Advice regarding baby proofing house!

so Noah and Sophie are ZOOMING around. Not full out crawling but honestly the little buggers can scoot and creep on their tummies at crazy speeds

So we have a ton of foam mats and have designated our dining room to be their play area. I want to put some gates around the mats because we have sharp base boards with boarders and I don't want them having access to the walls or window. Which would you recommend?

Then I will have a swinging gate for the entryway to the kitchen and seperating the dining room from the hallway. Any gates you recommend that aren't too ugly and not crazy expensive?

Finally what else should I be thinking of? I've covered all the electrical outlets on the main floor. I will eventually put door latches on the laundry door and the cabinets with any chemicals.

Thaks for your advice.

 

1.) We had the Superyard gate for the boys. I put down the alphabet foam mat, and then the gate around it. Worked well-and you can use it for other things as well. I know many people on TS highly recommend it as well. And you can get extensions for it making it as big as you need. Superyard

2.) We had a gate that separated the living room from the rest of the house(kitchen/dining room/bedrooms. It was bolted to the wall and then extended outward to the other side and clipped on to the other side that was bolted as well. I can't find it online, but it's similar to the superyard idea. I loved it. The gate we have to block the living room to the stairs is this one: Gate

3.) Make sure the cords are out of reach of the kids. My kids weren't big into cords, etc, but you still need to be extra diligent. Get down on your hands and knees and crawl around and look everywhere. By getting down to their level, you'll know what they can see. And then make sure there is nothing on the table-like magazines-that they can try to reach, pull on, and then fall. Make sure your electronics are babyproofed! Oy-they broke our 5cd/dvd changer. Oops. If you have a fireplace as well. Sometimes I think my kids are weird-they didn't go towards any of that stuff! :laughing:

Enjoy the new found "freedom."

 

We have the Superyard, too, and LOVE it. It gives me time to eat, go to the bathroom, etc., without worrying about the LO's getting into everything. We are just putting up the gates tonight, so I can't tell you about that yet.

 

I think a superyard sounds like your best option. It will keep them away from baseboards and anything else... our only problem with the superyard was that we have hardwood and they could push it along and take their twin for a ride. Now we have a gate that bolts into the wall and their space is fully babyproofed.

 

we have hardwood floors as well, so we were thinking of using this with the foam mats ... do you think this will be ok?

 

That is what we do - we have one of the ABC mats on the floor, and put the play yard on top of it. They can still push it around, though. If I really don't want them to push it, I brace it with a chair or two.

Also, consider buy one of the two panel extension kits if you have room. It makes a BIG difference in the amount of play area they have and I have found they are much happier in there now that I expanded it. The ABC mat is still plenty big enough with the extension, too.

 

We also have a superyard with a foam mat underneath. We also have thisgate that separates the kitchen from the living room. It was one of the cheaper gates but it's very sturdy and easy to use. It doesn't swing open though (those were more expensive) so you have to hurdle over it every time you go in the kitchen. Not a huge annoyance though - just depends on your tolerance!

 

Superyard is also nice as you can take it outside

 

We have been using this gate for the past few days and really like it so far - easy to put up and easy to use. It is pretty cheap for a swing open gate but seems to be good quality.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Regalo-Easy-Open-Baby-Gate/7812821

We had to have the wide version, but there is also a regular version:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Regalo-Easy-Step-Metal-Swing-Gate/4407777

Be sure to measure before you buy. Walmart has cheap or even free shipping, too.