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?!

I was always really paranoid about corners on tables, so on the low coffee table I insisted on those corner rounder thingies. The foam C shape things are useful for when the doors become a temporary source of fascination, and we used a stairgate. I think I condo do without everything else.

I didn't do much baby proofing for the first two DC. I moved ornaments, dangerous chemicals and other obvious stuff but not much else. They were not climbers, pokers, fiddlers or openers. DC 3 was a totally different character and the type to 'explore' and fiddle with everything. She managed to climb on top of our American fridge freezer when she was three'ish. She used a chair then the shelves of the wall cabinets and somehow managed to get right on top. She would rummage through any and every drawer and cupboard. She was a menace

I never used stair gates but one DC did fall down a flight of wooden stairs right from the top to thebottom so that wasn't my greatest bit of parenting. Luckily they were just a bit stunned and didn't actually do themselves any harm.

perfectly reasonable and very good idea

I did make sure the cords of our blinds were child friendly.

Nd Fwiw I have also taught my DS the word 'no' and he's VERY careful about touching stuff when out or at other people's houses (my view is we watch him, people shouldn't have to babyproof for us). But at home he is everywhere alllllllllll the time.
It totally depends on the child. I find this blase (can't do accents, on phone) attitude to childproofing a bit dangerous to be taken at face value - I wouldn't be able to get anything done if I said 'no' all day, and it would be all day.

Proof your house as you see your dc doing things that are dangerous/destructive, you can always take off the locks/plug thingies if you find them unnecessary.

I've already written a short story for DS: Why Mr Fork and Mrs Socket Can't be Friends!

I think it's down to your child's temperament - I'm not anti babyproofing, it just hasn't been necessary for my toddler. I don't follow him round,saying no because he doesn't do stuff that I deem unsafe. Who knows what the next one will be like though.

My babyproofing for DS was only socket covers really...he was drawn to them like a moth to a flame. We also moved cleaning products out of reach. I think we may have started off with some corner pad things on the coffee table but they didn't last long. We were in a flat then so no gates required.

DD is almost 8 months so we're at that stage again now. She's seems to like the sockets too so we've stuck covers on. We're in a house now so will be getting stairgates but other than that I'm not planning to do much. Cleaning products are out of reach already.

I may do more as we go along if we find other things are particularly hazardous for her.

I've seen threads on mumsnet that say socket covers actually make the sockets more dangerous - apparently with modern sockets you need to stick pins in all three holes to trigger a charge, which is pretty impossible for a toddler to do but if there is a cover on and she/he manages to stick a finger/pen/fork in then will get a live current. Will try to find a link

Actually my explanation not accurate but they are dangerous- see link
www.fatallyflawed.org.uk/

We have a stairgate upstairs but not downstairs. We tried to keep the door to the stairs shut, which became a game of us all diving to close it the minute it opened. Now he goes to the stairs and waits for us.

In the kitchen we've moved the cleaning things out of reach, and used linking chains you'd attach toys to to keep another door closed.

In the room we have a basket of pine cones in front of the fire. DC have never been allowed to touch this basket. So they've learnt there are some things in reach that are out of bounds, and they've never got close enough to the fire to do any harm (not that the fire is ever on.)

at home we have a stairgate at the top.
that's to stop her fallingg down the stairs when we're upstairs.
that's all.
we have a trellis infront of the cupboard under the tv more to stop her pulling stuff off shelves and getting food in the video than safety.
in the kitchen, the nearest cipboard ti the door is full of dried and tinned food so tgat keeps her entertained.
she's been near the oven once, and she touched it carefully then wandered off (think it was hot)
oh, but she does try to climb in the washing machine.

at the shop, I now have a stairgate at the bottom to stop her disappearing while I'm servjng, and a big bit of cardboard by the till to stop her escaping and destroying my stock.
ooh, and there's one behind my chair to stop her pulling everything off shelves. nothing for her safety, byt all for my sanity!

yy to sockt covers being dangerous - they're an american thing because they don't have the earth cover. uk sockets are already child safe. that's the whole reason for the earth cover

Yes, yes to those who say that you need to see what your child's personality is like.

DD1 was pretty good. We had one top stair gate because the landing was small and I worried she would trip and fall. But not much else.

