Making My Home Safe

I put away my coffee table when my little one was younger. It made more room in the living room for things like the saucer and swing.....

Electrical plugs are a must...

I like the doorknob protectors that enclose the whole door knob for the utility closet (with all the chemicals). It was a visual reminder to hubby not to leave it open and it remained on the door until my son was 6 and KNEW not to drink those things.

The stick on refridgerator locks don't work.

I didn't like the kitchen cabinet latches that you could open the door a little, push down to open the rest... 1. They were easy to figure out 2. it left fingers to be pinched 3. if you forget the door open, it's a piece of plastic sticking straight out at toddler eye level.

Gates at the tops and bottoms of stairs are a must.

Enjoy every moment!

I only bought locks for cabinets that have cleaning products/ chemicals in them. I didnt bother with the door knob things because - they are too small to reach them (by the time they can reach them - they should be able to understand "NO").

Outlet covers are a must.

Toilet locks - dont bother - the seat is usually to heavy for them to lift.

I never got a dvd or vcr cover because my duaghter couldnt reach it. Now that she can - she doesnt put anything in there except videos (funny to watch her try).

Use your judgement though. If you have a fireplace and your baby is always near it, then I would get a bumper pad for that. As far as for tables - kids will hurt themselves on anything and everything. When they learn how to walk - they fall constantly and there is only so much protection you can give.

My daughter was allowed to play with the pots and pans and tupperware cabinets, I found that because she was allowed to do this - she didnt mind not being able to play in other cabinets through out the house. I never opened the basement door near her or left it open to quickly "run" down.

Baby Gates are a handy thing to have!!!!

She also loved cruising around the coffee table. Yes she got bumps and bruises - even a bloody lip once from her moving kitchen chairs around the kitchen. It happens and as long as you are paying attention - your baby will be ok.

I would get an exersaucer though! They are great to put your baby down in so that you can have them entertained while you do dishes, etc.

As far as brands - I think it is luck of the draw.

We didn't babyproof our house except for the stairs. We have a wood stove and that was out of limit and she never tried. She is now 21 months old and respects very well what's ok and not ok. We did put our cleaning products away, out of reach. We also gave her the plastic containers closet to get into so that was the safe place for her.
All our doors are open all day long and she just had to learn. It may be more work on you at first but when you take her out of your house to friends and their house isn't proofed, then what? From a young age, kids can learn where playing is aloud and where it is not aloud. You will only make them more respectful to others and things.

Good luck., Sev

I have outlet covers, gates and cabinet locks for my 15 mo daughter. I am in the process of finding an oven lock. I have not needed anything else.

I found that the outlet covers that swing shut when not in use are the best. I know that older children can pull out the plug in ones. Mine are safety 1st from home depot.

I bought baby gates that you can walk through and then swing shut behind you. It got old really fast to hop over the other ones when carrying groceries! I put my gates in locations that confine my daughter to just a few rooms. That allowed us to avoid baby proofing the whole downstairs, including the bathroom. The gates are dream baby swing gates. My neighbor has the same ones and also loves them. You can find them online at target.

As far as cabinet locks I only put locks on cabinets with chemicals and dangerous items. I would recommend that you get the ones that do not have the option to fold down out of place when not in use. We have both kinds and my 12 month old daughter is able to open the cabinets where the latch has the fold down option. She just sticks her little hand in and pushes the lock down to fold it! The ones we have that work well are safety 1st.

I also would recommend looking for an oven lock. Once they reach 12 months they like to hang on the oven door handle and open the oven door. We are still trying to find one that works with the shape of our oven.

The best place for all baby proofing supplies is the one step ahead website.

I agree that the foam around low tables is very important. It's not something you really need to worry about until your baby is pulling them self up though, but definitely worth it. A friend of mine brought her daughter (who is 6 months older than my daughter) over to our house before we had completely baby proofed the house and she slipped and hit her mouth on a bench and started bleeding immediately. I felt awful, but it taught me a lesson. At least my friend didn't get upset with me.
Another thing I got was a plastic guard to put over the dvd player and other electronics under the tv. Our tv stand doesn't have doors so my daughter kept trying to put things in the vcr slot and once turned the volume up so high on the radio that it scared her and almost knocked me out of my chair.
I do have outlet covers because I think my daughter would try to stick something in there.
I all doors closed where she isn't allowed to play. I don't have any knob covers because at this point she can just barely reach the knobs and wouldn't be able to turn most of them anyway.
We have stairs so we have a gate at the top and bottom. At the bottom we have a retractable gate and at the top we have a wooden swinging gate (both from babies r us)
Some things are trial and error. You may think you need something and end up not needing it or vice versa.

The foam "corners" for a coffee table are important. Make sure your under-sink chemicals are behind child proof cabinets. I keep my bathroom doors shut, so I think the toilet latches aren't needed. My brother-in-law is a electrician and said the outlet covers aren't really necessary and it is nearly impossible to get injured by those. If you have knobs on the front of your stove, get those knobs covered - babies love those! Baby gates are a mandatory item! Good luck!