Keeping baby out of the kitchen

Jnmac83 · May 2013

Our condo (where we are now) and our new house both have an open floor plan. There isn't a way to put baby gates up to keep O out of the kitchen. And for some reason, this child is OBSESSED with the kitchen. Right now I'm just blocking his path with boxes (which is a royal pain in my arse).

What can I do at the new house, though? Just let him go in there and put safety latches on the cabinets? That's what I am thinking, but I 1) don't want to have latches on everything if I don't have to and 2) everyone keeps saying "well everywhere you go won't have latches on the cabinets". Which is true, but I can keep him out of someone else's kitchen much easier than I can my own!

Do I just say "NO!" over and over until he gets it? What do you ladies with mobile babies do? Are all babies obsessed with the kitchen?

bigbootyjudi · May 2013

My kid hates the kitchen. As soon as he hits the tile, he backs himself into a sitting position and just looks around like,"WTF?! Why isn't this soft?!!!" and then heads back to the carpet.

My cousin had these awesome cabinet locks. It was like a magnet you stick inside and you use a magnet to open it...better than having ridiculous white plastic locks everywhere.

Jnmac83 · May 2013

bigbootyjudi:
My kid hates the kitchen. As soon as he hits the tile, he backs himself into a sitting position and just looks around like,"WTF?! Why isn't this soft?!!!" and then heads back to the carpet. My cousin had these awesome cabinet locks. It was like a magnet you stick inside and you use a magnet to open it...better than having ridiculous white plastic locks everywhere.

We have wood in the kitchen, O "walks" on all 4s in there. It cracks me up. Feet and hands flat on the ground, caveman style. He did crawl into the laundry room on the cold cement floor the other day. He did not like that one bit. He started crying pretty much immediately. HA!

I need to find these magnet things. That sounds way better than the latch things! Thanks for the tip, BBJ!!

Jnmac83 · May 2013

Scout2005:
bigbootyjudi:
My kid hates the kitchen. As soon as he hits the tile, he backs himself into a sitting position and just looks around like,"WTF?! Why isn't this soft?!!!" and then heads back to the carpet. My cousin had these awesome cabinet locks. It was like a magnet you stick inside and you use a magnet to open it...better than having ridiculous white plastic locks everywhere.
DD busted through those in 10 seconds flat. I've heard the same from other moms. Ridiculous plastic is ugly but it's effective.

Ah dammit.

CRey13 · May 2013

My kid loves the kitchen! It's his favorite place to be. I also have an open floor plan so we tried to redirect D back to the living room and distract home with toys but that didn't work. Instead H decided to reposition the couch to block his path. Now H and I have to jump over the back of the couch to get to the living room part but D is blocked from the kitchen.

The whole thing is ridiculous IMO. Thank god we don't have company over a lot.

I hope you find a better solution then we did!

jodegaard · May 2013

James is also in love with the kitchen. For the most part I let him explore and I'll verbally correct and redirect as needed. I'd rather teach him self-control, than to just block everything from his reach, but I realize this is a patience-requiring way to go about things.

Aaaand that probably wasn't much help at all.

ETA: Whenever I'm cooking, he's in his highchair or with DH. I don't let him roam the kitchen when I don't have the ability to get to him in a millisecond or when something potentially harmful is on/open.

twoitalians · May 2013

After asking opinions about it, I bought one of those play yards and we formed it in a half circle around our living room with the couches as the other ends. He still gets tons of roaming space but doesn't get free range to the kitchen unless we take him in there. It has worked wonders the past few days, he plays with his toys for hours now instead of getting distracted by bookshelves, wires, dog bowls, etc.

Don't know if one of those would help you or not but we have an open floor plan and the same situation with the gates

Neener73 · May 2013

So far DS isn't obsessed with the kitchen. He is obsessed with the cats' water and food bowls. When I see him heading toward them, I firmly tell him "No." and redirect him. Lately when I say "No," he will sit up, give me a grumpy look, and squawk, but he won't continue toward the bowls. Of course, as soon as I'm not watching, he heads right over again. I figure it will take a while before he completely leaves the bowls alone.

As for our kitchen (and bathrooms), we do have latches on most of the cabinets and drawers. We had to have them when we were foster parents. We don't think about them any more unless we have people over who don't know how to open the drawers or cabinets.

