Baby Proofing

I like to learn from my own mistakes but it is even better to learn from the mistakes of others. (Those who aren't too embaressed to share)

My babes are just starting to crawl.

Is there anything you wish you had babyproofed better? What did you forget? Any tips about twins babyproofing...

 

QUOTE(mom of one plus two @ May 5 2007, 09:29 PM) [snapback]245112[/snapback]
I like to learn from my own mistakes but it is even better to learn from the mistakes of others. (Those who aren't too embaressed to share)

My babes are just starting to crawl.

Is there anything you wish you had babyproofed better? What did you forget? Any tips about twins babyproofing...


Actually, we did really good.

Most important things are the places where you keep your cleaning fluids and other potential poisons, and sharp objects (knives, scissors, etc).

We kept our kitchen gated until they were two.

Our stairs are still gated (they spend a lot of time around the landing at the top and I could foresee an accident if we were to remove it).

My dad built a gate for our deck stairs.

We kept our TV stand in a Super Play Yard until they were 2.5. (seriously)

We had a bumper around our glass dining room table.

We lock our front storm door pretty much always by habit. (stairs down right outside the door)

We have outlet covers on all unused outlets.

etc. etc.

We've had no accidents that I wish we could have prevented. "We done good" in this respect for suer.

 

I forgot to put a lock on the dryer and caught Irelynd putting Shae in it. They also liked too pull the stove door out.

 

It was more like, do it as it needed to be done.

When they started to pull themselves up, we moved things up, as they started to walk, we changed the rooms.

There was always something, but we found a good balance between letting them explore and keeping it safe.

We locked all the cupboards with glass, but showed them a whole cupboard door with plastics and pots and pans and containers that they could empty out. Noisy and untidy but interesting for them. Atv the end of the day i just throw everything back in the cupboard.

 

If you need to use a wall anchor when you install gates, make sure it's not a smooth style. My boys were able to knock one of the screws out of the wall because I used the wrong type of anchor.

 

If you need to use a wall anchor when you install gates, make sure it's not a smooth style. My boys were able to knock one of the screws out of the wall because I used the wrong type of anchor.

 

QUOTE(motheringtwins @ May 7 2007, 11:40 PM) [snapback]246640[/snapback]
It was more like, do it as it needed to be done.


Here too. When mine first started crawling, I completely freaked out and bought a ton of childproofing stuff and started nagging DH about it. Most of the stuff is still sitting in a box. We did the important initial stuff like putting really good locks on the cupboards with dangerous stuff in them, but since then it's been just small changes.

One thing I really think we should do soon is put furniture braces on the bookshelves. DH doesn't think this is a big deal because neither of the girls has tried to climb the bookshelves yet. But that's not something to want to wait for, because even if it only happens once, it could be disastrous.

We also haven't done anything with all the power cords in our bedroom (clock radio, bedside lamp, etc.) The girls don't spend a lot of time in there, but they're not completely kept away from it either. So far they haven't done much except try to touch the red light on the surge protector.

In general I've found that they don't get into as much trouble as I was afraid they would. This may change when they 1) learn to climb, and 2) become defiant, neither of which has really happened yet.

 

The bathroom, don't forget about the bathroom. I did and they get into the drawers all the time.

 

You are all making me feel a lot better about my kids' safety.

It seems that whenever you meet a mom who says I had twins and they're all grown up now, they follow it with a horrible story of kids sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night, riding down the street on their tricycles or one twin standing on the back of the other twin in order to turn on the stove - who needs a chair?

Maybe the newer twin parents are just more informed and armed with more gadgets to stop them before they start?