What safety stuff before baby crawls/ walks?

gemmaj

Hello, I have an almost-9 month old baby girl who is thinking about crawling and/or walking and/or rolling and/or shufflebumming - she can't decide! I am looking at baby proofing the house in preparation. I've been on a website and have been overwhelmed - what do I need?

I have socket covers for the empty plug sockets and have fixed down or hidden all loose cables (lamps etc). I have put all the cleaning stuff in one cupboard and need to lock that somehow - I read that regular cupboard locks are tricky to use and that magnetic ones are better? Do I need to lock all my cupboards or just the cleaning stuff and dustbin - she can't get into that much trouble with a tin of baked beans but I worry about her slamming her fingers in the doors (she has started opening cupboard doors and swinging them!)

The health visitor (which is a swear word in our house) mentioned stair gates at the top and bottom of the stairs, and the nursery door, and I'd want one going into the kitchen - thats 4 which is going to be about £80? :eek:

On the site I was looking at there is Fridge locks, toilet locks, microwave locks, sheets that cover the oven, hob guards, furniture restraint straps (do babies often pull over wardrobes?) ... it goes on.

What do I realistically need as a starting point for a baby who receives average supervision (by which I mean I am a responsible parent - I keep an eye on my little one, but I do not stand within 3 inches of her every second of the day). Thanks!

elainew

Allwe got was a baby gate for the living room. Didnt have anything else. If i was going in the kitchen then I just left her in the living room. Everything else she touched just got a sharp NO and she soon learnt

Merlot

I bought no safety stuff at all, including gates, I simply kept the door at the bottom of the stairs closed. I had two children under the age of 18 months and I didn't feel the need for any of the safety stuff. I kept all the cleaning materials in a high cupboard in the ultility room. The word "no" works wonders,

The slight mention of Health Visitor in my home was also a swear word, personally I think they are a waste of NHS resources.

Merlot.x.

onlyroz

To be honest, I don't think too much stuff is needed - just as long as you're vigilant. We didn't do much safety-proofing of the house apart from the obvious things like keeping sharp objects out of reach and double-checking to make sure that the boy couldn't pull down shelving-units/tvs etc down on-top of himself.

Now, we've got a safety gate at the top of the stairs, and I'm thinking of getting some socket covers for the sockets closest to his bed (because he was investigating them quite closely this evening) - but are you *really* going to be leaving a crawling baby alone in the kitchen for long enough for them to start rummaging through the cupboards?

Edit: I agree that a child can quickly learn the meaning of "no". Hubby has a *very* expensive hi-fi and it didn't take long for the boy to learn to go nowhere near it. We joked initially about putting a wire fence around it, but it really hasn't been necessary. Our son has even learned that sticky fingers should go nowhere near the tv screen - and he once told my mum off for touching it, much to her annoyance and my amusement...

Mips

Eyes in your behind - nothing else works!

My daughter knocked a tooth out climbing over a baby safety gate, they all try and climb on the fire guard... I've got monkeys!

slummymummyof3

We just got a stair gate for the bottom of the stairs and one for the kitchen. We put kitchen cupboard child locks on all the floor standing cupboards (just incase they managed to 'escape' into the kitchen)but didn't bother with fridge lock etc as had stairgate across kitchen doorway so didn't need hob guard etc. We also got a fabric/mesh stairgate (a bit like the side of a travel cot) which was adjustable/extendable and didn't require fixing cups - for when we went away to Granny's house etc.
You can get some really good foam thingys now to stop little people closing room doors on themselves.
Just move your ornaments up out of the way and remove things like table cloths which may be pulled down.

foreversomeday

By the way, an electrician friend told us that socket covers are pointless.

This is because the hole at the top acts as a "key" for the other two holes. If there is nothing inserted into the top hole, there is a little gate or door blocking the other two from accidental insertion. That is why some things (phone chargers, for example) have a plastic earth pin, when plastic doesn't conduct electricity. In fact I realised after he mentioned this that I had once stepped on a phone charger and snapped off the plastic pin - and I had to throw it away because I couldn't get it to go into a plug socket without the third pin.

If a child was to push something into the top hole of a socket, and keep it there while he poked something metal into one of the other two holes, it would be dangerous - but this is very unlikely.

I think cupboard locks are useful when they get into the toddler stage though - my mum used the basic plastic ones and I could open them as a 6 or 7 year old though so they can't have been that difficult to use.

Try ebay or freecycle for safety gates if you need that many. Or keep an eye on argos etc in case they have them on offer.

Becles

I've got 3 children - the youngest is 15 months.

I've never bothered with any safety equipment and I've never moved anything. Ornaments are still in reach, cleaning stuff is in the cupboard under the kitchen sink, things are still plugged in where they've always been plugged in. Each child has learned the meaning of the word no quickly and have been quite safe.

I've just followed obvious safety things like turning pan handles inwards on the hob, no trailing flex on electrical things, always putting tools and cleaning stuff away after use etc.

Ultimately it's your decision though on how much risk you think there is in your home and which devices you think you need.

Agutka

I am going down the route of saying no, but it's all turning into a bit of a game for ds. He laughs and tries to do the naughty thing quicker. If you persist with physical restraint he will have a paddy, pretend he's done trying and do it again when you let your guard down. I had a horrible afternoon today just letting him roam around an un-babyproofed living room. I am soooo not ready for this!

Neither is our poor dog!

Paparika

Baby gates, socket covers, cupboard locks.

lots of magic cream for all the bumps and knocks

the removal of items you don't want breaking to a higher level


Get on the floor and look around at things you might think baby can crawl to and pull.

Is the tv on a stand, could it be pushed over, can the video/dvd player have a cover over it to stop the posting of sandwiches..

kr15snw

To be honest theres not a huge amount you need to do, but this is what my SIL did...

Stair gate at top and bottom of stairs.

Socket covers

Cupboard locks on all (this was simply because she liked playing with anything she could get her hands on and my SIL got fed up of the mess, lol)

Anything breakable moved out of reach.

Everything else she got (as someone else has mentioned) a sharp no, and she soon learnt.

Two lessons one of my friends kids learnt were:

Always told not to pull DVDs out of the DVD rack, but he did. One day he did and it fell on him. He wasnt really hurt but he did cry and never went near it again..

Also told not to go near the oven (when he was in the kitchen with mum) as it was hot. Once again he refused to listen and touched it. Small burn but in childs eyes this was terrible and he screamed. Never been near it since though!

They soon learn