Ttma baby proofing

[comicSans]

My July bmb is basically dead, but some of you have more experience with crazy babies anyway. We didn't need to do much baby proofing with Dd, but definitely do for ds and I'm not sure where to begin.

Of course I told the pedi this morning he's not crawling and we got home and he was army crawling across the room to get dd's new magformers. Our go to of moving things slightly out of reach is no longer effective. Mamas of 2, how are you keeping the little away from the big's stuff?

I know I'll probably need to gate the bottom of the stairs eventually. He likes to pull up and has no discernment so I need to pad the tv stand in some way. We have a play yard that needs to be washed and I can bring in to contain him.

What else do I need to worry about? What did you find effective for maintaining the well being of a baby that has no sense of their own well being?

[emmagk]

DS is a wild one but we didn't do much. Furniture tethers for anything that was tippy and he could potentially pull over, stair gates at top and bottom, outlet covers, latch on the under sink cupboard that had cleaners etc in it.

Other than that we were very strict on what he could and couldn't touch or climb on. It also helped that he didn't crawl till 11.5 months so he could understand a lot more by then

[comicSans]

Apr 24, 2017 11:25:59 GMT -5 emmagk said:

DS is a wild one but we didn't do much. Furniture tethers for anything that was tippy and he could potentially pull over, stair gates at top and bottom, outlet covers, latch on the under sink cupboard that had cleaners etc in it.

Other than that we were very strict on what he could and couldn't touch or climb on. It also helped that he didn't crawl till 11.5 months so he could understand a lot more by then

Tethers is good. I should tether the tv. We have the top stair gate and a latch for the under sink cabinet, but I should keep latches for drawers in mind. He seems like a kid who will get into stuff just to get into stuff. Dd was good about listening to not touching stuff, but I'm certain this kid will not. It's pretty weird to me how different his personality is. I'm not sure where he came from.

[Susan0utLoud]

Outlet plugs

tether the tv

tether furniture to the wall (we got new removable versions so we can more easily fish things out and clean behind things)

drawer and cabinet latches

baby gates

went through everything in her reach and removed small pieces (sorry James, you don't get to play with things that aren't safe for baby for the time being)

[comicSans]

Apr 24, 2017 11:52:43 GMT -5 mary97 said:

We gated off the kitchen rather than deal with the latches.

Do you have a designated play space that can be gated at times to allow the older one to play with some toys you don't want the baby to get to, when not in use keep those toys up and out of the way?

We don't have a designated play area. We mostly play in the living room and the whole first floor is pretty open. Maybe DD will want to play in the play yard to protect herself 😀

[scout251]

Susan0utLoud TTMA these removable tethers...we tethered the furniture in DDs room but have now blocked the only outlets in the room.

[emmagk]

Apr 24, 2017 11:41:10 GMT -5 comicSans said:

Apr 24, 2017 11:25:59 GMT -5 emmagk said:

DS is a wild one but we didn't do much. Furniture tethers for anything that was tippy and he could potentially pull over, stair gates at top and bottom, outlet covers, latch on the under sink cupboard that had cleaners etc in it.

Other than that we were very strict on what he could and couldn't touch or climb on. It also helped that he didn't crawl till 11.5 months so he could understand a lot more by then

Tethers is good. I should tether the tv. We have the top stair gate and a latch for the under sink cabinet, but I should keep latches for drawers in mind. He seems like a kid who will get into stuff just to get into stuff. Dd was good about listening to not touching stuff, but I'm certain this kid will not. It's pretty weird to me how different his personality is. I'm not sure where he came from.

it helped in the kitchen to have a cupboard he was allowed in and pull everything out of, that was our tupperware cupboard. I would have put door locks on all the kitchen but the cabinets are weird and none of the latches or locks fit

[comicSans]

Apr 24, 2017 12:10:40 GMT -5 emmagk said:

Apr 24, 2017 11:41:10 GMT -5 comicSans said:

Tethers is good. I should tether the tv. We have the top stair gate and a latch for the under sink cabinet, but I should keep latches for drawers in mind. He seems like a kid who will get into stuff just to get into stuff. Dd was good about listening to not touching stuff, but I'm certain this kid will not. It's pretty weird to me how different his personality is. I'm not sure where he came from.

it helped in the kitchen to have a cupboard he was allowed in and pull everything out of, that was our tupperware cupboard. I would have put door locks on all the kitchen but the cabinets are weird and none of the latches or locks fit

We did this for dd too but it's her drawer with plastic cups, spoons, bibs etc. It worked well for her. I don't see ds being satisfied with that.

[lulu]

We were really lucky as moved into a new build when DS started to need more safety measures so we could be proactive.

We wall mounted TVs and got all wires to run behind walls and under floorboards.

All big furniture is tethered to the wall, stair gates are a must on stairs and bedroom doors.

Cupboards are all latched and toys are away in ikea units with the heaviest toys on the bottom and lightest on top incase the boxes are pulled out if DS decides to climb.

[lulu]

Apr 24, 2017 12:22:03 GMT -5 comicSans said:

Apr 24, 2017 12:10:40 GMT -5 emmagk said:

it helped in the kitchen to have a cupboard he was allowed in and pull everything out of, that was our tupperware cupboard. I would have put door locks on all the kitchen but the cabinets are weird and none of the latches or locks fit

We did this for dd too but it's her drawer with plastic cups, spoons, bibs etc. It worked well for her. I don't see ds being satisfied with that.

