TTMA babyproofing

[tinydancer]

Have you done anything yet? Please tell this FTM what hazards to be on the lookout for.

[Lollipop]

I haven't started, other than telling S to keep his little toys away from M. But you need to be on the lookout for little things, stairs, possibly kitchen stuff (I just block the whole damn room off, because lazy), bathroom cabinets, cabinets in general... I can't think of anything else off the top of my head

[dizzycooks]

All the damn pompoms my 2yo thinks are the.best.thing.ever. Oh, wait that's just my house huh?
Honestly I don't do much, but we don't have much furniture and I am in the room with them so stairs aren't a problem. I stick them in the jumper or exersaucer if I need a minute.

[NellieOleson]

dizzycooks - what is it with 2yos and tiny pompoms? My dd1 loves them, too.

[NellieOleson]

For baby proofing, the main thing we did was move cleaning stuff, etc out of reach. A big thing you might not think of is dishwasher pods -- they are a really common cause of poisoning in children. We put it all on a high shelf in the broom closet in our kitchen. We also did electrical outlet protectors on exposed outlets. We have never had baby gates, cabinet locks, etc.

[scorpioscuba]

+1 on not doing much. DS never really got into things he wasn't supposed to and was never alone unsupervised. We did move chemicals, cleaning stuff. I also moved breakables out of reach.

[Lollipop]

I never bothered with outlet covers, we just used furniture. And we've always kept the cleaning stuff under the sink in the kitchen. I blocked the whole kitchen off when S was a baby/toddler, and I'll do the same once M starts actually getting into stuff.

[Lsquared]

I'm a crazy person so we have our bookshelves and flat screen tv anchored to the wall. Corners on coffee table are protected. Fireplace if you have one. Some indoor plants are toxic I believe. Electrical cords out of reach.

[crimsonandclover]

Our biggest hazards right now are also the older DDs' toys. I have told them that Legos, Playmobile, and their little beads for making jewelry are not allowed on the ground floor where I spend a lot of time with DD3.

We have stone stairs in our house (2 flights, as it's a duplex and built up as opposed to out), so we have gates at the top and bottom (don't forget the bottom - they can climb up and fall down) and those are obviously very important for our steps. I probably wouldn't be *as* concerned if the stairs were carpeted, but still.

Our outlets have child safety things on them, the TV is in a cabinet that is closed when it's not in use, and we have anchored most large furniture pieces to the wall.

In the kitchen everything at baby/toddler level is relatively safe.

[lucanjo14]

Child locks on lower cabinets, baby gate blocking top of steps, and blocking the front room of the house at the bottom of the steps. Outlet covers. My DS is the kind of kid that gets into EVERYTHING. But I don't think you need to worry about any of that until you have a mobile baby.

[kcrkcs]

We have done outlet plugs. Will probably put a lock on bathroom and kitchen sink cabinets where the chemies live. I don't know know. The barn is a big baby hazard. I don't even know where to start there.

[Lsquared]

Oh I also have one of those childproof door knob things on the door to the basement. That's more for DD right now

[dizzycooks]

I do have know covers on bathroom and bedroom doors as well as outlet covers. I have locks on two kitchen cabinets but that's because I don't want glitter and beads everywhere.

[scorpioscuba]

Oh yes, I'll definitely need to figure out something for DS's small toys, Legos etc. or I'll just block off the playroom? Not sure yet.

[NellieOleson]

I almost forgot - we did anchor our tv, too.

We have a dresser and bookcase anchored as well. I'd like more of our furniture tethered to the wall, but my H thinks I'm a crazy person about it. Who knows, maybe I am.

[NellieOleson]

kelltothekell - I don't think that's crazy. It would be nice to have a pool, but I would be too worried about it all the time. I'd have it fenced so it was separate from the yard with a locked gate and have a pool alarm that went off if anything hit the water.

[valie]

We baby-proofed on an as-needed basis with DS so we're pretty set-up for DD.

