Did you babyproof your house once your baby was active?

[ILikeYourSleeves]

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?

Just re playpens - I didn't use one with DD1, because of lack of room, but now use our travel cot as a playpen with DD2. She is quite happy to sit in it for short periods, so long as she isn't too too tired. But what I like about it (apart from the fact that I know she is safe) is that she actually sits and plays 'properly' with her toys, whereas DD1, who was roaming free, never played with anything for more than 10 secs ebcause obviously pulling out magazines and eating them was much more fun!

I got a box of safety bits at a Nearly New sale, so didn't make a special effort to kit myself out (would possibly not have bought anything apart from cupboard protectors and stair gate). We don't seem to have any sockets that don't already have plugs in them or aren't hidden behind bookcases, so none of those are in use.
I stuck a couple of corner protectors onto the outward corners of a chest in the living room, more because I had the things than because they're needed. He's mostly headbutting into sides of furniture as he crawls, or falling sideways as he pulls up, so nothing aside from the 'bubblewrap the baby' approach will help!

We do have a stairgate because he's attempted to climb the stairs, and my mum bought us a playpen last week when she saw how mobile he was. He hates being shut in it if he notices but wouldn't you? I use it for quick loo visits, or when I have to leave him unattended for more than a few minutes. In the kitchen, I just have him on the floor, playing with wooden spoons and sieves. Haven't fitted those cupboard door protectors yet...

Oh, and cushions are deployed throughout the house!

He's 7 and a half months, has been crawling for about 6 weeks...

My friend has a 1 yr old who is crawling very well now and so close to walking - she has a play pen for her DD, but one which folds out into a 'fence' for want of a better word, so she can fence off the cooker/patio doors/anything else she doesn't want DD to get into, rather than fencing in DD. I think it came from Mothercare - I'm pretty impressed by it and will invest I think when the time comes.

Did very little baby-proofing.
It never occured to me to buy a playpen and I never found it a problem. At that age, doors can be shut to keep them contained in one room and that room can be baby-proofed as far as necessary.

I put a baby lock on the TV cabinet doors to keep DD out of the DVD player, stereo etc. That was really useful. She really wanted to get her sticky little fingers in there, but never worked out how to.
I also found it necessary to 'lock' certain cupboards with rubber bands around the handles etc. As she got bigger, that necessity didn't last long though.

I put safety covers on some plugs and sockets.

I also had baby gates over the top and bottom of the stairs, but didn't use them in the end. I preferred to help DD practice crawling up and down the stairs so that she could use them safely. She too preferred this and got really angry if we ever tried to keep the gate closed for visiting children etc.

I agree about over-baby-proofing stuff.
DD can go to other people's houses and leave everything alone. Some friends have toddler who destroy everything because they aren't used to having access.

plug socket covers for definite...a baby cousin of mine was killed when she stuck a nail into a socket

I have a ds1 aged 2.8 and ds2 aged 11 months. All we've got is a stairgate on the playroom so I can put the ds2 in there if I really need too but often it's more bother than it's worth as ds1 gets stuck in there too and moans and we have door locks on the dangerous kitchen cupboards (breakables or chemicals). I think stairgates would be more hassle than they're worth and my 11 month old is already pretty proficient at climbing up the stairs and is learning to come down so I just keep a fairly close eye on him when he's doing it. From 16-17 months my older one was totally competent on the stairs and maybe it's just his personality but would never trash the place anyway. I think you can spend too much time doing things that are only needed for a few months and there's always going to be some danger.

With dd1 we pretty much did it all- she pulled all the corner-bumpers off the tables, quickly figured out the cupboard locks and smacked her head off the stairgate.

With ds (11months, and crawling/ cruising), we have done nothing. I do have a playpen if I really can't watch him, but dd1(now 4) is the perfect alarm system- "Muum- Tom is trying to eat the cat litter!" etc. I found when I babyproofed I had a false sense of security, so my reasoning is that I am more likely to be vigilant if there are no safety nets. I also think that stairgates would be potentially dangerous for dds (4 and 3), and they would no doubt leave them open- so prob easier just to keep a close eye.

