Baby Proofing the House

by Baby Expenses 7 comments

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This weekend we went shopping for the baby – time to step up the baby proofing around the house. The little one is up and crawling around. I amazed how she went from no interest in crawling forward (she preferred moving backwards for a bit) to full speed ahead sprint crawling.

We already did some work preparing our place for the baby arrival in the nursery and our bedroom. Now we have to work on the home office and living room since we spend so much time there.

Baby-Proof Supplies

We stopped by Target Saturday to get some of our supplies. It was a quick trip, the longest part was deciding which gate to pick up. We ended up picking up:

  • outlet covers
  • cabinet and drawer locks
  • baby gate
  • corner guard

For the office there are a couple of sharp corners on some of the desks that we want to pad just in case she topples over.

Baby Gates – Tips to Use Them Effectively

We didn't realize how many options parents have with baby gates. I was used to seeing the pressure gates, but now you have the choice to install the gates into the walls and they can swing open like a door if you prefer.

We checked to see what would be a good option for us. We decided to grab one and try it out around the house.

Please keep in  mind a few things with gates:

  • Place the safety gate bar latch on the side away from your child's reach.
  • Wood gates should be splinter resistant.
  • Never use a pressure mount gate at the top of stairs.

Of course, supervision is key with babies and exploring.

Thoughts on Baby-Proofing

How many of you have already baby proofed your place? what did you do to prepare? How much did it cost to get it done?

Photo Credit: jumpyjodes

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    7 comments add your comment

    2. I’m finding it much harder with the 9 month old since his big sister has so many wonderful, deadly toys. We are trying to keep chokeable things in her bedroom and it seems to be working so far. The only thing about childproofing is you need to be careful not to create intrigue when restricting.

    3. Great tip, Elle.. Our 9 year old is quite mobile and we been baby proofing the house. She seems to LOVE cords, so we’ve had to move a lot of things around. We have baby gates on two different staircases, and setup some cabinet locks and baby gates.

    4. Best tip I ever heard for babyproofing is to get down on your hands and knees… and crawl around your house. It’s amazing how many sharp corners/dangerous objects you’ll find – when you see it from a baby’s eye view!

    5. Can I add crash helmet to your list? I had my hose baby safe to the max and my little girl found a way to hit her eye on the coffee table when she was a baby and has a little scar to this day and she is almost 7.

    6. wow, super cute baby! We baby proofed our living room and fenced it off from the rest of the house. I don’t think those outlet covers are a good idea. They can easily get them off and shove them into their mouth. At least our guy is starting to get more selective about what to put in his mouth. whew…

    7. I just stumbled across your baby proofing post and wanted to put one more key baby proofing tip on your radar: storing all medicines and vitamins safely! More than 60,000 young kids a year end up in ERs after getting in to medicines that were left within reach. That’s 1 child every 8 minutes! This includes medicines placed on kitchen counters and bedside tables, those carried in purses and pockets and those that fell on floors or slipped into seat cushions.And almost 8 out of 10 times, that medicine belongs to a parent or grandparent. This is preventable with safe medicine storage: putting medicines up and away and out of sight, after each and every use (even those we have to take again in a few hours time).

      http://www.UpandAway.org has some safe medicine storage tips and tip sheets. And Safe Kids Worldwide has some terrific infographics:

      http://www.safekids.org/meds-info2013

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