Outlet covers were our first order of business. Then it was about what could seriously hurt him before I would notice and be able to intervene. Really, there wasn't much until he got much older and stronger. The best protection is keeping eyes on them. That and my scary Mommy voice , e.g. "No DS. That is a cord. No touching."

[fish8412]

Beware of coffee tables and their edges. DD1 smacked her head on it when she was about 9 months. She was fine but after that we got rid of the table. We didn't really use it anyway.

Also put away things will sharp edges/corners and/or glass. (picture frames)

[fish8412]

Aug 3, 2016 10:04:40 GMT -5 kelltothekell said:

We have bookcases anchored to the wall. I haven't done any of this but plan to:
-electric outlets covered
-move chemicals to one or two locations and lock those cabinets
-baby gates
-need to figure out door handle cover to basement door (at least) because our door knobs aren't the turn kind, you just push down on them. Not sure how to baby proof those!
-this probably makes me super crazy but i want a home security system that alerts you if one of the doors opens (we have a pool - even though it's covered i am afraid of DD getting out on the cover or something - will be more of an issue when she's older).

We are actually doing a home remodel project for baby safety. We have a balcony overlooking the living room and the balusters are six inches apart. WAY TOO far apart. Not up to code. We are having them redone.

Our security system alerts us when doors open. It says "front door", "back door", and "garage door".

[scorpioscuba]

Aug 4, 2016 17:39:50 GMT -5 fish8412 said:

Aug 3, 2016 10:04:40 GMT -5 kelltothekell said:

We have bookcases anchored to the wall. I haven't done any of this but plan to:
-electric outlets covered
-move chemicals to one or two locations and lock those cabinets
-baby gates
-need to figure out door handle cover to basement door (at least) because our door knobs aren't the turn kind, you just push down on them. Not sure how to baby proof those!
-this probably makes me super crazy but i want a home security system that alerts you if one of the doors opens (we have a pool - even though it's covered i am afraid of DD getting out on the cover or something - will be more of an issue when she's older).

We are actually doing a home remodel project for baby safety. We have a balcony overlooking the living room and the balusters are six inches apart. WAY TOO far apart. Not up to code. We are having them redone.

Our security system alerts us when doors open. It says "front door", "back door", and "garage door".

I've been looking at getting a security system installed. Do you mind sharing what you have and what you like/don't like about it?

[tinydancer]

Re: anchoring, I'm sure MH will scoff like it's unnecessary, but I just keep seeing the ad with the ikea guy telling me, no really, you do need to anchor your furniture.

I'm not planning to do anything in this house unless it becomes necessary, but when we move I'm hoping to get stuff set up with an eye towards keeping the kiddo out of things. Our set up now is not good - e.g., TV in a location where it can't be anchored, vases on the bottom shelf of bookcases, cords piled out in the open, etc.

[tinydancer]

scorpioscuba, we used to have ADT. We got rid of it because of the false alarms. It went off three times - twice we were on vacation (and no one was breaking in) and one time a house guest came home late and couldn't remember the code, the alarm went off and H and I both slept through it. We had it primarily to prevent break-ins, but we decided it wasn't worth it with the false alarms (especially if we weren't even going to wake up!). We kept the ADT sign and sticker, so that's probably deterrence enough, and we realized we didn't really need to worry about break-ins in our neighborhood anyway (knock on wood).

[newmomma8]

Only thing we've done for T was a gate at the top of the stairs. She really never got into much and I absolutely hate the things you put inside the cabinets. I wanted to rip the doors off at our old house that DH had from my SD.

I do think G will be more active, so I assume we'll have to do more baby proofing once he gets mobile, but we'll address it as we see it's becoming an interest and/or problem for him.

Our biggest issue right now is the toddler wanting to feed the baby,...G got his first taste of an M&M the other night. I had to scrape pieces out of his mouth and give him an ounce or two of water to wash it down. So if anyone has any advice on how to baby proof siblings I'll take it. LOL