Baby proofing your home

Hello again all!
DS is going to be 6 months next week and isn't crawling yet, but I am really starting to think about baby proofing the house. But I don't even know where to start. I have all the locks on the cabinets already, and I know we'll need outlet covers. Anyone have suggestions to something they needed that they didn't think of or something they thought they needed and was useless? Where did you start??? Thanks!

[amberd5191]

I started with the outlets and then moved to the cabinets, something my cousin found useful was corner covers for the table.

[SeeingSpots]

We have a glass coffee table, and found out quickly that we needed to secure the top-- our ds made a bee-line for it and tried to pull himself up on it.  We got "industrial strength" 2-sided tape to put on instead of the felt pads, so it now is permanently adhered to the base.  (It's safety glass with rounded corners).  Also had to put bumper pads on the fireplace hearth/stone shelf.  Cords running from light fixtures to sockets were a magnet for ds, so had to reposition them to be less obvious or accessable.  Toilet seat locks, as he quickly discovered the lid lifts up.  Plastic door stop wedges to keep doors open-- he likes to open/shut doors (at only 10 months!), and we were afraid he'd pinch a finger.  And make sure any shelving unit/book case is bolted to the wall.  We installed metal stripping to attach his bookshelf, chest of drawers, and toy bin shelf to the walls.  (There was a sad local news story on about a 1yr old that was pulling himself up on his dresser, and it tipped forward and crushed him to death-- with the parent just being a few feet away.)

[leetlebeanweasle]

Make sure the strings on your blinds are short!

[jifnif]

ooomg...6mths!!  i agree w/ the blinds.  we have low windows w/ those thingies...we had to shorten them up.  Also, we found that an extra mat in the bathroom helped when ds was trying to pull himself up on the tub while we were in the bathroom.  The floor was wet on an end that didnt have a mat...lil guy slipped....don't worry, no booboos...but now we know extra mat was essential.  :)

[grammy64]

I wonder if there is a company that handles all this for you?  There must be one out there somewhere...what a nice gift from a grandparent or one to yourself - reassurance that you remembered everything!  When my son was about 2, he came to me (SAHM) and kept telling me to come look - that he had "started da car!" and was so proud of himself.  I thought he was talking about his toy cars.  I finally let him lead me to his room, where I found a spare set of car keys plugged into the "ignition" in his room "just like mom!"  The keys were inserted into an outlet, shoved in as far as he could get it and the fob dangling!!!  I thought I would die....He got the cold (not hot) side of the two prong outlet...thank GOD!  My advice - start with the outlets!

[luv_babies]

Thank you ladies! Last night I was looking around my living room thinking OMG where do I even start with all this stuff?!!
We have vertical blinds that don't have the strings (cool) but I never even thought of the book case/shelves thing.
Keep it coming ladies!!

[cutiemama]

I actually hired a company that not only spent an hour walking through my entire house but who did all the installation for me too. It was pretty expensive but well worth it. They did all drawers, cabinets, corner guards, baby gates, toilet locks, non skid mats in the tubs, etc. Look up babyproofing in your local yellow pages.