Baby proofing - give me your tips!

[yellowmonkey]

Baby has been vaguely crawling for a week or so but has just become VERY fast and I am aware that we haven't child proofed and need to do so ASAP

I know we need stair gates, are the folding ones worth it?

I dimly remember hearing plug covers are a no.

Cupboard and door locks for the kitchen - magnetic ones? Normal ones?

Do I need a bloody lock on the toilet lid?

Playpen or will a travel cot (we have one) do?

I obviously want to be safe but would rather hear from people who have actually done it, we are the first of our friends to have a crawler!

First off don't buy any babyproofing stuff from Amazon. So much of it is cheap Chinese crap that doesn't meet any safety standards. Get it from Boots or Wilko or Robert Dyas or somewhere like that.

No idea about folding stairgates.

Plug covers are unnecessary as plugs are covered with shutters.

I wouldn't use magnetic door locks, if they fail you'll have little swallowable sized magnets around the place and magnets are incredibly dangerous if swallowed - they can come together in the gut and pierce the intestine wall which is very serious.

Never needed a toilet lid lock. We just keep the bathroom doors closed when not in there. If some random item does at some point go in the toilet, it's not usually a disaster.

Playpen depends on whether you find yourself in a situation where you want to leave the room but don't want to leave the baby unattended. I'd just wait and see - you can always use the travel cot temporarily if it turns out to be a problem. I never found we needed it and both my kids screamed if you interrupted them to plonk them in a container, anyway! Better to sneak out when they are occupied. We used the cot to contain for morning showers.

High furniture and flatscreen TVs need to be tethered ideally to the wall. Also chests of drawers even if fairly low, because when the drawers are opened and climbed in, they can tip over.

Definitely no socket covers!!

Tbh, it's probably best to get what you need as you need it. It depends if they're able to wander about freely really.

Just closing the room door is enough to keep them contained, if you're keeping them I sight at all times

Yes good point.

I meant to add, we only closed off the cupboard under the sink and the bins. Others don't have breakable or dangerous stuff in.

A lot of it depends on your house; we made our living room as safe as possible for both DC; DC can’t get to plugs due to furniture in the way and have a stair gate on the door. Our kitchen is too complicated to baby proof so he doesn’t get to crawl around in there; has to be in the high chair or walker. Upstairs there’s little on the floor that he can access but he doesn’t crawl round much up there.
In bathrooms we don’t have any cleaning products at his level but he’s not in the bathroom unsupervised so didn’t bother with toilet lid lock. I would think about your tv though if that’s at a level he could reach once he stands

Truthfully I didn’t baby proof anything. If you’re supervising your child properly you don’t really need much. Plug covers are dangerous and it’s virtually impossible to get a shock even if you stick your finger in. The only thing I got was a stair gate. My son never bothered opening the cupboards - if we went in the kitchen I was with him, and he got told off if he opened doors and he learned very quickly that he wasn’t allowed. I set up one cupboard full of Tupperware that he was allowed to open. Just move anything breakable or sharp and don’t leave items within reach. Shutting the bathroom door is sufficient. The only incident we ever had was him hitting his head on the table, which you can’t do much about.

Unless your house is massive I wouldn't get a playpen - they want to play with what your playing with. I would tidy any cables, fix furniture like bookshelves or chest of drawers to the wall. Cupboard locks on cupboard under sink and any others that will annoy you if they empty. We also have an oven lock - but have an open plan layout, if I was always going to be in kitchen with baby probably wouldn't bother. We have gate at top but not bottom of stairs but shut hallway door.

@00100001

Definitely no socket covers!!

Seconding this!!

Why they are still sold is beyond me. Please don't buy or use them.

We had very little of it. We had a Rayburn stove and a wood burner and loads of steps/stairs. We had a lock on the cleaning fluids cupboard, a stair gate and I think that was it. Tbh it is so rare that you aren't in the same room when they are very wee that it's not really necessary.

We didn't baby proof anything, the only thing we got was a stairgate. Not sure what you need

@lovablequalities

We had very little of it. We had a Rayburn stove and a wood burner and loads of steps/stairs. We had a lock on the cleaning fluids cupboard, a stair gate and I think that was it. Tbh it is so rare that you aren't in the same room when they are very wee that it's not really necessary.

This was our thinking. I never had locks on cupboards as they were in the kitchen with me so I just taught them not to open them!

• stair gates (no idea what folding ones are, we got regular ones). If you’re putting a gate at the top of the stairs, be sure it doesn’t have a ledge on it (so when you open it, it’s completely flat and can’t trip over). We just did a gate on DS room upstairs.

