Advice on Childproofing

M.-
My husband was the same way about change. Make a place where he can easily deposit his loose change, ours is a bowl on top of the fridge. In about 8 months or so your baby will start to develop impulse control and you can teach her not to get into certain things like plants. For now I would move any plants if she tries to eat them etc. Tuck computer cords away and childproof everything. You will needlessly spend the whole day yelling "no" at her when all she wants to do is learn about things. It will be a very short time and then you can start relaxing on the childproofing. My son is 17 months and all of our childproofing is pretty much gone except the locks on the cabinets with hazardous things inside of course. He can safely climb up and down stairs & knows to leave pretty breakable things alone I have down in his reach. At her age it is a waste of time, damaging to your relationship to try to teach her to stay out if things and can be dangerous if you are not next to her every second.
Brekka

My little guy is also 10 months and into absolutely everything! My motto is if you value it hide it! We have baby gates at all doors (I like air flow and hate stale rooms so this way I can keep the doors open without losing the baby!) We nailed one bookcase into the wall to prevent toppling; the others are in our spare bedroom. Liam (baby) has a shelf on the bookcase where he has his books and other baby valuables such as an old tv remote, cellphone and computer mouse. This seems to help him not go after the real ones. Plants, breakables etc are all in the kitchen up on shelves were he can't get at them. It is kind of a pain in the behind moving everything but it's worth it to keep baby safe. Basically, I would say that anything smaller than babys hand is not safe to play with and another thing we found out after seeing a weird poop was that the paint on our windowsill where Liam likes to look out at the yard was chipped and he was biting it and of course swallowing it! They will find anything and everything and use it to drive you crazy until like one of the other ladies said they are old enough to learn impulse control. Also, a plastic jar (rubbermaid or tupperware) with a screw on top makes a good change jar and is baby safe; my son loves to roll it across the floor so it is always close by to deposit change and makes a great toy! Good luck and have fun!

Hi M., I know exactly how you are feeling! We have twin boys, so we had to learn real fast about childproofing! First of all we went to FredMeyer and picked up a baby play gate. This way if you need a few moments to bring in the grocerys get them put away, take a phone call, ect you can do so safely. Secondly I called it decluttering. I went through the house and took everything that I didn't really need away, this included my coffee table and end tables. Those edges can be really dangerous. Put all plants up high, I hung them by hooks in the ceiling. This saved me tons of trouble!! Always use outlet plugs!! and if possible shut doors to to off litmit areas like bathrooms, bedrooms. remember cabinet locks for under the kitchen sink too. What really helps me though is, EVERY day I go through the house, and check the toys they have out in the living room and just try to think about what could they do with that? How could that be dangerous? You will be surprised what a baby can get into, and with two working together it is non-stop. Hope this helped some. Oh, by the way, I found a lot of baby proofing things at the dollar store and they were just as sturdy and it saved me a lot of money.

All of the tips you have gotten so far are excellent. I had trouble with my baby's father because he is a knife collector. He would set them on the floor and walk off! I had to explain to him that those were shiny and interesting to a child.
When my son was 12 months old he swallowed a penny that he found and had to have it surgically removed, which caused serious pneumonia and a week long hospital stay.
All of your tips about having convienent places for change are excellent. I'm not sure why the dads just don't think about that stuff as much as the moms.

When I was baby proofing I crawled around on the floor and examined the dangers. This is a good way to understand what they see and what they can get into.

Good luck!

It is ok to teach your baby what she can or can not touch or play with. Yeah I know they say you shouldnt teach them NO before a year, or whatever it was, but I dont have a problem with it. Also this is a great time to train hubby!! lol Let her get into something he left in her reach that can harm her, but can be destroyed. Then let him know that you cant chase her 24/7 just to be sure she stays out of HIS stuff when he should have put it way in the first place. That will quickly change on his part! I hope this helps and Good Luck!

We put a little basket inside my husband top drawer that he can deposit his change in. We also have a rule that if he leaves it out then whomever (me) gets to keep it. I usually help the kids put it in our Santa Bank.

You can use paper towel tubes to help conceal those cords. Or at least have them confined for them to be harder to get at.

For plants, I've gone to the hanging baskets. Or I'll put it outside.

We actually had the best luck getting down at her level and if she could reach it, we decided if it was something we valued or if it wasn't safe for her to roll it around. and moved it. We actually boxed up a bunch of stuff that we just put aside until our 2nd got to be about 2.

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Oh I forgot one thing...our dr. told us that if it fits thru a toilet paper ring then it's a choking hazard. Gave us a guide to look thru

They say that you should get on your child's level and you will soon realize how much is in their reach. My son is ten months and climbs the baby gate, stand on the drawer handles in the bathroom and manages to pile enough stuff on the floor to stand on to either reach the middle of the coffee table, desk, etc. It's amazing how smart they are already!

Hi, I am just going to let you know what I did for childproofing my home.
First I went around and pulled all the cords wich I could see and firgured out what they went to and if any thing would come crashing down. Then I took the twist ties that you take off bread and tied all the loose and long cords up and togeather.
Then all the cuboards, look to see what is in them and if it is something you don't want your little one getting, put safty latches on them.
Go around to all of your outlets and put safty pluggs in any and all that you are not using.
You can also get a latch for the friderator, but you shouldn't need that untill kids are about, 2-2.5.
If you are having aproblem with change then get some sort of a jar and put it where you always take your change out of your pockets and start using it.
Well that's most of it. If you are concerned about any thing else, get on your hands and knees and crawl around and look at all of the things that your kids can see and get into then take the steps to figure out how to put it up or make sure it is safe for your child.
Also baby gates will work for rooms that you want to keep open. I have to keep my bathroom door shut because my little one loves to play in the toilet.
Hope this helps some. H.