We did exactly this and put all the Tupperware, plastic stuff, sippy cups etc in the bottom drawer and allowed DS in it.

He loved that drawer...better than toys 😄

[scotty138]

We removed all of DS1s toys with small pieces from the living room. We also moved the toys that DS2 likes to destroy (train track, mega blocks). Luckily we have a small loft upstairs that I can see from the living room. We made that DS1s play space so they can be separated but I can see them both.

DS1 does not do well with sharing with DS2. We are working really hard at it because his immediate reaction is to push or hit DS2 when he touches his toys. He plays well with kids his age, but he doesn't want little brother stealing his stuff. We really just needed a place for big kid toys that DS2 can't get to.

[Susan0utLoud]

Apr 24, 2017 12:04:53 GMT -5 scout251 said:

Susan0utLoud TTMA these removable tethers...we tethered the furniture in DDs room but have now blocked the only outlets in the room.

m.homedepot.com/p/The-Hillman-Group-Hangman-Furniture-Anti-Tip-Kit-121192/203766040

Like this. They have a quick disconnect pin for cleaning and rescuing items that get behind furniture. And the ones we have are reusable so when we get different furniture we don't have to buy new tethers unless these are damaged. We live in earthquake country so tethers are a must, baby or not.

[bliz1712]

I'll be honest we didn't do a lot of babyproofing for either kid. But the light sockets, anchoring furniture, door knobs (maybe later on will be helpful), toilet cover, under the sink locks for bathroom and kitchen, baby gates, and if you have blinds working with the chord somehow.

[rainbowsockmonkey]

The only baby proofing we've done is to put lock on the under the sink cabinets, baby gate at the door to our downstairs bathroom, and gate at the bottom of the front stairs, and the for closed at the top of the back stairs. I don't mind of the girls play in our cabinets or drawers while we are in the kitchen. The most they have ever really done is just open/close them over and over and over.

[athn64]

For the smaller toys and things of DD1's that we don't want DD2 to have, we either have DD1 keep them in her room and paly with them there, or there's a ledge in the playroom that DD1 can reach and DD2 can't and we keep them up there.

Everyone else has pretty well covered all the other stuff.

[activebaby]

I haven't taken away the small toys. I give baby things that distract him. He likes a plastic container full of these big/caterpillar toys to put together (he just chews on them). He also loves remotes or things with buttons. Those keep him busy.

[Susan0utLoud]

Apr 24, 2017 14:33:08 GMT -5 activebaby said:

I haven't taken away the small toys. I give baby things that distract him. He likes a plastic container full of these big/caterpillar toys to put together (he just chews on them). He also loves remotes or things with buttons. Those keep him busy.

My issue with the small stuff even being around is J giving the small stuff to the baby. He's done and it's scary. So no more small stuff for him for a while.

[bazingaa]

Most of the babyproofing was carryover from the big, gates to contain in one area, corner cushion, draw locks, etc. The best thing we did was designate baby toys vs big boy toys. If DS2 touched a big boy toy DS1 was to yell for us. It wasn't that we had potentially harmful toys out, it just gave us a heads up if the little was stealing something that could cause a reaction from the big. We also did "propose a trade". If the little grabbed something the big wanted and the big started screaming about it, the big has to propose a trade which is basically grab a baby toy and give it to your brother before you grab whatever away from him that you want.

We kinda we taught the big to tattle on the little, but it helps to this day with alerting us if he's up to no good.

[scotty138]

Yes, we do the trade thing too bazingaa. It has helped a lot.

[activebaby]

Great idea about the trade. Ds1 snatches this from ds2 and makes him cry. I bet ds1 would totally love being responsible for picking out a toy for baby...that or he would totally ignore me.

[comicSans]

Thanks all for the recommendations. I amazoned some supplies and I'll implement as necessary.

[Susan0utLoud]

Apr 26, 2017 8:48:26 GMT -5 activebaby said:

Great idea about the trade. Ds1 snatches this from ds2 and makes him cry. I bet ds1 would totally love being responsible for picking out a toy for baby...that or he would totally ignore me.

This has not worked at all for us. I tried hard to implement it. I am always met with "THATS MINE!" Le sigh.

[athn64]

Apr 26, 2017 13:51:11 GMT -5 Susan0utLoud said:

Apr 26, 2017 8:48:26 GMT -5 activebaby said:

Great idea about the trade. Ds1 snatches this from ds2 and makes him cry. I bet ds1 would totally love being responsible for picking out a toy for baby...that or he would totally ignore me.

This has not worked at all for us. I tried hard to implement it. I am always met with "THATS MINE!" Le sigh.

our major problem is that DD1 wants to play with DD2's toys and takes them away. And then gets mad if DD2 goes and plays with her stuff. Sorry kid, you play with hers, she can play with yours.

[emmagk]

Apr 26, 2017 13:51:11 GMT -5 Susan0utLoud said:

Apr 26, 2017 8:48:26 GMT -5 activebaby said:

Great idea about the trade. Ds1 snatches this from ds2 and makes him cry. I bet ds1 would totally love being responsible for picking out a toy for baby...that or he would totally ignore me.

This has not worked at all for us. I tried hard to implement it. I am always met with "THATS MINE!" Le sigh.

oh man, the yelling THAT'S MINE is so fucking obnoxious, i hate it so much