• TV tethered to unit, or attached to wall

• no plug covers, cover with furniture if you’re concerned

• attach any furniture to a wall, once drawers are opened and they’re climbing they can tip. (This also for their bedroom, we have DS drawers attached to wall and bookcase)

• be mindful of hot drinks now and keep them way out of reach

• fire guard if you use a fire (we had one just because our stupid fireplace has a death hazard edging to it 🤦‍♀️)

• we also have foam door wedge thingys

• ensure any wires are tied tightly and secured

• window blind cords, attached to wall if not already

• in kitchen we put catches on the lower cupboards

I felt we’d done really well with baby proofing, until I was putting washing on the airer in the conservatory, and popped my head in to find DS had rolled from his play mat, into the kitchen (one room) and had tipped the bowl of cat water everywhere and was licking it and splashing, laughing his head off 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I never bothered with a playpen for DS, baby 2 is due early April and have bought one to use from birth and as a playpen later as may need to contain baby/toddler while sorting DS1.

We have stair gates, magnetic locks on the inside of the drawers and a barrier thing for the side of the door to stop her from trapping her fingers (she seems to think opening and closing the doors is a game), but that's about it and only in the living room. Our house is over 3 floors with kitchen on bottom floor, living room in middle so we've made sure the living room is safe and everything is out of reach for when I need to nip down to the kitchen

Oh, and a fire guard but because she used to try and take the coals off

We didn’t do much. DD crawled at 6 months and walked at 9 months. Focused on teaching her how to safely get down off things. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Cupboard lock on the under sink cupboard. Fixed gate at the top and bottom of the stairs. Bolted all wardrobes and book cases to the walls. Telly was already on the wall. Socks with grips on the soles. That was it.

A lot of baby proofing stuff isn't really needed, it's just a way to sell you more plastic junk. Toilet seat clip is a definite no. Just shut the door.
I found a playpen useful. It'll be useful to put around your christmas tree when you have a toddler too. And if you have another baby it can keep your toddler away from poking at the baby.
In general though, just do as you're probably already doing. Keep an eye on what the baby's doing and put poisons away somewhere safe. Obviously watch them closely around water.

Teaching them how to climb down steps is really useful. Spend time with the baby showing them how to go backwards down. They get really good at it quickly.

Any sort of large or heavy furniture should be secured to the wall, blind cords tied out of reach, window locks fitted, medicines in a high up cupboard, cleaning stuff in a securable cupboard are my main things that I check when working in a new family home.

So helpful, thank you everyone!

Stair gate on the kitchen door, not a pressure one, a proper metal gate one that screws in would be my ultimate advice. Crawlers aren’t so bad, but once they start walking it’s a whole other kettle of fish. I was in the kitchen with one of mine making a cuppa, and although I’d put the cups back from the edge it wasn’t far enough or dd had grown and she ended up with horribly nasty burns and a couple of scars. Luckily I’d pushed her out of the way for the worst of it, but I never allow them in the kitchen now and have it gated off.

Other than that, I’d suggest wall mounting the tv, don’t leave anything out for a child to throw, (more bitter experience) and make sure you’ve got good accidental damage cover on your insurance!

Oh, and door stops and door wedges that stop the door closing on their fingers if you’ve got a kid like my two who delight in a game of open/close door preferably on their twin’s fingers

Good luck!

Kitchen gate is defo sanity saving. I can talk to DS and pass him snacks over the gate without worrying he's going to pull a pan down or that I'm going to trip over him with boiling water or something.

Means he can't play on the dishwasher or bins as well, but he can still sit and watch the washing machine.

We have a kitchen gate too, it's the only reason I'm glad we don't have an open plan house (would be easier to keep an eye on him, but also easier for him to get hurt).

Why no to socket covers?

Don’t use a pressure fitted stair gate at the top of the stairs. You need one which is drilled into the wall. The pressure fitted ones aren’t as strongly fitted and the bar at the bottom is a trip hazard.

No to socket covers.

We put a stair gate on our utility room door-stopped the baby playing with the cat’s bowls and meant we didn’t have to worry about a cupboard lock on the door of the cupboard with the cleaning products, but the cat could jump the gate to get to/from their food.

@PCar20

Why no to socket covers?

At best they’re a waste of money. At worst they actually make sockets more (not less) dangerous as sockets have a built in safety mechanism which small children can use the socket cover to bypass and give them self an electric shock.