I did think you had to disable the earth before you could be electrocuted, but I'm very vigilant that there be nothing left around that ds could potentially stick into a plug socket. He's investigated them already and found them pretty boring (not as interesting as the artificial coal anyway!)

My biggest bugbear is constantly watching that the dds haven't left any small chokeable objects around for him, which is a full-time occupation.

I did have a friend, though, who actually wrapped all the edges of her furniture in bubble wrap! When we went round when dd was a baby she tried to eat it

We didn't bother with much babyproofing. We bought stair gates for top and bottom and we put a small table in front of the gas fire which is one of those that looks like a real fire (we hardly ever have it on). Other than that, nothing. DD is now two and has understood 'No' and 'Don't touch' pretty much from the start. Also 'Gentle'. That was pretty handy when she had a phase of investigating house plants. Having said that, I think she is a particularly cautious child and some children would have managed to hurt themselves/break something important with our minimal approach.

One funny thing was that I spent ages telling her that the cupboard under the sink was full of VERY DANGEROUS THINGS and nobody must touch them except Mummy etc which she totally took on board. A week or so later, she spotted DH getting something out of there and came racing to get me, towed me to the kitchen and stood there pointing at him yelling "No, Daddy, NO!"

Never did babyproofing.
Bought a general baby proofing box of bits but never used it. never used the plug covers either.
Stairgate between kitchen door to stop ds coming in while cooking/keep dogs out but it is open all the rest of the time. Chemicals are under the sink but ds was never allowed in the cupboards.
My friend locked away the video and dvd player but again my ds was taught they were off limits and was never a problem.

He hits head on the corner of the wall more then anything and I cant do anything about that!

Never bothered with stairgate on the stairs.

Socket covers as we have loads. Foam on one or two really sharp edges/corners of tables that would have doubtless sent us to casualty. They saved us a million times. OUr place very open plan so we used the Baby Dan play pen as a huge baby gate creating "safe" environment in the sitting room, like a big play pen really. Also had big gate between dining area and kitchen so he could play happily while I cooked without me panicking he'd be under my feet. Because of open plan we never had stair gates, isntead had gates on our bedroom and his (all second hand or given I might add these gates). Having said that we chose to get him doing stairs asap and taught him very early on to go down backwards. Essential as we have stairs between two bits of open plan on ground floor. as a result he's always been great at stairs and it helped him a lot in playgrounds too. Def got and still have (DS is now 3.5) cupboard locks on bleach cleaning products cupboard and couple that have china in too. We "gave" him a cupboard, ie stored things he could have out to try and let him feel like he was exploring. also found foamy door things that stop them trapping finers or keep doors open very useful and still use those now as he belts in and out of garden. Also shifted a couple of I could pull those huge pieces of furniture, bookshelf type things down on myself, around a bit.

For everything else we took a suck it and see approach. Several things got moved higher and higher, or wedged. Some have now come down and same have stayed up.

The more time you spend with your newly mobile DC the more you'll see what they get in to.

We have done the sockets and stair gates, but will get loo locks too, because DS loves water, and can lift the seat to get to the magical liquid below.
There is a 5 year gap between children, so it has taken some getting used to, to have an inquisitive baby on the scene again. We have just moved, and DS has just started crawling, so we have not unpacked the books!
You just need to watch them constantly, and remember the power of "NO"! It is all you will find yourself saying for the next year or so!
If you are consistent, they will soon learn what they are allowed and not allowed to do.
Oh, and DS bangs his head every day on the turny things on the radiators. May lag them with old socks, but there's not a lot I can do about that!

Oh, the loo is a great one. We never ever left the loo seat up until DD had the self-control not to stick her hands down there. She didn't actually know what was down there for ages.