Share the things you never thought you’d need to childproof for - £200 voucher to be won

[GraceEMumsnet]

Created for Duracell

What unexpected things have you child-proofed in your home? Whatever measures you’ve employed (however surprising!) we’d like to hear about them.

• Post your stories in the thread below to be entered into a prize draw
• One lucky MNer will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice

Here’s what Duracell has to say:
“Every year, hundreds of children accidentally ingest lithium coin cell batteries, which can have devastating and even fatal consequences if they do not receive medical attention immediately. Duracell is calling on parents across the country to #Take10 minutes to search their house for the 10 most common devices that take coin cell batteries and check those batteries are secure and not able to be accessed by children.”

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

My make-up!
Obviously most of it is kept out of reach any way but there is an apparent obsession with lip balm... everywhere!!!

DD was an escape artist and fond of chewing. We got footless, hoodless zip babygros to put on her backwards.
Also paved our back yard because she ate the gravel (we hated it anyway).
She locked the back door with me in the yard aged just 3. I had to kick in the (broken anyway, we didn't have a cat) cat flap for her to hand me the keys.

@Marelle

Honestly I haven’t childproofed anything. I just discipline my child and supervise him adequately. If he does something he’s not supposed to, I see him doing it and stop him.

You're with him 24/7 then and he can't run or walk I take it.

The bin! My little one finds the bin soo exciting. Just yesterday found him getting vegetable peel out, was so close to putting it in his mouth.

ladders especially the loft ladder for a 4-year-old, what is that tempting black hole above? Cat litter, indoor sandbox anyone. The cat. The soil of house plants. The red and blue stopcocks of the washing machine, they make a terrific fountain if turned.

I know that this thread is light hearted and aimed at advertisement material generation, but this thread trivialises the devastating consequences of button battery injury. The campaign to improve safety after a little girl in Stoke on Trent died is really important (www.google.com/amp/s/www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/harper-lees-law-moves-step-5682625.amp) and the many other stories of children who died because the laws around battery safety are too lax need talking about. Household messes are an unfortunate but temporary consequence of childhood curiosity. Please feel free to remove my post but consider the impact that this issue has on families.

Finding all these stories hilarious. Currently 35 weeks pregnant, so seeing I need to hide the lotions and potions.

The spare loo rolls, after the older two decided to 'decorate' the bathroom for me by unravelling all 12 of them, whilst I had a brief pregnancy induced nap. You have no idea how much volume of paper there is in an unrolled loo roll till you have experienced it!
They thought I would be delighted and were most puzzled by my less than ecstatic reaction.

tampons, aka mice!

The chimney. Dd2 was mobile at 6 months ffs. I took her to drop dd1 to nursery and back home again before I noticed she was covered in black soot!!

My purse. After I caught him just about to flush £5 notes down the toilet. I was a single mother on benefits and he wouldn't have eaten that week if I hadn't caught him. Everything went down the loo, socks, bath toys and unwanted food (pre digestion). Perhaps I should have just locked the loo seat!

My expensive face creams 😞

The cat. She is a wonderful pet and sits there looking grumpy while she has various hats put on her or is swaddled in a blanket.

The sudocrem. Everytime I see an image in social media of a toddler who has smeared sudocrem everywhere I feel a little better about it.

My house has been kiddy safety proofed for years but my youngest just sees all the safety devices as some sort of toddler Crystal Maze style challenge. Had to change pretty much every drawer/cupboard lock/safety gate as he solved every one of them!!

Mine is any kind of bottle shampoo deodorant roll on perfume and his own drinking bottle gets took to the top of stairs and threw down also his toys lol switches he likes to press the buttons

Colourstay lipstick, I normally wear quite modest colours but tried a vibrant red - I was so embarassed ! almost kept todler DS2 off nursery as it really did stay.

The dog . I remember saying to my husband when DD was 9months old - "I can get the dog to stop licking the baby but how do I get the baby to stop licking the dog"

The dog flap. He worked out how to crawl through it and was often found in the garden!

The Christmas tree.

At the time we had 3 cats that had never bothered with it but as soon as DD (who would have been 13 months at the time) saw it we were in trouble.

We ended up putting it on a table with a fire guard around it - not very festive!

My car keys. I came outside to find the boot and windows open, I didn't even know it was possible to open the windows remotely.

Everything!!

Having a child who treats the entire world like a grand science experiment has given me a new perspective. There is nothing that goes unexamined - or at the very least, licked. Just today, whilst I was putting groceries away, my son managed to peel the labels off of the cans of food before I could get them into the cupboard. We will be having mystery meals for a while! It is incredible the speed at which he can discover something and dismantle it.

It is a challenge to stay one step ahead and always an adventure!

Sanitary towel drawer
Cling film/tin foil

Snails - third child (18 months) surprised me today by popping one in her mouth. Thought I’d seen everything with my two boys who were into EVERYTHING as toddlers- but apparently not! 😂. She thought it was hilarious.

The dining table, the chairs had to be cable tied to stop DD climbing on top and wobbling

Definitely cat litter! My 8 month old i have caught on many occasion trying to get through the flap or swing the door!