How childproofed is your LO's room?

honeybee111 · December 2012

DD will be 3 next month and starting preschool. Back when she started to crawl, we childproofed the heck out of her room. Drawers/cabinets latched, furniture attached to walls, cords hidden, etc. She also has 2 doors in her room: one leads to her bathroom, and one leads to a walk in closet. We put door knob covers on both. Now that she's older, we've been starting to un-childproof a little bit. For example, she likes to pick out her own clothes and dress herself, so we took off the latches on her end table drawers, and put her pants and underwear in them. Our nanny mentioned last week that she's been leaving her bathroom door open because DD will sometimes go to the bathroom on her own after she wakes up from her nap. She watched her do this on the baby monitor, and by the time she got to DD's room, DD was already on the toilet on her own. So, I'm thinking maybe we should take the door knob cover off her bathroom door, so she can pee if she needs to since she has to come find us every time she needs to use the bathroom. The cabinet in her bathroom is latched, so she can't get to any of the cleaning stuff or soap down there. DH is still a little concerned - he's afraid she's going to slip and hit her head on the tub, or burn herself with hot water - she can reach the sink faucet. And, I guess we could also take off the door knob cover on her closet door. I was worried before about her pulling her hamper on herself, but she's much bigger now, so maybe it's not such a big deal? Plus, she's never really in her room for an extended unsupervised time except for nap and night, and we use the monitor for both times, so we can see what she's doing.

AgrippaRidesAgain · December 2012

Anchored furniture. That's it. He has been out of the crib since 2.5. He has had free run of the house since he was 14 months. We haven't had any problems with scalding, outlets, collapsing hampers, or any of your other listed concerns.

shannm · December 2012

AgrippaRidesAgain:
Anchored furniture. That's it. He has been out of the crib since 2.5. He has had free run of the house since he was 14 months. We haven't had any problems with scalding, outlets, collapsing hampers, or any of your other listed concerns.

Basically this.

I have a feeling DD may force us to do a bit more, she is much more adventurous than her older brother.

LoCarb · December 2012

LO does not have much in her room besides bed, dresser and a basket of books. Our entire house is not really child proofed that much. We covered the fireplace and a cpl of kitchen cabinets (the project deemed to difficult for H to finish),electrical outlet and we had a removable gate at the top of the stairs. Most of the time, we relied to "No" for DD to learn what she can/cannot touch. It's worked well and when we visit another house that is not child proofed she knows better.

rsd12 · December 2012

Not at all! But my oldest is almost 7, so he actually does everything on his own and the three yr old has been pretty independent. The only thing we did was latch the garbage when they were babies. We did have a gate at the top of the stairs for nap time and bed time... but that we stopped using once my youngest learned to walk down the stairs. But they are never alone in the house anyway and I even let them play outside by themselves! Eventually our liquor cabinet will be!

KathrynMD · December 2012

There's not much that's babyproofed anymore. ..

I think her book case and dresser are anchored to the walls, but otherwise. ..

nothing except the bumper around the fireplace.

We never did that much to begin with and I think its helped - she's had a few small injuries/falls which have basically made her more cautious.

Mama2TwoBoys · December 2012

honeybee111:
DD will be 3 next month and starting preschool. Back when she started to crawl, we childproofed the heck out of her room. Drawers/cabinets latched, furniture attached to walls, cords hidden, etc. She also has 2 doors in her room: one leads to her bathroom, and one leads to a walk in closet. We put door knob covers on both. Now that she's older, we've been starting to un-childproof a little bit. For example, she likes to pick out her own clothes and dress herself, so we took off the latches on her end table drawers, and put her pants and underwear in them. Our nanny mentioned last week that she's been leaving her bathroom door open because DD will sometimes go to the bathroom on her own after she wakes up from her nap. She watched her do this on the baby monitor, and by the time she got to DD's room, DD was already on the toilet on her own. So, I'm thinking maybe we should take the door knob cover off her bathroom door, so she can pee if she needs to since she has to come find us every time she needs to use the bathroom. The cabinet in her bathroom is latched, so she can't get to any of the cleaning stuff or soap down there. DH is still a little concerned - he's afraid she's going to slip and hit her head on the tub, or burn herself with hot water - she can reach the sink faucet. And, I guess we could also take off the door knob cover on her closet door. I was worried before about her pulling her hamper on herself, but she's much bigger now, so maybe it's not such a big deal? Plus, she's never really in her room for an extended unsupervised time except for nap and night, and we use the monitor for both times, so we can see what she's doing.

First, our 3 year olds room is no where near as childproofed as yours. We have a door knob cover on a closet (strange layout.. and it bugs me) that we keep our vacuums in, just because I wouldn't put it past him to play with them. Furniture is not attached to the walls, although I am going to do so soon so his little brother doesn't get hurt (11months). There are outlet plugs in all the outlets. I can't imagine keeping bathrooms locked up, Our 3yo just goes when he has to, and doesn't have to tell us.

Second. The things I highlighted are silly in my mind. Unless she's very small for her age, a hamper will not hurt her. Our baby has pulled hampers onto himself for a few months now, and other than falling over, it's not a big deal. What's preventing her from slipping and hitting her head on anything, let alone the tub? That can happen anywhere... coffee table, sidewalk, in the middle of any room... And for the burning with hot water, turn down your water heater, teach her to keep the faucet on cold, and she'll be fine.

The things like cleaning chemicals under the sink, good work on keeping those locked up. Too many kids get into those things, and it's so preventable. You could also always move all your cleaning stuff to one area, and out from her bathroom so you wouldn't have to worry about it. We keep ours all in a high up cabinet where our 3yo can't even reach with his step stool. For the soap... have you ever tasted it? It's nasty. One little lick, and she'd be done. (I was curious once as a kid, it smelled good, so wouldn't it taste good?... ew, still scarred from that!)

Let her have some independence, while still teaching her how to be safe. Show her what cleaning chemicals look like, not to touch them and never put them in her mouth. Show her how to keep the water on cold. Tell her about how bathtubs and floors can be slippery - stay on the rugs, and bathmat. How not to pull on open drawers or furniture because they can tip. All that stuff...

Let her have access to her own clothes. Yeah she'll make a mess a few times... you'll be surprised how much she'll love picking out her own clothes, and dressing herself. Nothing wrong with letting them spread things wings a little

iteachk · December 2012

DD's dresser is mounted to the wall, and the cords on her blinds are tied and secured. That's about it. Let her have a bit more freedom.

BigIsland07 · December 2012

We're really not baby proofed at all except for outlet covers. DS has free reign of his room and the house. We leave his door a little open 'cause he gets scared if it's closed, so we can't even hear him when he leaves (well, we have bells on his door, but they don't always jingle). We have low furniture (nothing over 3 feet), but not for childproofing, just coincidence. He has full access to his closet and everything else in his room. He goes to the bathroom by himself, gets dressed by himself, gets his water on his own, etc.

We didn't move him to a bed until we felt this would be ok. He was 2.5. HTH!