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Behaviour/development

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Original poster

Did you babyproof your house once your baby was active?

64 replies

ILikeYourSleeves · 17/10/2008 20:35

Today my DS started crawling properly! Wooo hoooo! He is nearly one year old, he has been crwaling backwards a bit for a few weeks but today he started crawling forwards just suddenly out of nowhere, I am a very proud mummy. I had thought about babyproofing before but haven't done that much apart from push the sofa over the sockets. Most of the stuff in the living room is safe to explore (I don't mind him pulling books out etc as I think it's good that he can explore) but the fire is a hazard (we don't have it on but he could take all the coals out and try to eat them or throw them around which would be a major sooty mess) and our TV is low down (a large flat screen on a TV bench). Some people have said we will need to get a play pen but I detest them, they seem like jails to me, hardly any room for exploration. So just wondering what you did? Am I being really naive? Can you have a minimal babyproofed room or did you cover everything in bubblewrap? And playpen V no playpen?

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twentynine · 17/10/2008 20:36

You put the TV in the playpen NOT the baby

Seriously unless he's in there on his own I wouldn't bother, soon after crawling comes walking and climbing and then whatever you do they will get into bother at some point.

Febes · 17/10/2008 20:41

DD has started to cruise the funiture and has been crawling for a few months. I haven't babyproofed the house yet but I do watch her and if I am out of sight I prefer to close the lounge door to keep her in the safest room. My dh is hopeless and leaves tools and we have a big plant in the dining room which I have caught her eating the soil a few times.
I am quite relaxed and let her explore but try to keep her safe.

NorbertDentressangle · 17/10/2008 20:43

When DD became mobile I went away to my parents for the weekend leaving DP at home to "babyproof" the house.

Only problem was that whilst we were away DD in her pushchair managed to tip upside down, down some steps resulting in a trip to casualty . (the pushchair wheel wasn't on the top step properly and I had turned round to unlock the door).

But to answer your question, we just:

-put up stair gates ( top of stairs and door to kitchen)
-socket covers
-lots of other things that won't apply to you, but as our house was mid-renovation at the time, needed doing urgently

(no play pen)

IAteDavinaForDinner · 17/10/2008 20:45

I think it's actually impossible to babyproof properly. So, given that you can't really take your eyes off them anyway, it seemed easiest to not bother

We've moved some stuff/bolted bookcases to walls etc but on the whole nothing's much different. If we let him explore something to his satisfaction he will often then leave it alone.

Having said that we did think our printer was broken a few weeks ago until DP removed a dog chew from the mechanism, and then this morning he found a dog bowl in the washing machine ... so there are obviously times when they do find a minute to get up to mischief ..!

Stairgates are a must though.

MrsMattie · 17/10/2008 20:45

Yep, got stair gates, put locks on some cupboards, put all the nasty stuff like cleaning fluids etc out of reach and got a playpen (never saw it as a 'jail' - it was fab).

IAteDavinaForDinner · 17/10/2008 20:47

Oh, meant to say, we had a travel cot which we used as a play pen until he could walk, but that was because if we had to do something quickly we could pop him in it safe from the dogs.

Now the dogs are clamouring for it to be set up again

gybegirl · 17/10/2008 20:52

We had a stairgate (at the bottom and at the top), cupboard locks on the two cupboards that contained cleaning fluids, socket covers and inch thick foam on the fireplace hearth bit as it was slate with very sharp corners (didn't use the fire, but if you'd hit your head on the slate hearth corner you'd probably die).

The TV, sky and DVD all still work remarkably!

Never bought a playpen.

rolereversal · 17/10/2008 20:52

I had a playpen for my eldest which was great if I had to leave the room for a bit, but my other two would never be left in it and screamed the place down if I tried.

Never did any babyproofing tbh, no plug covers, no stair gates, no cupboard locks. Just watched them as much as possible and did lots of "ah ah ah" noises when they were doing anything I didnt want, seemed to work on the whole, as they are 12 9 and 5 now and we had no great disasters.

Also, taught them to crawl backwards down the stairs from a very early age (before they were 18 months ). This horrified my mil and my mum but it meant they were pretty safe on stairs from a very early age. Remember going on holiday with 2 other families to a cottage with no stairgates when kids were all about 2, other kids all had accidents down the stairs cos they had no idea how to approach them.

gybegirl · 17/10/2008 20:52

PS Congratulations on the crawling !

mytetherisending · 17/10/2008 21:01

I didn't except plug socket covers, tucked wires out of the way as possible, stair gate on the stairs and across the kitchen door. I also moved my sharp cornered coffee table to the edge of the room, instead of the middle with nice candles on it LOL I would get a fire guard though because if there happens to be a chip of coal and he swallows it he could choke.

mytetherisending · 17/10/2008 21:02

Oh yes and the words 'no' 'ah ah' and 'don't touch' regularly

pinata · 17/10/2008 21:03

i do some daily baby proofing - putting sofa cushions on the corners of the fireplace and over the cables we seem to have in some corners that don't fit any cable tidies or any other means of control

other than that we have a stairgate fitted to the living room door (dd is not walking yet)

i've found that letting her explore things stops them being mysterious, so she really wants them. if things are fairly safe, i just let her look at them, while i'm there

not sure what we'll do when she can walk, though - our house seems to be hazard city outside of the living room, but have decided to cross that bridge when we come to it...

