Baby Proofing

sammierose464

Also so it's not forgotten...

When did you start baby proofing?
What are some of your favorite products for it?
What can wait vs what should be done right away?

ninji15

I started seriously baby proofing after DD started pulling up to stand/crawling well. So like 9-11 months.
All the walk through babygates. Also cabinet locks and outlet covers. I use multiple brands.
We also went ahead and anchored furniture while doing the nursery just in case. We are just now getting around to more tedious baby proofing. Like stove knob covers since she can reach now. 

The only thing I would do right away is remove hanging strings near where baby might be (curtains, blinds), any small choking hazards, and outlets. The rest kind of come with mobility. 

ETA words are hard

tinattt23

Didn’t do anything until he starts crawling around 6 months. Outlet covers, locks on poison cabinets, and a bumper on this sharp tile step we have. It’s evolved over time as he’s been able to reach and get into more things. Now almost all cabinets are locked. Trash can (which he’s recently hulked back open). And lots of things have been moved up and out of reach.

No gates since we were able to pretty much follow him around (and no stairs). But with two I expect I’ll need more containment since I can only be in one place at a time. 

Product recommendation would be the magnetic cabinet locks. Don’t have to drill or damage anything. Nothing ugly to see from the outside. And you can set them in the unlocked position if you know your going to be opening and closing a bunch (like unloading dishes). My mom has them and only locks them if DS is visiting so she doesn’t have to deal with them the rest of the time.

DunkinDecaf

We did things little by little as they became hazardous, which I do not necessarily recommend. We weren’t always one step ahead of her, so often our next round of baby proofing was spurred by her managing to hurt herself somehow.

The one thing I would say to do immediately is mount your nursery furniture to the walls. Dressers, bookcases, cribs, anything you think they could potentially pull over. You don’t know your kid is big enough to pull the dresser over until they have, and they can be horribly injured.

hellopartyof5

We do gates, some knob covers and outlet covers. Oh and anchoring furniture. Umm that's pretty much it. I use hair ties to "lock" kitchen cabinets. Once they're old enough to take them off they know what not to touch. 

krzyriver

We didn't do anything until Z was crawling. We put a gate up. All we can do in our current house is block off a designated area for him unfortunately. He hates it. Once we move, we'll put gates at the bottom and top of the stairs, put a gate in front of the fireplace, and baby proof the cabinets. He'll have run of the whole lower lever and he'll be so much happier. #3 will have run of the place as soon as he/she can crawl and I'm glad they'll have more space. And I won't be restricted to the living room and might actually get stuff done!

melbo444

The family that I nanny for has a galley kitchen that can be gated off, and it makes me wish that this whole open concept thing wasn't such a trend! It seems so much easier. That won't be possible in our current place, so if we stay here, we'll have to get a bunch of cabinet locks and such. 

The kids (almost 2, jussst starting to get some language skills) are obsessed with light switches and door handles. Their new beds put a couple of light switches in their bedroom within reach, so the parents found plastic covers that screw on. Before then, they would drag over chairs to reach the light switches and play with them constantly. OMG, it turned the light on! OMG, it turned the light off! OMG, it did it AGAIN???! For like 10 minutes...

Every single door handle has a lock, too. They have a pocket sliding door to the bathroom and use a door stopper wedged in the top to keep them from opening it. Again, not something to worry about with infants, but once they start moving, it's easier to keep certain rooms locked than worrying about babyproofing every single room.

I actually didn't even think about anchoring furniture, so thanks!

Laumb11

The only thing we did was lock the cabinets when he was like 10 months?

momoflogan20

DS is 6 months and havent baby proofed yet I have it in the back of my head but he is just sitting up and not doing anything if he is on the floor he will scoot on his back when hes mad. Then we just pick him up. Its so irritating he scoots on his back in crib and on the floor and in his chair he tries to launch himself out with his legs and he lunges back if he gets mad if your holding him.

jengibre_zorro

We also started once he was mobile, and to this day are still baby proofing, because that kid is hell bent on self destruction.  We've had to go above and beyond the "normal baby-proofing" so definitely play it by ear.  (i just recently had to buy metal floor air-returns because he kept jumping on our 100 year old wood ones, and eventually broke through into our air ducts!)

I will say, just anchor stuff now if you can.  TV's, dressers.  It's harder once they're here, and that's one you don't want to be too late on.  All the corner bumpers, cabinet locks, baby gates, handles, stove locks, etc can come later.

britvahok

We only did baby gates for DS1. DS2 is 8 months and we still haven't put up baby gates. We're going to put up baby gates and probably cabinet locks.

tinattt23

@jengibre_zorro Corner bumpers. Forgot about those. They save DS's noggin daily. He has not accepted he it too tall to walk under the dining room table. 

sparklingwhit

We just put outlet covers up when DS started walking at 10 mos (never crawled). We put up baby gates as needed but as soon as DS started walking he started climbing and they really did nothing. 

jwebbbber45678

We got rid of the coffee table and moved everything that wasn't toys at least 4 to
5 feet off the ground and definitely anchored furniture. We started when my son began pulling himself up to stand/when he started crawling. He's two now and climbs everything! I swear we can't have furniture! Basically everything in the house is still baby proofed except for the kitchen which has a very tall baby gate. We will just have to remove small toys from play areas once this one mobile.

Lisa3379

We started when DS started crawling, so around 9 months. We have a couple baby gates (one blocking the stairs to our basement and one blocking the entrance to our laundry room). We have shitty cabinets that we’ll get rid of one day, so we opted for the locks that are screwed in. Then we covered all outlets and put corner protectors on any sharp corner within head height. We just put locks on our toilets, and we’ll soon anchor his furniture to the wall. 

nasalot188

We didn't do too much. Definitely anchored furniture, and outlet covers...that's about it.
Didn't ever use baby gates because honestly DS was pretty good at not climbing up or down, he learned quick it was a no no. I suspect with #2 baby gates will be more necessary!!

cdepperschmidt

We did it little by little. I would say outlet covers, gated stairs and anchored furniture are top priority. 

knottieamusements

A couple of you have mentioned locks onthe poison cabinets. Did you do that in lieu of moving things to a higher cabinet, or both?

mommy2ane

@knottieamusements we did it in lieu of moving things. I have all cabinets that have breakables or cleaners locked. 

tinattt23

@knottieamusements In lieu of. Moving the dishwasher soap to higher cabinet just wouldn’t be practical. Anything insanely deadly like rat poison or something I’d keep in the garage. But day to day stuff is just locked up. Plus they all have fairly child proof caps on them as well.