Baby proofing...where to start?

[daisydee43]

I live in ground floor flat and need to start baby proofing but have no idea what's available or where to begin, I know you can get gates but what else? Please help thank you

What do you want to keep your baby from?

We got those stick on corner things for the edge of coffee tables etc.

Dd pulled them off and hid them. Then did the same at my mums house.

I can't say I've bothered putting them back on!

Not sure how far to go - put gate on kitchen, bathroom, electrical things, wires, tables, cupboards?

It could depend on your baby how much you need to do. Some babies are much more adventurous and intrepid than others.
We barely did anything - we had stair gates, but that's about it really.
Some things you can do are pretty simple, put delicate things out of reach or out of sight until your child is older, don't leave small objects like coins lying around, keep floors clear of clutter (as much as is possible with a child in the house!) when you cook put pans on back burners, don't leave knives near the edge of worktops. Put dangerous liquids - bleach etc out of reach, keep medicines out of reach or possibly locked away.

Just so you realise, every bit of "babyproofing" you do, is very inconvenient for the rest of the family.

Is there any reason to keep your baby in or out of the kitchen. Will you be together or separate? A baby/toddler in the kitchen can be quite harmlessly entertained in the pots & pans cupboard. They are a while away from true danger.
Dangerous household chemicals can be safely stored in a childproof box in the undersink cupboard. The more benign ones can be easily accessible for you. I would never store caustic substances in high cupboards.

Current advice on sockets is to not use childproof caps. Other than that, keep flexes tidy, as you should anyway.

I am firm believer in training and disciplining children to keep them safe, rather than using a lot of gadgets (which are really designed to part you from your money).

How old is your baby? It totally depends on your child. With DD1 we only had a top of stairs stair gate. And things like pans/tupperware in low kitchen cupboards. DD2 is a climber, so we may need more.

Do NOT use socket covers. Have a Google. Assuming that you are in the UK, they are more dangerous than leaving the sockets exactly as they are.

Our house is pretty baby-unfriendly but we've got by with top of stairs stair gates, cupboard locks on the cupboards containing the DVD player, wine glasses and cleaning stuff, and a big wire cage round the wood burner. Everything else we just keep out of reach.

It does depend on your child though.

Oh, and agree with the socket cover thing. I'm always amazed that nurseries, family centres etc still use them.

Isn't the socket cover thing dependent on age of sockets/house though?

I read into it a little and did buy some as I'm sure its only modern sockets that are safer without. Some of ours look like the original early 80's ones that must of come with the house. I rarely remember to put them in generally but do keep the double socket that's accessible from dd's cot covered.

Hi just to ask, why no socket covers?

We have a thing that attaches our TV to the stand it's on so DD can't pull/push it over, and a stair gate at the bottom of the stairs but that's it. I'd have preferred the gate to be at the top of the stairs but due to an odd banister arrangement we can't fit one.

It isn't about the age of sockets. It is about the UK three pin arrangement. Essentially, to work our sockets the longer earth pin at the top needs to be held down as well as the two live pins. If a toddler manages to peel out a socket cover from the bottom (which is the most likely scenario if it comes half out since those pins are shorter, so will come out before the longer earth pin ) you have circumvented the safety controls and now have a live socket in which you can stick things and electrocute yourself.

It's to do with something along the lines of children taking socket covers out, turning them upside down and sticking back in, just in the top hole, leaving the bottom two uncovered and the pins open making them very dangerous if anything is then stuck in the two, open holes.

I'm sure someone will be along to explain it much better in a minute!

I believe modern sockets are also incredibly difficult to actually manage to stick anything in due to changes in design/manufacture in recent years. But again don't quote me on that!

Ah x-post, told you someone would be along to explain it better!

Not sure where I got the idea about older sockets not following the advice, maybe I need to do some more research!

Yes, also managing to get them out and stick them in upside down. And the sheer attraction of any form of lid or cover as something to fiddle with!

Why do you need to start baby proofing? We waited until Ds was on the move before getting stair gates. We have them top and bottom.

Everything else just kind of happened naturally. When he could reach the coffee table we stopped keeping things on it. When he could reach the dining table we stopped keeping things on it.

Tablets are on a high inaccessible shelf. The under sink cupboard and knife drawer both have catches.

That's about all.

Socket covers shouldn't be needed in sockets installed after about 1948 I think! They have an inbuilt safety feature. Check out www.fatallyflawed.org.uk (maybe knock off the .uk if that doesn't work) for more info .

Think I may have got '48 and '84 muddled up, I remember thinking it was some time in the '80's!

In the kitchen I always showed my dd's to the plastic boxes cupboard as the one they were allowed to play with. Only took a few redirections and they would always make for this cupboard and ignore the rest. With dd1 we had open plan stairs, so couldn't have a gate. once she showed an interest in them I just went with the thought that the sooner she learnt to go up and down them, the safer she'd be, and just watched her every time. I know this doesn't work for every child, but she was never the sort that kept trying to go up them.

I put a stair gate up because dd could climb stairs at 7 months! (Stairs are in the living room so she was supervised!!). We use socket covers (which she can pull out if I get behind on snipping her nails) and have generally raised all ornaments/photo frames out of reach. In my home town recently and 11 month old died after a tv fell on top of him so I have also made sure that the tv is secure and things like dvd racks and tethered to the wall and can not fall over. The latest bit of baby proofing includes pulling the sofa out from underneath the bay window so that she can not use it to climb up onto the bay and try to open the windows! I would suggest to do the obvious things but then watch out for things that your baby discovers on the way. I didnt realise my sofa would become a climbing frame!