Best way to fix bookcases to wall? Safety reasons.

[Lovethesea]

Ideas please! I need to make a climbing 1 year old and tall bookcases less of a fatal combination. We used a single top bolt in our last place but that was with a non-climber and the 1 year old is a hefty build. It would be great to know if there was a better system around.

And has anyone fixed a flatscreen TV so it doesn't topple? It'll be on the bookshelf out of reach but I think he could shake the bookshelf (billy ikea).

And he's already pulled drawers out of the chest of drawers enough to make it start to topple onto him, anyone used a good system to prevent that?

Probably sounds horribly PFB but it's actually all so I can practise my benign neglect relaxed parenting approach and leave him playing with his sister while I mn do stuff around the house.

Can you use two bolts instead of one? Also rearrange the shelves so heavier stuff on the bottom, consider putting stuff away as well.

We've fixed our tv to the wall with a tv bracket. It's a 40" flat screen and it's much safer than having it on the tv bench.

The chest of drawers - you could use safety catches so he can't open the drawers and fix to the wall.

We've taken the tall book shelves out of the living room and they're in the dining room which has a safety gate. So he's never in the dining room alone. Living room is ok as only a low tv bench, no coffee table to climb on plus the sofas and computer desk. If I need to cook, he has a cupboard in the kitchen plus a corner with a lap tray so he can play with his toys.

To be honest, we only left DS (a climbed) alone for a few minutes at a time once he was 18 months plus because he's capable of finding danger where we'd never think it existed!

Our flat screen TV (an LG) has a hole in its base that we have screwed down through into the TV stand so that it can't topple. I know this ruins the TV stand, or shelf, that it sits on but I think its worth it. Has your TV got a hole in its base? The hole in ours is about 4mm wide.

We have something similar to this for some bookcases. I think Billy bookcases usually come with brackets for attaching to walls (like their Pax, Trofast, Malm and others do) so it might be worth calling Ikea and finding out if they are able to sell you some on their own.

The other thing to think about safety wise is whether any of your windows have blinds, they are a real strangulation hazard, particularly with climbers who can fall and become entangled. If you do have lose cords look here for the type of thing you can buy.

Brilliant links thanks. Hopefully we can bolt, screw and lash it all to the walls and then find something really interesting to distract him. As soon as he stops eating gravel I'll kick them into the garden more too, but those safety items will give me less nightmares.