Baby proofing tips please!!

[CanadaCalls]

Ok, so DS has just started crawling ( not with his knees, just soldier crawling through trench type of crawling) and i'm in a tizz!!

I've been looking forward to this moment for so long, nothing cuter than a baby that has just realised he can move without help! BUT, I'm not prepared!

I know the usual, get on their level, crawl around the house (if my old, rickety knees will allow it) and look for dangers that they would see (and of course, make it their mission to touch) plug socket things in plugs, door locks, sponges on the doors to stop slamming etc.....

Just wondered if anybody has had any bad experiences where they have been caught unaware and DC has surprised them with a hidden danger that you missed?

Ta very mooch :o

One thing to watch out for, and i don't know how to avoid it, is DC pulling open drawers and then climbing up them. My DD did this and brought the whole case down on herself, fortunately it stopped on a piece of furniture but she was still under it behind a door and it was hard to shift from outside the door. Very scary and has been fatal elsewhere. Maybe a good hook screwed into the wall and secured to the back of the chest of drawers. I have one of these on my cooker to stop it falling if a heavy load is placed on the open oven door.

I've also got circuit breaker plugs on all wall sockets that have an extension lead fitted. Didn't fancy spilling a cup of anything into the 4 plug extension socket. In this way, if it is damaged like this, it will trip out the circuit breaker and stopany current getting through. 12 quid in B&Q - but it does look attractive if visible to a child as it is orange and black with a lovely button on the front.

heh ^ what cairnterrier said. I agree and have done the same with DD who's now 2. It means that your little adventurer can then also be taken out and about easily to unchildproofed places!

Remember they have telescopic arms and can collect things that seem way out of reach.

The info on socket covers is really interesting, thanks!

What about electric cables/phone lines? My son is drawn to them like a bee to honey. Even with his razor sharp teeth, could he realistically chew through the insulation?

The house I grew up in had a York stone fireplace in the sitting room (70's tastic) with lots of sharp edges - I can't remember an age when I didn't know that the fireplace was out of bounds; in fact the sitting room door was mostly always closed so it was kept strictly as a room for 'sitting' in to watch TV or read, not a playroom. I seem to remember I played mostly in the very dark narrow hall :(

We are preparing for PFB's arrival so will be some way off the crawling stage but I'm already paranoid - downstairs is all open plan so I think we'll have to have a baby gate permanently in the archway leading to the sitting room to keep that out of bounds. Most plug sockets in there are obscured by bits of furniture but the extension socket we use for plugging in phones, iPad etc is easily accessible.

Our coffee tables are very small and lightweight (sort of like folding picnic tables) so they'll have to be put out of use temporarily. There are also some bits of furniture upstairs that are quite top heavy - a chest of drawers and shelf unit - so those will have to go into storage to stop them being pulled over. Also worried about the TV as the TV stand lends itself very nicely to being climbed on - we don't have enough wall space for a wall mounted TV.

Am hoping we might have managed to move house by the time PFB is at crawling stage!

[snort] at honey dragon,s theory of child proofing

Depends on the child. My DD must have been very safety conscious as all we did with her was stairgates. The only injuries she has suffered ever (apart from the usual bumped knees etc) were related to her learning to walk - fell head first and scraped her nose.

Have a DS too now (12 weeks). Watching him swat his parrot in his baby gym at the moment, I am sure he might well require more babyproofing!

Shutting the bathroom door will be a real annoyance for me as our bathroom is not well ventilated, so we keep the door open after showering as a matter of course to let the room air.

We also have a clothes dryer on the landing which a child could very easily pull over when it's loaded with clothes - think we might have to shut off upstairs completely. Luckily we have a downstairs loo with a handle that's quite difficult to open so I can nip for a wee without going upstairs.

DD is pretty small for her age. I find having her slightly taller, more mobile friends round to play was an excellent way of finding out the hazards we would soon encounter

My downstairs was already baby proof because I had house rabbits - so furniture was arranged so plug sockets and wires were covered, nothing breakable within rabbit jumping height etc. My friend found her DD with the little rubbery bit from the end of the door stop (you know, those boingy ones, all crawlers discover them), ours had long since been nibbled off by the bunnies.

We have a gate over the kitchen door, became essential once we had toddler + newborn - even if you lock the cupboards there is still the oven and once they are high enough the knobs to turn the hob on etc.

I second fishcake - get a moving baby round and see what they find!

I've got 2 stair-gates and a rubber band round the chemical cupboard in the kitchen. Thought I would teach DS No and STOP but he seems to have selective hearing.....

A second request for any info on oven door catchers if anyone has found some?

We live in an old cottage (steep stairs, wood burning stove, low sockets etc etc) and got to the point where it was impossible to baby proof everything.

Why not proof the child rather than the house?

