How much did you baby proof?

kelliwill

We are not dealing with crawlers and I am curious what you other MoM's did as far as baby proofing?  What did you find helpful/necessary items and what is not so necessary?  Some of the things out there seem a bit overboard.  We have a whole play area in the living room that is all gated off and they love to play in it, but lately they are realluy interested and happy when they can have free range of certain rooms.  Problem is when that happens I am chasing after them the whole time.  I realize this is how it will be, but wondering what baby proofing may help at all.    Any advice would be helpful.  TIA

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the twins really don't leave the living room much.... we have it gated off on both sides - and 1/2 of it is a play area... so they have most of what they need in here.  The only times they go elsewhere is to eat in the dining room... and go upstairs to their bedroom - and bathroom for baths... we really don't let them roam around much at all - it's just too much with those 2 + watching our 3 y/o, too... and having to babyproof all those areas = just impossible for us.

our livingroom is pretty much a safe zone. there are still some things that are not safe for them now that they are climbing and not great at NOT falling off the couch ---- so when we have to leave the room, now we have to put them in the PNP... but before we could leave them in here for a few minutes no problem.

we don't have toilet locks or all that stuff - b/c they are never in there without us... same with the kitchen - they are not in there without us.  We did this with Griffin and it worked out well.  When we were in there with him we'd talk about what was unsafe, why, etc.... now that he's 3.5 we do let him go in there on his own and really trust him- he's very good about not messing with things he knows are dangerous (like the stove, knives, etc).  I pray the twins are as good as Griffin is! We'll see...

 

macchiatto

We've babyproofed enough that they are safe in the living room or in the big loft area upstairs if we have to leave them alone for a few minutes (e.g. when I clean up their lunch mess, run upstairs to throw in the laundry, etc.). We didn't buy a ton of equipment. We use Superyards to gate off certain areas, have a gate at the top of the stairs, cabinet locks for the kitchen and bathroom cupboards and outlet covers. Pretty soon we will need doorknob covers as well, and I just bought a toilet lock but until recently I haven't really taken them in the bathroom with me (except when they're getting a bath but then we don't really let them run around the room).

ehpope

Same here. We removed all of the unsafe items from our living room and den so that there is a place for them to be alone for a few minutes if need be. When I cook dinner they come in the kitchen with me so I have a lock on 2 cabinets in there, but I keep a pretty close eye on them when we are all in there together.

leslie13510

Not a whole lot really.

When we lived in a house with stairs, the top and bottom were gated. 

We went from an open tv stand, to a taller one with doors and put a lock on the handles so they couldn't mess with the electronics. 

Anything breakable or sharp (or otherwise dangerous) got put where they can't get to it.  I made sure the bottom cabinets in the kitchen have nothing they can hurt themselves with. 

All doors stay shut except for the door to the playroom.  When they can open them, I'll babyproof the handles of the rooms they're still not allowed to be in alone.

Outlet covers.  Tucked away all cords possible even though they know not to mess with them.

Other than that, they have free run of the house, and have since they could crawl.  I've found that it was easier to teach them what they could and could not get into, or do, rather than just keep them out of everything.  In a safe manner of course.

lisa&andy

We baby proofed as they got more and more mobile and we saw what they got into. I put outlet covers in the ones they could get to, cabinet locks on 4 cabinets (one has cleaning supplies, the other has food and after DD dumped an open box of lucky charms on the floor, we locked it).

Mine have the run of the living room and typically the kitchen, they love to pull stuff off shelves so things on the bottom shevles have been moved. We are getting ready to move next month and we are mounting the TV and boxes because they like to push the buttons or hit the TV.

Mine do have the run of the whole house, if I am back there with them, DS loves the dog's water bowl and DD loves the toilet flusher so I can't just let them loose. We haven't baby proofed much in the backside of the house, their room is pretty safe, the way it is arranged it covers outlets, cords are blocked.

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We have our downstairs blocked off for the boys (LR, kitchen, 1/2 bath, dining room).  We keep the bathroom and basement doors shut, have 2 cabinets locked (trash and cleaning supplies) and other than that we let them go free.  We do have baby plugs in some outlets, some outlets have new plates on that are baby proof, and some they're never near and we leave alone.  There's really not much that they can get hurt on other than just falling over.

gumiberg

i dont do much, to be honest.

i used to gate off the kitchen but they love that room. so i filled all the lower drawers with our tupperwear, old bottles, etc. and every day they take it all out.  i did just buy cabinet locks so i can lock the cabinet under the sink where the dish soap is.

i have outlet covers, of course.  and we make sure that we dont have anything like a bookshelf or tv that can fall on them.  had to do some rearranging for that one.

and i keep the bedroom/bathroom/office doors closed.