he's too bothered now, but I feel really guilty.

DH thiks that we shouldn't worry too much and he will learn not to touch it in time, but I want to get some kind of guard for it as it is always on and is always very hot - although it's so big that we wil probably have to get one made.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I babyproof everything or just let him learn?

[flowerybeanbag]

[MrsBadger]

if he's lunging you might have to stop holding him while cooking - maybe stick him in the highchair instead?

once he's cruising / crawling / walking you'd probably need a guard for the aga (or a stairgate acrosss the kitchen doorway ) anyway - the babydan one is easy to configure, you can see how they show it round a woodburner.

[Spidermama]

I'm with your dh. I would start now though, doing little lessons about agas and hot-ness.

[fullofbeans]

Thanks for the link - think I might just order one now while DH is in work!

I think now is the time for us to have a really good look at making our home safe for DS. Hadn't really thought about it too much until today. Am a bit daunted by the whole safety thing - how far do you take it?

[witchandchips]

Surely it is only the plates that are hot. I've always preened myself that our aga teaches ds that things might be bot but the front is never enough to do him any damage- unlike a conventional oven

[fullofbeans]

Thanks Spidermama - that's the way I always thought I would do it, but at what age to these things make sense? Will he learn from what happened today? He's just so little I can't imagine that he would know what had happened today

[Iota]

I think 8 mths is far too young to be learning lessons about Agas being hot - I would keep him well away for the time being.

[fullofbeans]

Hi witchandchips

It's actually a rayburn royal that we have and its hot all over as it's a boiler too. Maybe I need to look at a way of turning in right down.

[fullofbeans]

Thanks everyone for all your advice - think I'm just going to keep him away from it for now. I've certainly learnt a big lesson today. I'm off to buy a guard!

[ThinWhiteDuchess]

If it's any consolation when I was little I burnt myself on my parents' Rayburn -- I used to rush into the kitchen and huddle up next to it to get warm (this was in the 70s when winters were really cold). Twice I burnt my calves on the metal piece. If I were brighter of course, I would've done it just the once!

[Spidermama]

I want a rayburn.

[CissyCharlton]

I'd turn it down. Our Aga isn't hot enough to do any damage.

[sophiewd]

We just kept repeating to DD that AGA is hot, and blowing 3 times, we did this with the fire as well, whne DH lights it and she has shown no interest in either, funnily enough this coincided with her having a big thing for Big Cook Little Cook when they go hot hot hot

[TheDuchessOfNorksBride]

Our aga isn't hot enough to burn either - except the plates.

Instead of an oven guard, we actually gated off the whole kitchen/rear hallway because in addition to various kitchen hazards, the floors were filthy and the dog bowls were a magnet!

If they wanted to be with me whilst I cooked then I sat them in the highchair with books, wooden spoons etc.

I hope your DSs fingers heal up soon.

[LilOrphanAnnie]

I put a baby dan gate, opened up, across the food prep - sink, aga, fridge, triangle of the kitchen from crawling age to 2/3. I took it down when I was not doing food prep and just showed the aga, said Hot Hot Hot, like in BCLC, and put ds's fingers against the doors to show him. Touch wood no accidents!

[fullofbeans]

Wow - thanks for all the advice.

Ds is completely unbothered about his blistered fingers. He'd even quite happy to hold things with that hand and didn't cry at all when he had his dressings changed!

We are getting a guard though and I don't think I'm going to let him loose in the kitchen until he's a lot bigger as even when the Rayburn is turned right down it's still very hot to touch.

[seeker]

Are your sure it's adjusted properly? Ours only gets really hot all over if we've been doing a lot of high temperature cooking. And ours is a boiler as well. Usually it's quite warm, but only the rings are hot enough to burn.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

seeker - we have a Stanley Range and it gets hot all over (also a boiler), so I think it must depend on what model you've got, rather than how it's adjusted.

[mumofhelen]

We have an Aga-Rayburn in the kitchen. We have a simple rule. The kitchen is out-of-bounds to under 5s.

If your eating area is within your kitchen you have several options. Find another room to convert into a dining room or get a stair gate to close off the area which has the Aga if you can or a BabyDan gate to separate the Aga-Rayburn from the rest of the kitchen.

Unless everyone abides to the adjusting rule, you are better off just keeping the areas separate. All you need is for grandpa to forget to turn it down and the whole saga repeats itself.

[seeker]

Sorry - I didn't realize that the were all so different. Ours is an Eastwood, and the only time it gets hot enough to burn is after a marathon cooking session or if you hang too much washing on the rail.

[fullofbeans]

Might get someone in to check that it's running ok - it's quite old I think - came with the house.

I'd be a lot happier if it wasn't so hot. We turn it off in the summer though - can't wait!

[funnyhaha]