Baby proofing

purplesnapdragons21

LO is starting to crawl and we need to baby proof.  I'm more of the minimal baby-proofing kind of person.

 

We plan to keep small things out of reach, cover outlets.  I think we need to lock a few cabinets too.  I'm not convinced about locking the toilet. We plan to move within a month of LO's 1st birthday so I don't need to plan much past then.

 

Do you have a preferred cabinet locking system?  What baby-proofing do you recommend?

AliciaS1411

I would make sure tall things are secured to the wall. Once s/he can pull up on things that could be bad. Our TV is secured to the wall, all the book shelves are anchored to the wall. If you have pets, do something to raise or block off their food bowls. 

purplesnapdragons21

No pets.  Securing things to the wall is probably not going to work.  I will look into it but we have a lot of cheap Target/IKEA shelves that would probably just collapse if he tried to climb them, even if it's hooked to the wall.  We will have to be vigilant if he's near one of them.  We have a pretty small house and don't plan to leave him unattended if he's not in his crib/PnP/gated area.

AliciaS1411

purplesnapdragons21:

No pets.  Securing things to the wall is probably not going to work.  I will look into it but we have a lot of cheap Target/IKEA shelves that would probably just collapse if he tried to climb them, even if it's hooked to the wall.  We will have to be vigilant if he's near one of them.  We have a pretty small house and don't plan to leave him unattended if he's not in his crib/PnP/gated area.

Collapsing still ends with stuff falling on your child. All you need to do it are some hooks and zip ties. I don't understand why you wouldn't be able to secure things to the wall. Our books shelves are cheap Ikea shelves and they came with the stuff to secure them back. 

purplesnapdragons21

AliciaS1411:

purplesnapdragons21:

No pets.  Securing things to the wall is probably not going to work.  I will look into it but we have a lot of cheap Target/IKEA shelves that would probably just collapse if he tried to climb them, even if it's hooked to the wall.  We will have to be vigilant if he's near one of them.  We have a pretty small house and don't plan to leave him unattended if he's not in his crib/PnP/gated area.

Collapsing still ends with stuff falling on your child. All you need to do it are some hooks and zip ties. I don't understand why you wouldn't be able to secure things to the wall. Our books shelves are cheap Ikea shelves and they came with the stuff to secure them back. 

 

Right but collapsing shelves won't be prevented by hooking it to the wall.  The good news is, I doubt he will be climbing much before we move around his first birthday.  At which point we are tossing our old junky shelves and furniture, buying nice stuff, and getting a house big enough that the baby can have his own room which will be nice and safe.  Right now, my husband is concerned that if we go to the trouble to try and hook the shelves to the wall, it will make big holes in the wall but if LO tried to pull up on them, they would still tip and the hook would rip from that ghetto cardboard/fake wood of the shelves.

How do you secure it with hooks and zip ties?? 

AliciaS1411

purplesnapdragons21:

AliciaS1411:

purplesnapdragons21:

No pets.  Securing things to the wall is probably not going to work.  I will look into it but we have a lot of cheap Target/IKEA shelves that would probably just collapse if he tried to climb them, even if it's hooked to the wall.  We will have to be vigilant if he's near one of them.  We have a pretty small house and don't plan to leave him unattended if he's not in his crib/PnP/gated area.

Collapsing still ends with stuff falling on your child. All you need to do it are some hooks and zip ties. I don't understand why you wouldn't be able to secure things to the wall. Our books shelves are cheap Ikea shelves and they came with the stuff to secure them back. 

 

Right but collapsing shelves won't be prevented by hooking it to the wall.  The good news is, I doubt he will be climbing much before we move around his first birthday.  At which point we are tossing our old junky shelves and furniture, buying nice stuff, and getting a house big enough that the baby can have his own room which will be nice and safe.  Right now, my husband is concerned that if we go to the trouble to try and hook the shelves to the wall, it will make big holes in the wall but if LO tried to pull up on them, they would still tip and the hook would rip from that ghetto cardboard/fake wood of the shelves.

How do you secure it with hooks and zip ties?? 

The hooks anchor into the wall and into the back of the shelving, then you zip tie between the two hooks. Its fairly simple.

 

purplesnapdragons21

AliciaS1411:

The hooks anchor into the wall and into the back of the shelving, then you zip tie between the two hooks. Its fairly simple.

 

 

Hmm..We will have to see what might work 

526SadieSadie

Instead of buying the childproofing edging for a coffee table, I recommend pipe insulation.  It's cheaper.

purplesnapdragons21

526SadieSadie:

Instead of buying the childproofing edging for a coffee table, I recommend pipe insulation.  It's cheaper.

 

You can also use pool noodles!  But we only have one coffee table and it's all rounded.  

purplesnapdragons21

nowababy:

Just FYI, Ikea furniture usually comes with the parts to anchor it to the wall so ....

If you want to avoid putting holes in the wall, I would just keep an eye on your kid and if it seems like LO is starting to reach for things you can anchor as necessary.

 

Ours is actually from Target, I just meant IKEA like.  And we got it about 6 years ago and have moved once since so if it had an anchor...i highly doubt we know where it is.  Yeah, I think we will see what he goes for most often and focus on that.  We have two bookshelves in the dining room but I can't imagine he will be in there except during meals in his high chair.  The one in the study/his bedroom is my biggest worry, but it's mostly in front of a huge window so we will have to see if there's any wall to anchor it too.

jmgcoggins

We are minimal too, and have a 2 1/2 year old and a 7 1/2 month old. We have outlets covered, the handles of the doors to the outside and the bathrooms covered, and cabinets locked, but not the drawers. We don't have anything anchored to the walls. When DS was smaller if he was near that stuff that could potentially fall, we were next to him. Now he's old enough to know and doesn't mess with it.

We use these:

https://www.amazon.com/Safety-1st-Pack-Side-Cabinet/dp/B007OWHDS4/ref=sr_1_24?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1355867636&sr=1-24

 

snicksnack

I did very little baby proofing with DD. We did not even use gates on stairs.  She was never left unattended and we felt it was not an issue.  I did use outlet covers and I locked the cabinet that had chemicals in it.  Other than that nothing.  With DS I do plan to use gates if needed I also will protect the table sides if he pulls up on them DD never did so it was a non-issue.  As for the kitchen I think we may just gate it off.  We have new cabinets that we don?t want to drill into to and the sticky ones tend not to work.  The only room in our house that is fully baby proffed is DD?s bedroom because she is in a bed and able to roam the room.