Never bothered with a bottom stair gate because she wasn't interested in the stairs until she could safely navigate them.

Another child might have needed far more.

And socket covers are really dangerous, don't use them in the UK.

All we've done is put a lock on the chemical cupboard and try to ensure that things he might break (as opposed to things that might break him) are out of reach. They do have to learn, although not sure how long it takes as son still insists on trying to stand up underneath the kitchen table despite banging his head several times a day.

If you want to find anything your dc will chew, pull out, destroy -wriggle around your house on your tummy
see whats in reach
figure out what they might use to pull themselves up with ( bookshelves, tv stands cheat of drawers ) and secure it to the wall firmly

Get those books or old vinyl albums out of reach -though from experience a teething child and an incident with original vinyl Hendrix album will, eventually, be forgiven.

Depends what your dcs are like. Mine were climbers and into everything. Ds was pulling a box around to climb on to get stuff before he was 12 months old. Dd spent an evening in a&e when she just learnt to crawl because she attempted the stairs and fell down them.
I caught her standing on top of the microwave getting stuff from the top of the cupboards when she was 2.
I had childproofing everywhere.

Agree with previous posters that socket covers are unnecessary (and potentially more dangerous than uncovered sockets) in the UK.

We have a stairgate on the living room and on the stairs up and down on middle floor.

For my dd at least there seems to be a large amount of time between thinking going up stairs is the best thing ever (since 11months) and being "trainable" to go down them safely (still not getting it at 13months). Baby proofing allows me to be a lazier parent so I am a fan! Having said that I don't use cupboard lock as dd doesn't open them and I never let her go in kitchen unattended.

Oh god yes blind cords.

That is one thing that should defiantly be 'proofed'

Glad I wrote my comment about the socket covers. I had no idea they were dangerous. Thank you.

Please put a lock on the cupboard where you keep your cleaning products.

I have just remembered that I secured tall shelves etc to the wall. I think I did more baby proofing than I first thought . to be fair my youngest baby is 16, so it was a while ago

I love the fact that people say I didn't babyproof but I did have ....etc etc

We all have our own risk values. Usually dependant on what we have experienced or had those close to us experience. But it makes no sense to follow your baby around all day saying no - I certainly couldn't be bothered.

All medicines, food and cleaning products in high cupboards. Front door locked if necessary (ie if its not a yale), all knives and cords out of reach and valuables moved. I did all of the above with my boys.

And for those of you saying "my child doesn't do that...." just remember that Just because they don't, doesn't mean they won't!!! Every child who has drunk bleach (always after being left for just a second) or pulled a hot pan on them or any other accident that happens daily in homes around the country, probably had never done that either until that particular day.

certainly you don't need to be paranoid, but being so complacant is not necessarily a good thing either.

We didn't have stair gates but I had a playpen in the front room and a kind of activity centre rocking thing in the kitchen. We have stairs everywhere so it was easier to have 2 places I could leave babies

We have stair gates and the kitchen cupboards and living room coffee table drawer all have those catchy things. We did this last month after he started walking. I'd recommend doing the kitchen cupboards. It got ridiculous the amount of times he'd take out washed plates in a day and throw them around the room.

I have a stair gate to stop the DTs going into the kitchen and climbing (or shutting each other) into the tumble dryer or getting burnt/scalded (not because I leave stuff within their reach, but I have a narrow galley kitchen and they can get under my feet when I am preparing a meal - it terrifies me that I will trip over one of them when carrying a pan of boiling water,) and I have a stair gate to stop them going upstairs and climbing up onto DS1's bunk bed or falling head first down the toilet.

I had foam slam-stoppers on doors downstairs but they got lost.

Kitchen cupboard with cleaning products has a child safety catch.

I have blind cords out of reach and childproof safety locks on upstairs windows for when I am upstairs with DTs, as a while back I caught one of them just about to open the window.

I think it is easy to see potential danger everywhere, but you could spend forever trying to protect your children from every possible hazard. If it's not life threatening I try not to worry too much. The only non life threatening thing I have a bee in my bonnet about is the door slamming/fingers potentially getting chopped off in door hinges. My little DTs are terrible for this at the moment and no amount of me saying 'no' makes a difference.