Jnmac83 · May 2013

Scout2005:
We say "don't touch" and enforce it, but it's unrealistic that a baby would understand that or toddler would abide by it at all times. So all lower cabinets and drawers are latched, as is the oven and I have knob covers on the stove. That's my approach in all child proofing; we set boundaries and we enforce them, but I won't risk serious injury in that split second my back is turned and impulse gets the better of them.

Crap. I didn't even think about the oven and knobs. Darn it.

I try to constantly say no and redirect him. He just doesn't care. He can get from our back door to the kitchen in 10 seconds flat.

lady_tytah · May 2013

We're going to put locks in the inside of the cabinets. The kind you push down to open. They aren't on yet. I tell him no, move him out but if he's not in the way I let him stay. If he just wants to be in the room with me, in the high chair he goes.

PaisleyRuth · May 2013

We don't have locks on any of our cabinets. Maybe that's flammable, but DS honestly never got into stuff that I didn't want him to. He would be in the kitchen, but I directed him to the one tupperware cabinet that I was ok with him messing in. If he ever started to open the cabinet under the sink where dish soap & stuff is, I just told him no and sometimes had to hold it closed for a while until he backed off. He still doesn't go in that cabinet, although he's starting to mess around in my pantry & get out the spices to shake and stuff, which is annoying but not dangerous.

The worst problem I have right now is DD constantly trying to pull up on my pant legs while I'm working in the kitchen. If I move she'll lose her balance & I'm afraid she'll fall & crack her head on the wood floor. Not to mention hot oil spattering if I'm stir-frying or something.

Jnmac83 · May 2013

Scout2005:
Jnmac83:
Scout2005:
We say "don't touch" and enforce it, but it's unrealistic that a baby would understand that or toddler would abide by it at all times. So all lower cabinets and drawers are latched, as is the oven and I have knob covers on the stove. That's my approach in all child proofing; we set boundaries and we enforce them, but I won't risk serious injury in that split second my back is turned and impulse gets the better of them.
Crap. I didn't even think about the oven and knobs. Darn it.
I try to constantly say no and redirect him. He just doesn't care. He can get from our back door to the kitchen in 10 seconds flat.
At his age, that sounds about right.

Ha. We always joke about how persistent he is. The kid does not take no for an answer. Once he gets fixated on something it takes a lot to redirect him. I'm in for it.

Bemyselfandi · May 2013

I'd put latches on anything that is dangerous. Leave the pots and pans open. Make it fun haha but dax listened like a block of bricks If we told him no. Well...that's still true. Addy will stop and look at you and move on to the next fun thing. She even comes to the living room from the kitchen if you call her and she's in there alone. Like if I just walk out I tell her to follow me. I ca n tell these kids are going to be worlds apart when it comes to listening skills.

ccam · May 2013

We haven't had a problem with DS going in the cabinets...yet! Hopefully he won't be into it. When I'm in the kitchen cleaning up after his dinner or getting ours ready, I just sit him on the floor with a couple tupperware, a rubber spatula and this metal bowl that he loves to bang around. It keeps him occupied.

Tula214 · May 2013

My sister has an open floor plan. She bought two play yard gates, and they are bolted to the walls in their living room. The babies have so much space in there. Now that they are getting a little older they have more free roam.

All of the bottom cabinets are latched. The drawers are because they now open them, and hang on them. Next is the stove, and the oven.

I'm working on the same. J has a play area in our living room. I'd rather have a safe baby than turn my back for one second, and have something happen.

latnprincess · May 2013

I didn't read all the responses, but with Christian we just safety latched the cabinets. Haven't done that with Liam yet. But what have done so far is pull out the tupper lid bin and let him have at it. I also give him serving spoons and stuff like barbecue brush to play with and he's happy. lol! It works!!! It used to work with Christian too. Give him some pots and pans and a spoon and he goes to town. I don't mind the noise though.

manderdoll · May 2013

DS2 doesn't care so much about the kitchen but DS1 was always in there, we put a lock on the cabinet under the sink because of cleaners and one drawer I chose to remove the handle rather than move what was in there, but otherwise I put "kid friendly" items in the bottom drawers and let him have at it, he would play happily while I cleaned or cooked or whatever.

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