Child Proofing Products

My baby LOVES cables and cords. It's impossible to "put them away" though. We bought those accordian-like cord organizer tubes, you string all the cords through and so they are more out of sight. As for small toys, I babysit older children and explained they needed to be careful with small toys b/c... they didn't listen and my baby almost choked on one. They all got scared and understand now. I tell them if they want to play with their leggos, they have to go to their room and play. When the small pieces or food gets back on the floor, I give them a bucket and make them pick everything up and put it in the bucket. They hated it at first, but now it is much cleaner and they are more careful about leaving things on the floor.

HI M.,
When baby proofing our home we removed our glass coffee/end tables and lamps. The locks for fireplace are good and padded wall corner protectors when they start walking. You also have to be carefull with the toys in the happy meals if get them for your older son, as the are not for kids under three. For my older son instead of saying "Pick up this or that", I would say, 'Pick up this penny, lego, button, whatever, so your brother doesn't put it in his mouth and choke". I hoped to instill the thought that he had to be carefull everyday. It hasn't been perfect, but he is aware more and more.

D.

My favorite child proofing products have been the Tot Locks and the sliding outlet covers. The Tot Locks are awesome because they really are kid proof, unlike most other cabinet locks PLUS you can turn them off when you don't need them. I find most outlet covers annoying - they're a pain to take in and out - but I love the sliding ones. It's not something you stick in the socket holes; you replace the whole outlet cover with a new one that has the outlets covered as the "default setting" so to speak. In order to plug something in, you start to insert the plug and then slide that part of the outlet to the side. When the plug is pulled out, the cover part automatically slides back over to cover up the holes. It's sort of hard to explain, but makes sense when you look at it.

And for the small toys - we have just tried to have the older boys keep them in their room, as opposed to all over the house. Then you just have to keep the baby out of their room.

We love the coffee table cushion corners, the drawer/cabinet locks, and the outlet covers. I have tried many outlet covers and the ones that really stay are white and rectangular. I can't remember what they are called, but you can get them at Babies R' Us. You have to push in the sides AND the middle button in order to get them out. They are sometimes so effective, I couldn't get them out! The other ones that are good are the circle plugs that you have to bend side to side to get out. We also like the door handle covers to keep out toddler out of certain rooms, but your little one isn't tall enough for that yet.

The Tot Loks are great! I've seen them at Lowes and Babies R Us. I'm not sure they are at Target or Walmart. You can also look online. Just google 'tot lok' and there are a bunch of places where you can get them. I've even seen them on e-bay.

One item I love is the tot lock. I believe that's the name of the product. It's a magnetic cabinet lock that I think is great for the sink where cleaning and chemical products are usually kept in kitchens or bathrooms. Instead of the usual cabinet "deterrants" which allow kids to still stick their little hands into the cabinets at least a little bit, the tot locks lock the cabinet and you need a special magnet key (included) to unlock it. It seems much safer to me and I have used it for the under the sink cabinet for the last 7 years in two different houses. If you have a wooden medicine cabinet, I would think it would work there as well. Good luck with your little crawler! N. :-)

We had Rod Johnson from A Small World Babyproofing do our baby proofing. He, too, will do an estimate and sell you the items and you can install them yourself. We opted to have him do it-- we had never installed any of these items, and figured someone with experience could do it in a fraction of the time. He also sells DVDs that instruct you as to what you need, how to do it, etc. http://www.smallworldbabyproofing.com/

My favorite items have been the Tot Locks, which I see others have mentioned. We opted for those so that if our children were spaced out, we could turn them off and then back on again in the years we did not need them, whereas a latch would be there forever until it was taken off.

I also really like my gates. I have a hands free gate where you step with a foot pedal and are able to open the gate while carrying your baby. I have a gate around my fireplace which has also been very good. I love the sliding outlet covers-- you don't have to take off a small choking hazard to use your plug, it stays attached to the outlet. I also like the plastic shields that cover the buttons on our VCR/DVD player. Those are my favorites, but I have lots of others if you have specific questions about any products.

A.

I didnt do alot b/c I didnt see spending all the money on stuff I may not really need...there are alot of those products...but I did put the outlet covers on plugs and the door handle covers (2 for I think $5 at Target). I put one on the inside of her door so she cant get out and I wont know about it and on all the hallway doors so she could roam and I woulndt have to worry about her getting into rooms. I just moved my coffee table out of the way until the major falling stage was over and just really made sure my house was well picked up and anyhting that shouldnt have been in her reach was gone. I also added baskets w/ toys and books in the living room so she would be more interested in that and keep her mind off all the other stuff.

Tot Loks on cabinets are wonderful.
Furniture brackets from onestepahead.com (they are sturdy plastic, not the elastic kind). My son climbed before he walked, so we were concerned about furniture tipping (we installed these soon after I found him standing on his changing table...How'd he get there???!!)

As far as the 7-yr-old, educate him on the importance of babyproofing, and enlist his help! he can crawl around on the floor helping to spot uncovered outlets, etc. As far as keeping small toys out of reach, set the rule that his small stuff needs to stay in his room for a while, and help him remember to keep his door shut. If he needs to have something out in the "common areas" of the house, be sure it's on a table.