toddler proofing the house - help please

[greenandpleasant]

ds is 16 months and just started walking / staggering. after the most stressful week of my life on holiday (ds ate mouse bait, face planted in the pool several times, pushed high chair over while in it and hit face on edge of coffee table - ALL while I was within a couple of feet of him) I am now a nervous wreck and eyeing up the house for all the lethal things that will break my pfb.

in particular I have a wooden toy chest that is at perfect stumbling-into level. it is in front of the fireplace, which is replete with coal, metal grate etc. do I move the toy box and do something to the fireplace? do I keep the toy box in place and pad the edge somehow (aesthetics be damned). do I just accept that he is going to fall and hit himself on it at some point, cos he will I know. he climbs all the time, is trying to run / feet going too fast for him and is generally delighting in his new found powers!

Babies do fall and hit themselves. However imo, your fireplace should be protected from your baby . Get a fireguard and try your upmost to protect your house.

He will still fall over but you will know that you did your best to protect him your house.

toy chest blocks the fireplace - so sounds like I should leave it in place then don't have to worry about the fireplace at least. any suggestions about the toy chest please? teatowels secured with duck tape??! or am I being nuts and overprotective?

I can't remember where I saw it- in a baby catalogue of some sort - but you can buy stuff you tape round fireplaces and doors - like thick bouncy masking tape. So if they bang into it, they wont hurt themselves. Sorry, dont know what it was called though.

Just duct tape him to the ceiling. Job done.

im not being agumentative - but i have 3 ds and have only ever had 1 safety gate as a safety measure at the bottom of some very steep ttic conversion stairs.

ive never had fridge locks, cupboard locks, plug guards, fridge guards ,firegurds or anything and touch wood my children have never had a bad/moderate accident- my friend however had everything and still her ds burnt himself on the fire.

It's hard to cover everything that could possibly hurt him, so concentrate on the most important ones - a bump which hurts for a little while isn't that big a deal, but things where he could come to real harm are the ones to sort first.

So - steep stairs, specially if you have a hard floor at the bottom. Fires. Really sharp edges and corners. Sharp knives in the kitchen. Poisonous chemicals.