Advice needed about babyproofing our house...

[suzi2]

DS (10 months) decided to start crawling yesterday. Or sort of dragging along at the least. It's taken us by complete surprise. He was previously a shuffler and could pull up on things and get into cupboards etc but he was so slow that we could catch him. But not now!

Anyway, we need to lock some kitchen cupboards and low drawers (spend a lot of time int he kitchen/family area). What are the best drawer locks? Some of them look pretty simple and I'll guess that DS could work them out as he worked out how to open my laptop. I saw that Boots did magnetic ones - anyone ever tried them?

Are corner cushions worth getting? What about door slammers? Plug socket covers?

Also, we need to stop DS getting into the cats food and litter tray that is in the utility room. But if we close the door we'll stop the cat getting in. Would a cat (quite a large one!) get through a stairgate? That's another thing - stairgates. Where should I put them? at the top or the bottom of the stairs? Our stairs are in the hall so hopefully DS shouldn't get into them.

I was also thinking about getting a babydan babyden that I could use to divide the kitchen/family area. Any experience of them?

Lastly (sorry this is so long!), DS has been cruising the furniture twice today and twice he has turned around and let go and gone flat on his face/head. he now has a lovely bump on his forehead. Is there any way I can discourage this???

All we had were - stair gate at top and bottom of stairs, cupboard locks on the cleaning stuff and sharp knife drawer. Also hung towels over the top of doors to stop them slamming. The rest - let them explore!

The only ay for him to learn not to fall is - to fall!

Definatly plug socket covers. Neither of mine have ventured to them but i would never forgive myself if they had.

SDtair gates at top and bottom, i am assuming, i live upstairs so only need a top one. we got this \link{http://www.toysrus.co.uk/Product.aspx/bruhome/brusafety/brusafetyaroundhome/123234\home safety starter kit} when we were babyproofing with ds1. Never need anything else, altho i have to say we didn't use all the bits and pieces.

The bruises are to be expected! I would get some arnica in !! Good luck

Cats can get through tiny spaces - esp when food is the motivator!

This can be a contentious subject, my bf baby proofs everything and both she and my mother complain about the hazards when they come to our house. We just have stair gates and a lock on on the cleaning cupboard and figure a few bumps are just one life's lessons.

Our cats can jump over the stairgate no problem. Or could you put a cat flap in - serves to let the cat in and out, but also it amuses ds for HOURS putting things through, bringing them back, putting things through, bringing them back... Also, consider having an unlocked cupboard or drawer for your ds so put things like his plastic bowls/cups in that it's safe for him to sit and put in, pull out, put in (notice a theme here ) to the cupboard to amuse him if you're busy cooking.
I think corner cushions are a good idea, but you can make your own with loo roll and masking tape. We bought self adhering ones which don't stick well so ds just spends his time pulling them off, putting them back, pulling them off...

lol 2happy! We're reluctant to put a cat flap in as it's a new house and new doors etc. Our cat will use one though as we had one in the last house so perhaps it's a thought. the putting things in and out it explains something though... we used to find stones and rocks in our kitchen. I think the wee boy next door (who ran riot on his own) must have been putting them through.

I agree booge - I only plan to lock the 'dangerous' cupboards such as the ones with food, glass etc. Unfortunately we don't have any overhead cupboards so they're all at DSs level. He loves the tubs and pan drawers as it is.

We didn't bother with kitchen cupboard locks - just put a gate across the main door and kept DSs out.

Plug sockets, definitely.
Corner bumpers, pointless. DSs and friends spent 5 minutes picking them off.
Door slammers. Good idea but a towel draped over the top does the same trick. also essential for rooms that can be locked from only one side. We discovered this on holiday after the maintenance dept had to lever the bathroom door off to release DS1 & 2.
Video lock to stop toast being posted in the slot (although they learn to lever this off fairly quickly)
BabyDan - yes, we used this to separate one end of our old dining room. It worked really well.

You can't discourage letting go and falling on his face - buysome arnica cream and a gel cool pack for the bumps and bruises :)

Oh, and a 1yo can get stuck in a large cat flap. Trust me. The only dilemma is whether to free your child or get a camera...

I'm with Booge - do the minimum. eg DSs have never gone for the kitchen cupboard when they were in the kitchen and we never bothered with the locks - too much of a PITA.

I have the world's fattest laziest cat and eve she'll squeeze her fat bum through the stair gate for food

We have agate at the top and bottom of the stairs and plug covers. I have some cupboard locks, but they're in a drawer Having said that the children don't often go into cupboards.

A few bumps won't hurt and will help him learn what his limita are.

Agree about the video lock, from experience thanks ds1!

so glad to hear your DS is crawling! DS has been pulling up on the furniture for a month or so now - he did a lot of the letting go and falling over but quickly learned to be far more secure on his feet so I wouldn't worry about that too much. We have a portable stairgate (from Mothercare). It was a major faff to get to the correct size to start but is now great as we can have it at the top or bottom of the stairs (which he's just started to climb thanks to DH's tuition [rolling eyes emoticon!]) depending on where we are. The rest of the houseproofing is a job for this weekend, but we probably won't go mad as others have said.