After ages looking we discovered the mothercare hexagonal playpens can be combined to make a large area. We created a "play den" for DS from two of them (around 8ft by 10ft I guess) with a few choice toys, treasure boxes, different textures, mobile, lights etc. After a few days of us going into play with him he sees it as his place. We keep revolving the toys so he finds new stuff in there too which helps interest levels. He will generally play in there for at least 5 mins at a time (enough time to go to loo, put on another load of washing, prep a bit of food etc) before wanting to tear the house up again, but will then return to the place if I go back in there, or if something else catches his eye...but I know he's "safe" in there...

Really useful thread, I'm reading with interest as DD is not far off crawling. I had no idea about the socket covers, had been planning to get some - thanks to whoever linked that thing that covers the whole socket & switches, I think we will get some of those.

I suspect I will have to temporarily retire the coffee table - which is no bad thing really, I only dump junk on it. It'll be one less thing to tidy up!

My friend visitng the other day commented that my house was looking a lot more 'minmalist' (I suspect she meant 'tidy') - it is because DS1 can reach every surface now so they are all clear of anything important/dangerous.

No one is ever prepared! The only way is to watch them like a hawk and you soon see the dangers. But you can only leave a crawler unattended in a playpen - they are great but not for long periods obviously. No shortcuts I'm afraid as they can do things you would not even imagine were possible!

For those suggesting proof the child not the house it depends how much you have friends round and if they have more than one child and can supervise well or if their childs have SN.

I have stairgates etc just for when friends regularly come round as most of theirs are used to them but dont use them myself. There can be 6 mums with a couple of kids each so I would prefer to be relaxed that I have done everything to prevent any possible harm such as wardrobes/shelves fixed to walls.

I would feel dreadful if something happened to a toddler whilst the mum was feeding or changing a new born baby for example and I was making teas. I like the kids to be able to move freely from playroom, lounge, kitchen, garden and not have my friends feeling concerned and I can feel relaxed.

www.amazon.co.uk/Babydan-Finger-Safe-Set-2/dp/B000NUWGE0/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1327522187&sr=8-15

These finger savers for doors are excellent as they prevent a toddler from slamming their fingers in a door or from getting their fingers stuck near the hinges (as the door can't slam shut). They're also portable - you only really need a couple & can shift them around the house depending on where you need them. Take them with you on visits to family or on holiday. We didn't & ended up in the emergency room...

Not sure if it helps anyone, but I had a rented flat last year where the oven had a special child proofing function. I posted on here about it (no baby child in the flat) because I had accidentally pressed the right combination of buttons and had blocked it. It basically disabled the oven so you could twizzle all the dials and push the buttons but the oven didn't turn on.

Anyone looking to replace their oven and worrying about this might find it useful, otherwise it's an expensive bit of child-proofing. And I can't remember the make of oven. But they do exist

I'm really surprised about people not bothering with plug sockets. They cost a few pounds. I believe the danger is not with fingers but with children trying to stick other items in them.

Make sure bookshelves etc are attached to walls, a coasting baby can easily pull them down onto them
Also, make sure anything on shelves that a baby can reach is soft and light and harmless.

Beware low level house plants. Excellent for digging in and eating soil and plant! I put circles of cardboard over the soil which stopped the digging, eating the plant seemed to be easier to stop. DD survived anyway.
You can't make any house completely safe and even if you can other people's houses won't be, especially if they don't have crawlers/toddlers - grandparents' houses can be a particular nightmare.

Agree sootysweep - my plugs are covered. Think some of the comments further up about them being useless really depend on the variety of plug you have. Our plug covers are so secure I nearly break a nail getting them off. There's no way my DS could get the cover off.

I don't have socket covers...and my DD is not atall interested in sockets, I do wonder if they are less attractive to a small child without the covers in?
Also, we don't have cupboard locks in the kitchen (although we've made sure the contents of the cupboards are ok should she get in) and she's not really interested.
We have got stairgates, but that is laziness from my point of view as I can't always be bothered to go and get her from halfway up the stairs! And a playpen is handy if you need to put them somewhere safe for a few mins.
Personally, I think it's better to teach the child (and not stop the child) so they know how to behave in other houses, it's worked ok so far with us but maybe we are lucky!

Keep laundry liquid tabs out of sight and reach. In fact, do not buy them!

When ds was 11 months he loved having a nose in the washing machine. I had stupidly stupidly stupidly forgotten that I had thrown a load in there, put the tab in there, but had not turned it on. He bit in to the tab and it exploded over his face. I shall never forget the noise he made and the sight of him turning to me.

Cut a long story short, it turns out they are VERY bad for eyes. If it had happened to an adult, they would have incurred permanent damage. Because a baby has so many rejuvanating stem cells on the surface of their eyes, my ds experienced excruciating pain, an eye wash out at a and e, and 48 hours of nost being able to open his eyes BUT no permanent damage. All ok now but utterly terrifying at the time.

The tabs look very and feel very interesting to a baby / toddler (sometimes the boxes are even emblazened with Disney characters fgs!), so pls be alert.