Tips on Babyproofing Needed!

We've decided to give the twins the freedom to roam our living room, hallway and nursery so I'm going to Babies 'R Us today to buy babyproofing items. I have not done this yet and wanted to know which items you found the most useful to you, outside of the outlet plug-ins and wire concealers...Thanks!

 

Baby Gates, plug covers, and cabinet latches were all that we needed at that age. Within the last couple of months my girls learned how to open doors, so I went and bought the door knob handle covers as well! Have fun baby-proofing!!

 

QUOTE(Kyrstyn @ Apr 3 2009, 10:16 AM) [snapback]1257602[/snapback]
Baby Gates, plug covers, and cabinet latches were all that we needed at that age. Within the last couple of months my girls learned how to open doors, so I went and bought the door knob handle covers as well! Have fun baby-proofing!!


Same here! Gates to block off stairs, plug covers (don't buy the fancy ones that require you to rewire your outlets, the cheap plastic plug in ones work much better), and cabinet latches are what we used. Mine can't yet open our doors since we have latches and not doorknobs, so we haven't bought any more baby proofing stuff.

There is a ton of gear sold - stove guards, oven locks, toilet seat latches, foam bumpers for sharp corners or fireplaces, etc. It's a matter of personal choice, but for me, those were all a waste of money and much more than we needed.

 

QUOTE(idril @ Apr 3 2009, 12:24 PM) [snapback]1257609[/snapback]
There is a ton of gear sold - stove guards, oven locks, toilet seat latches, foam bumpers for sharp corners or fireplaces, etc. It's a matter of personal choice, but for me, those were all a waste of money and much more than we needed.


I totally agree! If we had a fireplace, maybe I'd want something. Our SuperYard protects all of our tv/stereo stuff. I think we may be almost ready for the doorknob covers, but not quite. Everything is fine!

 

We have marble window sills in the playroom and family room so we did buy the stick on foam for those and it's definitely been worth it. They bounce right off

 

Maybe some plastic thingy you attach to the wall to cover cables too. We have cables all over in our living room

About the plug covers, I'd get the ones that slide. I've heard that the ones you plug in are easy to remove and a chocking hazard, plus if it's something your child unplugs the plug won't be covered.

 

I would suggest bolting as much to the wall as you can! And also, latches so they can't open drawers.

 

I have the plug thingies that you put into the plug and while they might be a choking hazard they could NEVER get them out. I cannot even get them out most of the time without a screwdriver to pry it loose.

I have the oven lock and it is a must with my climbers. I also really recommend the door mouse guards. Mine are always trying to slam one anothers hands/arms/feet in doors. I've also found that on some doors we need the ones that go by the hinges to keep them from getting slammed in the interior. Geesh!

GL! I give mine free roam of the living room, kitchen, hallway, nursery and now that we built a gate for it - the deck!

 

Make sure too if you have an oven that has the knobs on the front that when not using the oven, those come off. We have to leave ours off now. Oven lock. Fridge lock. Toilet lock. Cabinet/drawer locks.

Dianna

 

We actually never did anything about wires and cords. The girls just seemed to ignore them.... The same for table lamps and our torch lamp (though we did replace the super-hot bulb with a cool one).

My favorite cabinet locks are the magnetic ones that you have to actually screw into the door, but they were a pain for DH to install. They're super-safe and easy to use, though. There is now a stick-on version, but the girls broke that one off my desk drawer within a few weeks.

The easiest ones to install were this kind...:
http://www.babyproofingplus.com/item5275.htm

And another kind I can't find a picture of. It looked sort of like a bolo tie, with two flexible plastic pieces. Each piece wrapped around a cabinet handle (they have to be the C-shaped kind that attach to the door at top & bottom -- not a knob) and then through a plastic gizmo with a ratchet. You have to press two buttons simultaneously to pull the straps back out of the gizmo and open the cabinet. Those are kind of a pain to use, but super-easy to install and cheap.

Our girls have not defeated either of these yet, but they're not very determined (or dextrous).

The standard drawer latches, with a little hook you just push down on to open the drawer, are useless. Don't bother.

Ditto the sliding outlet covers, not the plastic plug-in ones. My DDs could remove those easily by about 18 months (maybe it depends on what kind of outlets you have?). The sliding ones are not hard to install and don't require re-wiring, you just need a screwdriver. Also, if the plastic plug-ins are hard to remove, they're going to be a pain to use when you want to plug something in!

We did get toilet locks (this kind: http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/produc...tegoryId=86203). The one with the long handle that swings sideways was not as good -- they could still open the toilet a couple of inches. Mine were fascinated with the toilet, so those were a necessity.

Things we didn't use:
Refrigerator lock -- When they were young enough to need it, they couldn't open the fridge anyway. Now they can open the fridge and we have Rules.
Oven lock and stove protector -- We just kept them out of the kitchen when we were cooking. However, this might be more important for a SAHM. I was rarely cooking when they were awake unless DH was home too.
Door locks (so far) -- they only recently (at about age 3) learned how to turn a doorknob.
Any kind of foam or padding -- there's nothing worse than a wood floor or the edge of a table for them to bump their heads on. If I had a brick or marble fireplace with a sharp edge, I might have padded that, but for regular furniture it seemed silly.
Padding for the tub faucet -- we actually did buy one, but it was such a pain to actually use the tub, we gave up on it. They rarely bumped their heads on the faucet and when they did, we just called it a learning experience.
Door guards -- I've draped a folded hand towel over the tops of most of our doors to keep them from slamming.

 

QUOTE(idril @ Apr 3 2009, 09:24 AM) [snapback]1257609[/snapback]
There is a ton of gear sold - stove guards, oven locks, toilet seat latches, foam bumpers for sharp corners or fireplaces, etc. It's a matter of personal choice, but for me, those were all a waste of money and much more than we needed.


i hate to sound all paranoid and there IS a ton of babyproofing crap out there, but i don't think toilet seat latches are one of them! i hate to sound so morbid but more babies drown each year in toilets than swimming pools. if they can open the cover they can possibly fall in--w/no way to get out. again--i'm sorry to sound all neurotic! but my infant cpr trainer really drummed this into our heads! so,please do lock your toilet seats. at this point, it's for your kids' safety. later on, it will be for your sanity so they don't throw stuff in them.

looks like you got a lot of good advice.

gl!