Flightattendant2 · 17/10/2008 21:03

No no no you cover the baby in bubble wrap and then he is free to roam

Seriously - take it as it comes. they can be pretty tame till - well let's just say at 16mo mine has suddenly (within a few days) become a rampant destructor of all.

For instance he slithered backwards down the cellar steps a while ago, to join me sorting out a box of stuff. He tried to climb over it to get past me, but there was broken glass there so I said 'Nooo, ds', removed him gently from the box and put him back on the other side of it... and he kept on trying - about 20 times before I gave up and went upstairs with him.

He then started sticking his hand into a container of sharp nails I was sorting out. Repeatedly. And when I stopped doing that in frustration and went to get something out of the oven. he followed me there too and tried to put his hands in there.

Seriously I am unprepared for this. I had forgotten what a complete nightmare it is trying to get anything done!!!!

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

(ds1 was just as bad if not worse - but I have a four year gap so I was recovered by the time I decided another was a good idea!)

I am just going to have to follow him everywhere.

Sexonlegs · 17/10/2008 21:07

We went a bit mad with dd1, but with dd2, all we have bothered with is the stairgates at top and bottom and we have the plug socket covers (from when dd1 was little). The bookcases are still nailed to the wall too.

Last time we had loads of stuff including locks on the kitchen cabinets. Can't be arsed with that now!

fruitymum · 17/10/2008 21:14

didn't babyproof house - DD crawled at 5 months so we had a playpen in the kitchen so I could cook - she could play, watch me , look out the french doors. Put a stairgate at the top of the stairs only. Kept a good eye on her and let her explore. The only kitchen cupboards she went into were the ones with her stuff in and the one with the salad spinner - magic roundabout for ted!

DontlookatmeImscaaarrryyy · 17/10/2008 21:19

We got all the obvious stuff, stairgates, socket covers, cupboard locks.

We also got playpens but have ended up putting the playpens around the stuff we want to protect, (stereo, bookcases, fire etc) rather than around the ds's, so they still have the freedom to roam around whereever they like.

baffledmum · 17/10/2008 21:23

haven't had a playpen with either child. We did do sockets, move dangerous meds and cleaning products out of reach and put in stairgates but that was it. Other than that, we just kept a good eye on both of them. I will confess to being charged by an 18 month old with a big knife though so maybe I am not the right person to be asking!

Snippety · 17/10/2008 21:33

Not really. Moved coffee table up to tv so he couldn't touch sky box & X box behind it. he now climbs on top of it to reach Makka Pakka .Bought Baby Dan extendable playpen thing which when opened up fences off a corner of the room containing 2 pcs, floor lamp, heater and our swords that are hanging up on the wall.

ponkalunk · 17/10/2008 21:40

Being a neurotic we installed baby gates months before DS was mobile (the rational being that we would be in the habit of using them by the time DS was on the move we). DS, who is now 16 months, seems to have picked up our obsession and runs to close the gates if they are left open - which may make you wonder why we bothered to install them. We also have socket covers, tucked away the cables and purchased a play pen (for those times when his granny is looking after him and needs to pop to the toilet - left to his own devises he would probably scale the bookcase and throw his toys through the window). We also purchased a 'Fun Pod' which allows DS to keep safe while washing up or watching us cook

DS has had a few accidents since becoming mobile - all toy related and no amount of baby-proofing would have prevented.

good luck

cat64 · 17/10/2008 21:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

ponkalunk · 17/10/2008 22:10

forgot to add - the pen it also useful when DS wants a brief kip, so it has several purposes - not just prison.

hf128219 · 17/10/2008 22:17

Eyes in the bck of your head time! My dd isn't crawling yet - just rolling. Nearly rolled out of the french doors yesterday!

ponkalunk · 17/10/2008 22:20

Can't believe that I forgot to mention that we bought a TV cabinet with tempered glass doors (which is secured with a hair-band (we did buy a child lock - but it just drew more attention to the door handles). we also put the TV on a nonslip mat and rubber cushions on the corners (DS removed the corner cushions within 2 weeks - didn't bother to replace them).

alittleteapot · 17/10/2008 22:36

I put masking tape over the video tape hole and baby friendly things in all low cupboards and drawers. like you pushed the sofa back so the cable mess was out of reach. But I really wanted her to be able to safely explore without being shut out of everything - and it paid off - the first month of crawling was her most independent so far - she didn't need entertaining at all! didn't last long...

PumpkinPatty · 17/10/2008 22:42

We haven't done much - just a stairgate at the top of stairs and plug socket covers.

We just shut the kitchen door / lounge door to stop DD going upstairs / through the kitchen cupboards.

AS soon as she works out how to open doors we will have to reconsider this though

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