Baby Proofing

DH and I are having a difference of opinion and I told him I would "research" what others do. We are ready to baby proof things as my DD has started rolling over and over and over....
What specifically did you do? Did you gate off specific rooms? Put "locks" on specific cabinets/drawers in kitchen and bathroom? What about doors you don't want them messing with? Outlets? Cords? Heavy furniture?
I tend to err on the side of caution. DH is a little more liberal. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
TIA!!

 

I blocked off our living room and kitchen with baby gates, so they can have a safe place to play and I don't have to worry about them getting into things they shouldn't. I have Tot Locks on the cabinets, moved all the chemicals up high, and I have drawer locks on all of them except for where I keep my tupperware stuff. I also have removed all cords within their reach, plugged all the outlets with covers, and removed any furniture that they could pull on themselves. I haven't worried about Door Handles just yet, and I think we are still a ways from that, but its on my list.

I would definitely suggest getting your baby proofing done now, because they are going to be on the move and into everything before you know it!

 

For now I have a play yard set up in the living room... Later I'll probably gate it off, but the stairs have an iron banister and I have no idea how to attach a gate to them... plus I haven't found a gate the dogs can't knock down yet... The babies will not be allowed in the kitchen for a long time as there are open shelves everywhere, and no other place to store stuff. I'll probably remove everything they can grab and put sliding covers on the plugs... and empty the bottom shelves of the bookcase and attach it to the wall.

 

I started with a Superyard XT gate blocking off an area of our family room with their toys and such. When they were first crawling I just put pillows in front of things I didn't want them touching (entertainment center, etc) but now that they are much more mobile- I put their toy baskets in front of things I don't want them touching.

I haven't let them have run of the house (we have a 2BR condo) yet so I haven't done the cabinet locks, outlet covers, etc yet. I will have to soon though!

 

Great topic! We are right there too. I bought cabinet/drawer locks but they aren't up yet. We have a swinging gate into the kitchen already b/c of the dog and I need one for the soon to be playroom. I'm slowly replacing outlet covers with those that slide. I bought finger guards for their door and the playroom door. I got a bifold door lock for the washer/dryer closet for later too. My mom is convinced that payback is a you-know-what and I'm going to have a climber I don't doubt it so we are going to prepare for it. My step-dad is going to be here next week with her and I'm going to put him on attaching tall furniture to walls.

The one I don't know about is the cords. How do you not have anything plugged in at their level? All the outlets are at their level and we have to have lamps, tvs, computers. They make covers that go over the plugs too - is that what you are using? So far I'm moving the ones I can to behind furniture.

 

I kind of freaked out about babyproofing at first, but it turned out that we could get away without doing some things. For instance, we had a fridge lock for awhile (until it broke from DH and me using it), but the girls are almost 3 and still can't open the fridge. Also, they have never touched the oven, so we didn't need an oven lock.

The things we did right away were to put protective covers on the outlets (not the little plugs, but the covers that you screw on) and put magnetic locks on the cabinets where we keep the really bad stuff. We also put locks on the other kitchen cabinets (cheaper ones) so that the only ones they had access to were the tupperware and the pots & pans.

We blocked off the TV/DVD player/etc. with a small bookcase on wheels -- we had planned to set up a gate, but it was too much of a pain.

I packed up anything breakable that was within their reach in the sideboard (vases, china, etc.), and put other breakable or valuable things up high.

We never had to remove lamps and that kind of thing, because they pretty much left all the cords alone.

The only things we still haven't done that we really should do: attach the dressers and bookshelves to the wall. My kids are not climbers by nature, but I know we should do that, because you never know when it will suddenly occur to them to climb.

Anyway, it depends on your kids' nature and also whether you are home with them all day (mine are in daycare M-F, which gives them less opportunity to trash my house). But I recommend buying/doing a few really crucial things to start with, and then doing the rest on an as-needed basis.

 

We put up 3 baby gates in the living room. We also have 2 of the smaller gates if we need to gate them in their room or something. I would suggest getting at least one room 100% baby proof. We did our living room and that is where we spend most of the day. It looks like a play room in the living room but they are very very happy playing in here. We got the outlet covers and cabinet locks for the kitchen, office, bathrooms. We also try to keep all the bedroom doors shut so they wont wonder off. We got the plastic cover to go on the fireplace too so they wont hit their heads. I would baby proof sooner rather than later b/c the babies will surprise you as far as what they will get into.

 

So far we have put those little covers in all the electrical sockets. We have 2 baby gates to gate off areas we don't want them in where we can't shut the doors, and that's pretty much it. Oh and I had to move things that they are able to reach now that I don't want them to have, but I don't consider that baby proofing really.

 

We had to cover all the outlets and got the little curved foam thingyies that go around a do so they don't slam their fingers. We only put a cabinet lock on the one under the kitchen sink, they were always really good about staying out of stuff. I do have a gate at the top of the stairs and I used to have one at the bottom when they were babies. I also had a playyard that they would play in for a while with toys.

All in all we were lucky we didn't have to do that much. I think that it depends on the kid. My SIL's little boy is 8 months old and gets into everything! She has to get pretty much everything invented to baby proof her house.