Babyproofing - how much to do

[TheGirlInTheGreenDress]

Baby is about to start crawling and so we’re looking to baby proof the house. What measures have other people taken? Do people do all the things recommended (like furniture anchors, the new lockable socket guards) or just stick with the more common ones like the normal socket guards, edge protectors, cupboard locks, stair gates, blind cord , making sure hazardous products are locked away etc? I have post natal anxiety so not sure if I’m getting too OTT or not. Thank you.

Stair gate and anything they can reach. Leave plug sockets alone in the UK. Everything else will be in response to your baby, mine likes to chew shoes but it didn't occur to me to hide the shoes before he started doing it!

We just did a stair gate tbh and just supervised them. Popped in a travel cot if needed the toilet or a shower etc. Mine were never interested in plug sockets or cleaning products so yours might also be the same! My advice (after 2) is to relax and not waste your money. Congrats on your crawler!

In preparation we did:
Magnetic lock on the cupboard under the sink where we keep cleaning products
A couple of corner protector things in obvious places (our coffee table corners were fairly lethal)
A stair gate
Any smasahble things got moved high

In response:
Mag lock on the living room cabinets where we keep all the paperwork.....
Door guards so they can't be slammed

We don’t do tons, the most important things are child locks on cupboards with cleaning products and medicines etc, and definitely furniture anchors behind anything tempting to climb and heavy. Didn’t bother with stair gate as we supervised and then taught safe stair crawl climbing as soon as we could. But we did have a sensible toddler (well, as sensible as toddlers can be!) which influenced that decision I guess.

Dc1 we just did a stair gate and the corners of the fire hearth which were sharp and she had a tendency to roll suddenly.

Dc2 everything had to have locks. He got into everything, climbed the stairs gates at 10 months, climbed the outside of the Bannisters by one year. It was like living with a gibbon.

As people have said DON'T use normal socket covers. UK sockets are safe. You would need to stick something in all 3 pins to activate it, which is near impossible for a baby to do. The socket covers make it less safe, as there is the risk bits can snap off.

We didn't really baby proof. Just moved a few things to higher locations e.g. moved some glasses out a low cupboard to a higher one and made sure loose objects e.g. keys, medicine was out of reach if they pulled to stand.

Luckily ours weren't really into climbing or pulling objects. DC1 was a bit interested in cables and needed distracting. DC2 walked early which I think helped to move him away from things like plug sockets being so much in his eye line. He just tended to find the toys instead.

We just made sure she couldn’t fall out of the upstairs windows. The rest was just common sense about cleaning products etc and supervision.

We did stair gate top and bottom, fire guard, socket covers and kitchen cupboard door locks. And had foam things on the doors to prevent fingers getting stuck, as I remember getting my finger stuck in a slammed door when young.

I didn’t do anything apart from a stair gate.

At pulling up or walking you might want to cover sharp corners on (say) a dining table at head height?

Observe your kid and supervise well.
If you always switch off sockets after use, small fingers are safe but no harm getting covers if they seem interested in sockets.

I just did stairgate, locked cleaning products away and made sure shelving and drawers were screwed to the wall so they couldn't be pulled over.

I just did one room, and put stairs gates on the doors. Obviously baby still went in other rooms, but would be with an adult. They were only ever left alone in the baby proof livingroom.

In terms of sockets, at the time I read that UK sockets actually had amazing in build safety features. Electricity dose not flow through the socket until after the longer earth pin is already plugged in, so it's almost impossible to be electrocuted by an empty plug socket without gard. The plug gard you can buy actually make them less safe, as the bypass the safety measures by putting in a fake earth pin.

