Protecting the tree from baby

[InDreamland]

Hello lovely MN peeps

I'm thinking ahead to when I put my tree and decs up 1st weekend of December and wondering how on earth I'm going to protect it from my 9 month old DD. She's pulling herself up on everything and grabbing anything she can get her hands on (I've had to move a lot out of her reach). I just know she'll try to pull all the decs off the tree and possibly even pull the tree over - we have a 6ft artificial one.

So the question is, how on earth do I avoid the tree being attacked? At the moment the only thing I can think of is to put it in her baby jail and she basically can't use it for a month but obviously we need it to put her somewhere safe when we need to leave her unattended for 5 mins. I looked at those nice white fences sold online to go around a tree but I've read they're more for decorative purposes and won't stop a determined baby getting to the tree.

Fireguard has many uses. Or just put a smaller one up a height. Or get a half Christmas tree.. or don't have one this year.

We have a fake tree and when we had a 1yo we put it up with no lights on and just a few decorations, so if it tipped over it wasn't a problem. Plus barricaded with footstools etc.

You can also get room dividers by the baby gate companies - could invest in one of those if you think you'll use it at other times.

Put the tree in the " baby jail" and she stays outsude it

This was my solution when DD was 10 months old - actually 30 years ago next month!

When our dc were really tiny we got a smaller tree and put it on a table so it couldn't be reached.

Loving the idea of the playpen with the tree inside

Neither of mine bothered with the tree as babies. Now they're primary school age, they poke it and touch it constantly!

My parents did the same as RustyBear. We've been offered the old play pen to protect our tree this year but our baby is six months and not quite at that stage, although she's got time still!

We got ours up and DS 16 months has been okay. Does occasionally pull baubles off or run into it then back out then back in again... 😂

When our most headlong child was 17 months at Christmas we got a smaller tree & stood it on a side table in a corner with a big fire guard wedged across it (we did without a fire that Christmas )

We have a open plan living & dining room. For DS's first Christmas at 7months he wasn't crawling or pulling himself up so we didn't worry. Just put the tree up in the living room.

But by his 2nd Christmas he was mobile (but not walking - late walker). So we put the tree in the dining room and fitted a large retractable baby gate in the archway between the living room and dining room to keep him out. He was then only allowed in the dining room for meals and we could keep him away from the tree.

Something like this - www.argos.co.uk/product/2994767

Luckily last year he seemed to behave around the tree so we didn't keep him away from the tree. Hopefully he'll be the same this year.

We got a felt Christmas tree with decorations last year for our 12 month old DS and put it in front of the real tree. It definitely worked as a distraction. A few baubles and things got pulled off the real one but we left the lower branches mostly bare. This year may be more difficult I imagine!

A tiny tree in the playpen was my solution too. Later on, I put a hook in the wall and tied the tree to the wall so the kids couldn't pull it onto themselves.

No idea, watching for ideas. He’s 7 months, crawling and obviously has no idea what ‘ no don’t pull the tree down’ means.

None of my DCs have ever bothered with my trees. I’ve always had big ones 8-9ft covered in glass and gold baubles, but other than going up to admire it, they’ve not pulled it. Maybe see what the reaction is before putting guards around it. My friend put hers on a coffee table for a few years. My baby goddaughter then thought it was a challenge and she was always after the tree and the baubles!! Mine know it’s mummy’s “precious” and to touch it gently, but don’t remove the baubles

As per RustyBear's suggestion - a baby pen.

Tree goes in pen, baby has free range outside pen.

My twins are 4 and autistic. Every year the decorations have been gradually removed from or moved up the tree throughout December - I love Christmas but genuinely considering no tree this year as no barrier would stop them. At the least I have a prelit tree so wires are minimal, only shatterproof baubles which are too large to go in a mouth, etc. Do you have a place to put the tree where you could tie it to something like a radiator so it can’t tip?

Solution!

We have the same issue with having a very active 9 month old who I know wouldn’t leave the tree alone!
Dh actually spent yesterday working on a solution (see pic!). We bought a second hand cot for £10 and used the two sides and base to nail together to go round where the tree will go. It seems sturdy as dd has been pulling on it and it’s been fine. We are putting up our tree this weekend:)

@Tempusfudgeit That is a brilliant solution, and it looks gorgeous too.

My DD was 13 months last Christmas and we were quite concerned about this beforehand. In the end we didn't really come up with a solution per se, we just put the nicer decorations and the lights higher up the tree. She did fiddle with them occasionally, and even pulled the tree over once, but it wasn't as big a problem as you'd imagine as we just pushed it straight back up. We told her no every time and it did discourage her for the most part. I wouldn't get a real tree.

Playpen. It means the gifts are safe too!

I seem to remember that we avoided glass decorations in the toddler years too.

I am trying to figure out this same problem. The kids are fine; it's my cat! Sadly, playpens won't work so I will be leaving anything breakable off the tree this year.

We've had Christmas with DS at 6 months and 18 months and I've been surprised by how little the tree has been a problem.

We usually get quite a big, real tree so to stop him pulling it down on himself we had some strong twine wrapped around the trunk of the tree and then tethered it to the skirting board behind. We then put baubles and decs that were safe for him to play with the bottom of the tree, and the nicer, glass ones at the top. We actually encouraged him to look at the tree, play with the decorations, etc, which I think helped the novelty wear off.

Some good ideas here. I think I'm going to look for a cheap secondhand playpen so I can do what @RustyBear did or just get out the small tree we have (that I had forgotten we have) to put higher up.

@Adelais that's genius!

I was worried about this too. My daughter is 9 months also and loves pulling herself up on everything (trying and failing to discourage her from climbing up the fireguard 🤦‍♀️)
We put our tree up on Saturday and honestly she's not even been that bothered about it. She's taken the odd bauble off and had a play with it but that's it so far. I didn't bother putting the glittery and fancy baubles at the bottom. My problem has been my 2 cats pinching the baubles and patting them down the stairs at 2am 🤣

Maybe put the tree up as normal and see how it goes the first day or 2 if you're feeling brave? Might be able to avoid paying for things you might not need?