Fireplace?

lckytabby3

What do you have around your fireplace to keep LO off?  We have a brick fireplace that is raised up and she always wants to crawl on it.  I have the padded guard on it that she just pulls right off.  I have couch pillows leaning on it and she just pulls those away and crawls on up. I guess I dont mind if she is up there but she doesn't get the concept that there is a drop off and she just walks right on off and would get hurt if I wasn't there to catch her. 

Any suggestions?  Either to purchase or build?

IU_baby

We have a fireplace with a raised hearth (approximately 12").  We couldn't keep him away from it, so we just taught him how to get down safely (he could get up there just fine) and now whenever he climbs on it, he sits right down on his bum and scoots off the end. 

It did take a lot of reinforcement (and still does), but we're not worried about him falling off of it anymore.  When he does fall at this point, he usually just laughs about it.   

lemen99

The safety corners never worked well for us b/c he just takes them off.

We do not have a raised fireplace, but my parents do.  We have just had to teach him to stay down.  He is very cautious though so in general, I don't have to worry a whole lot about him hurting himself b/c he's already  ervous in those situations unless he's very steady.

With out coffee table (very sharp corners) we just put it in the corner of the room until he got steadier.  Then we brought it out and he is just careful.  I guess I would keep doing what you're doing to try to break a fall, try to teach her no. 

Maybe you could help her with a "guided" fall to show her the idea?  I don't know if that would work at all (?)

 

lckytabby3

K is pretty steady when walking. She just gets up there and thinks she can just walk off like it is just like walking on the floor.  Like she doens't have a depth perception yet. 

lemen99

Andrew learned that like a light switch, I think around 1 year.  It'll come soon!

If set him on the bed he'd crawl right off, no clue it was a "cliff".  Suddenly one day, he was afraid.  He knew he couldn't without hurting himself!

blondbomber23

We're building an enclosure around the fireplace. Ours has a wood burning stove insert so it gets hot. The raised part isn't very high so we're not concerned about her falling. We found that we could use two of the folding fireplace screens and connect them to completely block off the area. We may also be connecting them to the bricks on either end...it's on my to-do list to buy the 2nd screen (from Target) and figure out how to connect them this week.