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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think it's impossible to 'child-proof' your house

120 replies

NorthernRosie · 17/01/2016 09:30

I have a baby of 6 months and everything keeps telling me that I need to go round and childproof the house - but how on earth can you childproof a whole house?

I have a small house and don't have enough storage and cupboards to put EVERYTHING that could be slightly dangerous on a top shelf.

Do I need to replace our pull down shutter blinds in living room? And what about our expensive floor standing speakers - do I have to replace those? And get our DVD / stereo boxed in? I can't afford all that on maternity leave!!!

What did you do?

OP posts:

DisappointedOne · 18/01/2016 16:05

I didn't want to stop DD exploring, so I just made it so she could do it safely. Eg get herself downstairs on her tummy, non-slip socks on, remove anything she could pull onto herself.

GirlOutNumbered · 18/01/2016 16:06

I love this post as before I had my second son I would have definitely been in the ' just tell them not to touch' band. However, my second son is a lunatic and would gladly pour bleach in his eyes, even with his older and more sensible brother telling him not too.

I didn't go mad 'child proofing', just assess the risk and yes it does depend on the child!

Iwonderwhy123 · 18/01/2016 16:07

As others have said we have done sensible things like a staircase and putting cleaning products in a locked cupboard but you can't wrap the house in sponge and remove all trace of normal life. I think kids soon learn what hey can and can't touch etc.

Iwantakitchen · 18/01/2016 16:09

I am a childminder and I can say that some toddlers will be mild and are happy to explore a box of books and toys whilst others will manage to lick electric sockets, climb on a chair then a full night dining table and find the smallest grains of fried rice from under the fridge all within the same hour. Good luck

Iwantakitchen · 18/01/2016 16:10

Obviously the electric sockets are covered and the toddle who climbed on the dining room table was my own son!

DisappointedOne · 18/01/2016 16:13

Electric sockets in the UK should not be covered (if you covered you mean with those blanking plugs). They're a fire hazard! See link up thread.

IfItsGoodEnough4ShirleyBassey · 18/01/2016 16:28

The first time DD touched a hot radiator she didn't think to take her hand away, she just stood there screaming. So much for billions of years of evolution

splendide · 18/01/2016 16:34

i just can't believe how ridiculous my son's instinct for finding things he shouldn't touch is. Even at nursery they (as a funny story, not complaining I think) told me they'd had to rearrange the sensory room because DS had found a way to get to the plugs and kept turning the fairy lights off. He was the youngest baby in the room!

Steadfastly refusing to actually walk but he can open all my doors (by dragging a box or large toy to stand on if necessary) and scale the bookcases.

sandythesquirrel · 18/01/2016 16:45

Childproofing - what humbug! We never childproofed the house. We lived in a bungalow, so there were no stairs and we only had 1 DS. So admittedly it was easier. If we had stairs perhaps I would have put a gate.

I saw other friends go crazy putting covers on sockets, putting pads on the end of corners, removing breakables, clearing everything toxic from under the sink etc etc.

We just taught DS not to touch things and why. At 18 months he was aware enough.

We have lots of collectibles (fragile, breakable ones), some in glass cabinets, some on top of cabinets - he never broke one.
We had whole doors made of glass - they remained in tact.
We have expensive persian carpets - he never ruined one.
He never cut himself on a sharp edge (there were a few bumps- but no more than myself or dh!)
He never raided the cupboard under the sink to drank mr muscle or BAM.
He never licked a socket .

FixItUpChappie · 18/01/2016 16:51

I know of a child who died when they pulled the tv down on themselves. So I had my husband connect all ours to the wall.

