First time Mum & baby about to crawl, can you help me child proof our home?

[airhostess]

Hello!
My DS who is 9 mths is ready to crawl! We have a kitchen diner but unfortunately no way of separarting them. Can anyone recommend an oven guard or any other top tips? Have bought a Boots starter pack but not really keen on screwing holes into our kitchen cupboards or drawers if I can avoid it but obviously his safety comes first.
Thanks x

personally I think cupboard locks are useful -crew inside the doors- at least the ones we had, we had one cupboard the DCs could open which filled with non breakable stuff - never bothered with oven guard - a play pen or a travel cot downstairs can be very useful for this stage - stair gates also can be worth thinking about

Get down on your hands and knees and see what may be a danger.

Move any cleaning products/poisons/medicines to high shelves. Cupboard locks don't always work very well and can be forgotten so best to move things out of reach.

Keep an eye out for any cords, wires, scarves that could get tangled around your ds.

Also, move small objects that could be choked on, like stones in a plant pot or jars of buttons that your baby could put in his mouth

If you have stairs you will need a stair guard.

Hth!

We never had oven guard either, just used to do exaggerated "hot hot!" gestures to dcs whenever oven was on!

The stick on cupboard locks are fairly robust. They fall off every so often but I would just buy another set and re-stick them. Saves screwing into cupboards. But you still need to get into the habit of keeping things out of reach.

Agree that a play-pen is handy. I don't have much space but having a playpen crammed in did mean I could go to the loo, cook or go out to the car / end of the garden quickly without worrying.

My DH works at a children's hospital, and regularly scares the shit out of me by telling me some of the injuries he's seen from preventable accidents. He always emphasises the importance of attaching chests of drawers to the wall. A child can easily open a drawer and pull themselves up on it, which can tip the whole thing. Same applies for things like bookshelves and TVs.