What's your take on babyproofing?

jillybean800 · August 2011

I'm reading WTE the first year, and much like it's alarmist companion, WTEWYE, it is basically saying that every single thing in my house can kill my baby. For instance, it says that babies should not be left alone, EVEN IN CRIBS OR PLAYPENS, with a pet, even a docile one. Ok, I get maybe a huge dog, but my 11 pound poodle mix? Can't be in the same room with my in-a-crib baby? Let's use some logic there. But it DOES have me worried about baby proofing.

I'm baby proofing the crap out of my livingroom and pretty much containing him to there. I covered outlets and wires, removed my floor lamp, took off the glass doors on the tv cabinet, etc. I'm actually rarely in my kitchen because it's a whole separate room (we don't have an open floorplan) so I'm not really babyproofing that yet. I'm not even guarding the stairs yet, because he's just not going to be near that area of the house.

So anyway, what's your style of baby proofing? Are you going whole house? Just a few rooms that you plan on keeping baby in? What have you done so far?

Cheekers2010 · August 2011

Well, maybe I'm just lazy but I've baby proofed the living/dining room and his room to a large extent (still working on it), but I don't believe you can remove every danger. I keep an eye on him unless he's in his crib or packnplay. As he gets older I intend to teach him what dangers there may be.

KissyFishyLips · August 2011

I'm sort of going with the flow - taking care of things as they become a potential issue. In most areas of my life, I'm pretty proactive versus reactive, but like you've said, baby proofing is nuts and there is way too much that you can do "just in case" and I'd rather not go crazy about it. FWIW, I am in the same room as DD all of the time (when she's awake), otherwise I plop her in the Box of Neglect (i.e., PnP) for safe keeping.

I've plugged up the outlets that are within her reach (in all rooms that she crawls in) and padded the edges/corners of our coffee table because she loves to hang out under and around it and has already smacked her face off of it. I have more padding for other tables, but she hasn't shown an interest in them yet so I haven't installed it.

We have baby gates in a few spots downstairs because we have an open-concept floor plan and this is just to keep her in the rooms/areas that are in sight - i.e., keeping her out of the office, foyer, and dining room (front of the house). We haven't blocked steps or anything upstairs because I don't let her crawl around upstairs yet unless the door is shut in her nursery.

I did put up these plexiglass/acrylic shield thingies in front of the TV component boxes because they're low to the ground and DD has been fascinated with the buttons since before she could crawl. That's just for my sanity, not safety.

Aside from that, I've just kind of minimized the clutter on our end tables and stuff. And we pulled together a little playroom area where she can roam free a few times a day (it's open to the office though, so I don't leave her in there unattended - we need to get another gate or something).

I do plan to get cabinet/drawer stoppers for the kitchen when she starts to show an interest in stuff there. That and the eventual door knob thingies (when she's walking) are probably as far as we'll go.

bumpuser260585 · August 2011

I have plugged up most of the outlets and I have a baby gate for the steps, but he hasn't found them yet. That's about it. I told DH last night that I want to get a cabinet lock for under the kitchen sink where we keep the cleaning supplies.

I feel like I really don't know what else to do. I've made DH start picking up his shoes. He always left them in the living room and J crawls right for them. Other than what I've listed, I don't know.

stephy1221 · August 2011

We've done the outlets and drawers she can reach in the rooms she spends the most time in. We just put up the play yard around her play area in the living room today since she is starting to scoot and roll around more.

JoJoMama730 · August 2011

I'm babyproofing as we go. I *thought* I had babyproofed the living and dining area, but there's still crap she can get into. You can't remove every single hazard. Just not gonna happen.

That being said, the stairways are a MUST. I have gates at the top and bottom of the stairwell going upstairs, but have been ignoring the basement stairs, because they're on the opposite side of the kitchen, and she rarely is in that area. I sound kinda like you in that regard. Well the other day, I was in the kitchen, and I swear that girl motored through there in the blink of an eye, tipped over the cat water, and had kibble on her way to her mouth. Right by the basement stairs! Needless to say, there's a gate up now. I think it literally does just take a split second for an obvious disaster to happen, and the stairs are the easiest place to babyproof.