Anchor any furniture or wall mirrors that are at risk of tipping. That’s a basic safety one for kids of all ages, not just crawling babies. In the kitchen I had a little rearrange to make anything hazardous like the cleaning products were in high cupboards. I had a stairgate on their bedroom doors once they moved to a bed as didn’t want them prowling at night. That was it really. If I needed to leave them for a minute e.g. to pop to the loo I would either close them in the living room by shutting the door or pop them in them in the cot. Oh and don’t use socket covers in the UK- they’re dangerous. If you live elsewhere check the advice for your country.

anchor any book shelves to the wall
no cords on blinds

cupboard locks

• Stair gates (extra tall)

• Taught him how to climb the stairs properly as soon as he could climb, so in the event of someone accidentally leaving one open, he could get up them safely if he really wanted to.

• Changed our banisters as we had really unsafe, horizontal bars with huge gaps (an unusual problem, but a big one for us!)

• Rounded guards on every sharp corner we could find

• Move all breakable stuff out of his way

• Locks on cupboards and drawers, but we already had these for the cat

• Cut all the loops on our blind cords, I’ve seen too many stories about accidents with these

• Anchored furniture to the wall

• PLAYPEN

The only thing I did was baby gates at bottom and top of the stairs.

We put the child lock on the robot hoover and tied the TV down. There are other little things like learning not to leave anything on the coffee table. Each hazard is fairly temporary as he goes through different stages, and is difficult to predict what will be next. We supervise carefully and also view some bumps as part of learning so don't get too stressed. Unlike a PP, we view pram wheels and shoes as a learning experience and immune system booster (although I learnt to put the brake on the pram every time after he ran over his own fingers! No harm done)

Same, first baby didn’t need much as she was fairly sensible and safe when supervised. Second is a terror and would be eating the dishwasher pods in a couple of seconds without locks.

Thank you everyone. Really helpful.

My Mum bought us a playpen. We were shocked and said we'd never use it (made us think of neglectful parents who don't want to play with their kids). But it was soo useful to have up in a corner so that we could pop DC in it with some toys when the doorbell rang or you needed to cook.

We did it progressively rather than all at once I.e. made things safer as and when he could reach stuff rather than overhaul everything in one go.

It is worth putting some gates and having a child proof living room as it means you can nip out to the bathroom or whatever.

We also had a huuuge playpen but it didn't last past the age of 1.

My son is 11 but we did...
Baby gate into kitchen, hallway and top of stairs
Lock on TV cabinet drawer (ended up taking the handle off when he fell onto it and handle poked him in the eye).
Moved medicines high up.
Fire guard

As others have said you don't need to do plug socket covers in the UK. It's actually more dangerous to use them. We only did a stair gate and just supervised them all the time to keep them safe / taught them not to open cupboards etc.

With DD we put up stairgates, plug socket covers (I didn't realise they weren't advised at the time), put cupboard and oven locks on and used foam things to stop the doors shutting. Could probably have done without most things as she just wasn't interested.

Now with DS we've kept the stairgates and oven lock and replaced the cupboard locks and put them on every reachable cupboard or chest of drawers as he is a little terror, I'm thinking of putting them on the toilets too. We have got into the habit of not having glasses/mugs on the side tables in the living room, definitely more careful about shutting the gates. But tbh the only way to completely babyproof with him would be to turn my house until a soft play 😆. There's no way he'd stay in a play pen without screaming and i prefer them to have freedom to move and explore.

I’m not sure it’s necessary to go crazy. I didn’t when my LO was small. I was living with my parents when she was that age. She was never interested in plug sockets or in opening cupboards but we did have guards on the kitchen cupboard doors. At that age they shouldn’t really be unsupervised with free access to roam around. Why would they be crawling or toddling around the kitchen unsupervised anyway? We didn’t even have stair gates. Before everyone jumps on me, the door out to the hallway where there stairs were was usually closed if I didn’t want her going upstairs and she was never upstairs without an adult (except when in bed of course) until she was three or so and very confident on the stairs. If I was upstairs with her as a baby/toddler she was supervised. Obvious hazards were kept out of reach. Obviously much will depend on the set up of your home and perhaps your LO temperament and activity levels. I suppose some lo’s might be more prone to climbing than mine was.