We also bolted all bookshelves to the wall as IKEA had recommended and which we had ignored prior to having children

I put in socket covers (but I'm not in the UK - I think there may be something different about your sockets)

Moved fragile things out of reach, moved paper books out of reach

bought a soft ottoman style coffee table to replace our hard sharply cornered one

My friends child pulled down some terracotta pots in a fancy stand and almost brained herself - so it's important to consider what can safely if inconveniently topple and what could spell disaster.

had a playpen set up in the corner for if I needed to bolt downstairs etc

had stair gate at top of stairs (bolted in kind)

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 18/01/2016 16:53

No, my DS1 never did any of those things either. I guess if I'd stopped at 1 I would have been congratulating myself on my skills in teaching him not to touch things too - but then DS2 came along

It's all very child-dependent.

Bunbaker · 18/01/2016 17:00

"It's all very child-dependent."

Very much this ^^

Just saying no works for some children.

FixItUpChappie · 18/01/2016 17:05

If you have more than one young child, you can't be everywhere at once to teach in every moment. I wouldn't be proud to not have child proofed on the assumption that superior parentIng will avert any danger,,,an ounce of prevention and all that.

those who childproof also "teach them no" for pity's sake....it's not like everyone is child proofing through to college

SaucyJack · 18/01/2016 17:06

And the thing is with some kids is that they have such horribly weird and wonderful imaginations that you can never predict what it is you need to tell them not to do until it's already done.

I remember one time I caught DD1 tearing pages out of a book of mine and glueing them to the walls with Marmite. It'd unsurprisingly never occurred to me to add that one to the big list of do's and don't's.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 18/01/2016 17:17

Haha Saucy - you're so right! it never occurred to us to tell 4yo DS1 (yes, the "good" one) not to pretend that Daddy's wedding ring was a steak and swallow it while watching Madagascar either (can't imagine why!) - but he did. Long past the age when you'd think he'd be putting random things in his mouth, and he'd never really done it before, he goes and swallows DH's wedding ring. Chokes on it of course, seems like it's stuck in his throat, and he can't breathe, so we ended up in an ambulance to get him x-rayed to see where it had stuck - by then of course it had gone down into his stomach, must have just scratched his throat on the way down.

Was lovely and shiny when it came out the other end (DH's job to find it).

IfItsGoodEnough4ShirleyBassey · 18/01/2016 17:21

Laundry tablets cause some shocking injuries just because adults don't think of them as dangerous. You need to put them in the same mental bracket as bleach.

simplydivine05 · 18/01/2016 20:28

Stair gates and plug socket thingies (which I used until ds was 5 in his bedroom as two sockets were right next to his bed and unused) were all I used.
Knives were out of reach. My landlord wouldn't let me put locks on cupboards so I just had to manage. I didn't use the fire when ds was up as no space for a fireguard. Ds wasn't very nosy (he is now at 7 though haha). I didn't manage to save my cd collection though; that was wrenched off the bookcase several times a day and ended up so wrecked they were all binned !

NerrSnerr · 18/01/2016 20:31

It's really scary how many people use plug socket covers. I'm surprised there hasn't been more awareness campaigns over the years.

specialsubject · 18/01/2016 20:38

If MN didn't class all science as 'geeky stuff' perhaps they'd do something.

you can lick electric sockets without harm. So can a child. If it has a long forked tongue it still wouldn't matter due to the socket shutters. But give it a socket cover and it may be able to open the shutters.

missymayhemsmum · 18/01/2016 23:32

You need to childproof the house for your own sanity as well as your baby's safety, because otherwise you will have a screaming baby who wants to crawl and can't be put down for a moment without getting into something dangerous. Go round any room you would put baby down to crawl in and remove anything he/ she could choke on/ topple/ burn hersolf on/ electrocute or strangle or poison himself on. Then add stairgates. And clean a lot.
That way you will be able to leave your crawling baby for as much as 30 seconds without risk to life or limb.
It's either that or a playpen. Actually it's that and a playpen, imho.

Then review everything when he/she learns to pull up/ stand/ climb/walk. And be very very strict with everyone else in the house that they can't just dump plastic bags/mud/power tools/catfood dishes wherever they feel like it any more.

Your baby will still surprise you (I moved the heavy china fruit bowl to the top of the piano so it was out of reach- till my 11 month old climbed the piano).

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