Sonadora · August 2011

lvmcc:
I'm doing as little as possible really. We have gates at the top an bottom of the stairs, plugs in the outlets and I've cleared the clutter on things she can reach. We are going to put locks on the cablinets that house the chemicals, but we haven't gotten to it yet. Luckily, our TV is raised and we have a huge square ottoman as our coffe table.

Pretty much exactly this. We gated her out of the dining room and formal living room as well just because there are a million things in those rooms that I have no other place to put. Like the 14 crystal bowls people inexplicably thought we needed as wedding gifts.

She does more damage thwacking her head against her changing table when I'm trying to change her or dress her. Like today.

jillybean800 · August 2011

JoJoMama730:
I'm babyproofing as we go. I *thought* I had babyproofed the living and dining area, but there's still crap she can get into. You can't remove every single hazard. Just not gonna happen.

That being said, the stairways are a MUST. I have gates at the top and bottom of the stairwell going upstairs, but have been ignoring the basement stairs, because they're on the opposite side of the kitchen, and she rarely is in that area. I sound kinda like you in that regard. Well the other day, I was in the kitchen, and I swear that girl motored through there in the blink of an eye, tipped over the cat water, and had kibble on her way to her mouth. Right by the basement stairs! Needless to say, there's a gate up now. I think it literally does just take a split second for an obvious disaster to happen, and the stairs are the easiest place to babyproof.

we have a door that is always closed that leads to the basement. (It kind of has to be closed because you can't get through the hall with it open) Then, we have the livingroom gated off so he can't get up our main stairway. but I think that stairway will probably be next to gate off!

lrn327 · August 2011

Our house is really open so he can get most places easily. That said, I can see him most everywhere too. We have sliding outlet covers and a few outlet box cover thingys over "super exciting" cords that C likes to pull on. We used double-sided foam tape to fix that floor lamps to the floor because he pulls up on everything and we couldn't move or store them (tiny place/no room). We move trash cans away and put cabinet locks on. His toilet also has a lock on it because it's directly off his bedroom and he's already discovered using the toilet to pull up on (yuck!). We haven't put furniture straps on but plan too. Mostly we just watch him really closely but I'm glad we've done everything we have so far because he's pretty much tested all of it! (Oh yeah, and we superglued the little cap thing to the door stop - I wouldn't have thought about that but apparently they're fun to pull off!)

--halo-- · August 2011

The only thing we've really done is get rid of our super sharp & pointy coffee table and get a fake leather ottoman. I seriously just let him follow me around the house and keep an eye on him. I move things and say "No baby don't chew on that cord! Ouchie!" We haven't even put outlet covers in.

welshgirl · August 2011

Our living room and nursery (well, both kids' room) are baby proofed so the room is totally safe for both kids. (H even fastened the book shelves to the wall so they can't tip). Our room and the kitchen/dining room are to a degree (wall plugs, cupboard locks, etc), but not to the degree that I could leave M there. When M is mobile, we'll put a gate on teh door to hte kitchen, to keep her away when the oven is on, etc.

bosha711 · August 2011

We're in the process of baby proofing. We put those wire cover things over the wires in his room, We've blocked off areas that he shouldn't go near, we keep the bathroom door closed now at all times b/c he loves crawling right in there, all the outlets have the covers on them, etc.

We bought some other things like the corner cushions for the coffee table, cabinet locks for the kitchen, but haven't put them up yet. We got one gate for the top of the steps so he can crawl freely b/w his room my office & the hallway upstairs.

I didn't think we needed a gate for the bottom of the steps yet b/c "it's not like he can pull himself up onto the steps". Yeah, well, I jinxed that b/c yesterday he learned to pull himself up to standing using the bottom step & this morning he crawled up to the second step, so looks like we'll be getting a second gate asap!

CFH79 · August 2011

I covered all outlets and DH has put latches on all cabinets, including the bathrooms because we keep cleaning stuff, etc in those as well. I bought the covers for outlets that are in use for the outlets that are in the open in the living room and a power strip cover for the same reason. Basically, I covered all the outlets and cabinets in the whole house and am taking things one step further in the living room, where she is most of the time. Eventually, I'll get doorknob locks for the front door and the bathroom doors.