Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Baby Proofing

When you have a newborn it's not essential to baby proof but I wouldn't recommend putting it off too long. Because it's not long before your baby learns to roll over, then crawl and then next thing you know your baby is trying to stick a fork in the electrical socket, or something similar in nature.

So what do you need for baby proofing ? And what is just over kill?

baby proofing checklist

I am not an overly cautious person, and was a lot more protective with my first child than my second which is very common.

If my first daughter dropped her pacifier or "choochie" as we called it for some reason. I was insistent that it be sanitized. I even bought pacifier wipes just in case for when we were out.

If my son (the second child) dropped his choochie in our house I would just blow off the dirt then pop it back on his mouth. Sanitary I know. And if we are out I just wipe it off with a diaper wipe, that must clean it somewhat right?

Baby Gates:


 One thing I was absolutely insistent about was baby gates. We had baby gates everywhere. We only have five stairs leading to upstairs but I had a gate at the top of the stairs and one at the bottom just in case they tried to climb up the stairs and slipped.

We have a full flight leading downstairs and the gate wasn't allowed to be off for even 10 seconds without me starting to have palpitations.

One thing I found that simplified our lives though were finding baby gates that permanently fixed to the wall and just swung open. So much easier and quicker than taking the gate down and putting it back up 50+ times a day.

swingable baby gate


 Electrical socket plugs


Electrical socket plugs are an essential. Why children are so fascinated by sticking small random objects into sockets is beyond me. You can buy the simple ones that just plug in or the fancier ones that just slide out of the way.


 Cupboard and drawer locks


This is also somewhat of a personal preference depending on what you store in your cupboards. For instance we put double baby locks on the cabinet below the sink where we keep all the cleaning supplies.

I put locks on all the lower cabinets as it got time consuming to be putting everything back a hundred times a day after they decided to empty the entire contents. Although my son figured out you just have to push the lock down to pull the door open when he was only one year old which rendered all the locks useless.

For my daughter I never had to put a lock on the stove but my son loved getting into everything so I put an oven front lock on the stove so he wouldn't open the door when it was hot. It's easier once they learn rules but it's hard during that transition period. And you can also purchase stove knob covers if yours are located on the front of your stove.

Corner Bumpers


 I found these corner bumpers at Zellers, when Zellers was still open and thought they were a life saver! We have a huge coffee table in our living room with fairly sharp corners, and to be honest I run into the corners ten times more often the kids do. So my always bruised shins are very appreciative of those little rubber corners.

My friend thought the corners were a great idea so decided to make his own out of a piece of cardboard and some duct tape needless to say not quite as effective.

Securing Furniture


And make sure you secure larger furniture to the wall, using furniture wall straps lots of baby dressers and shelves come with screws to secure to the wall because let's face it children like to climb EVERYTHING.

And you can also buy straps to secure your flat screen to the wall so it doesn't tip over.  Because tv's no longer weight 300 lbs and take 4 people to move a 28" inch.

When I was young my brother climbed my moms book shelf and broke 90% of her collectibles. Then I climbed my shelves in my closet and broke them, then climbed on the glass covering the desk in my room and shattered it which my father wasn't too pleased about, apparently glass was expensive.


Baby Monitors


Baby Monitors - I had a simple baby monitor with two receivers as I always forgot to charge them so I had an extra. Okay they were both usually dead at the same time. But great in theory...

I had a friend who swore by the video monitors because she didn't rush to the baby every time he rolled over or made a little squawk and fell back asleep.

There also some baby monitors that connect to your iPhone which would be super convenient. But it's all personal preference.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0069JBKHI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0069JBKHI&linkCode=as2&tag=musofanavem0b-20&linkId=JJJWRYJNNP5DIULO


Door Locks


Depending on how your main doors and basement door locks you may need to get door locks as well. Our main locks both have deadbolts which our son hasn't figured out (yet) so we haven't needed them but you might need to if yours locks on the handle.

Also our neighbour has locked the kids in the house twice so we recommended a key pad. We have one and I love it! Your kids can never lock you out of the house, and you can't get locked out of the house if you forget your keys.

When I was 18 and babysitting my three year old cousin she locked herself in the house and I had to climb the second story balcony to get in. Not fun! And added to my many bruises.

Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Detectors


And make sure to check your carbon monoxide detector and smoke alarms are working. I hear kids and toddlers don't wake up easily so have seen smoke sectors that are louder and have flashing lights.

Also make sure you have a fire extinguisher in an easily accessible place - usually in a kitchen cupboard and check the pressure - they usually have a gauge so you can easily tell if it's in the safe (green) zone - if not replace it right away. And make sure you check it at least once a year.. 

Bath time:


 Baths can be slippery so I recommend an anti slip bath mat, and a plastic or blow up cover for the faucet for when kids inevitably hit their head off it.

I also had a plastic blow up bumpers that went around the tub and secured with suction cups which worked great... Until we put a hole in one of them.

You might also want to consider purchasing a bath thermometer if you have trouble telling the temperature of things. I always have scolding hot baths myself so tended to make the kids baths to hot. I had a little duck thermometer which worked great.... Until it broke in the tub one night. And we skipped bath night so I could clean up the broken glass.

If you can adjust your water heater I recommend turning it down to 120 degrees so the kids can't burn themselves.

Toilet locks, personally I never bought toilet locks I kept picturing the image from Baby Mama where she gets locked out of the toilet and pees in the sink. Yup that would probably be me...

Baby Mama locked out of the toilet


My kids stayed out of playing with the toilet for the most part. And through four years I only sacrificed one pair of socks to children throwing things in the toilet.

And to simplify things you can buy a complete home and bathroom safety kit from Dreambaby on Amazon for $40.53 including safety catches, outlet plug covers, cabinet sliding locks, multi-purpose latches, 2 door knob covers, toilet lock, door stopper, bath thermometer,  non-slip bath appliqués,  mini multi-purpose latch, bath faucet spout cover, glide lock and drawer catchers.


And because it's a lot to remember I made a printable checklist to (hopefully) make it a little easier.... you should be able to just left click the image save it to your computer and then print it. And I also saved it to Drop Box which might be clearer.

printable baby proofing checklist

Was there anything else that you had to baby proof in your home? Please leave a comment so I can update the list. Thanks so much!


* this post does contain some affiliate links - and I would really appreciate it if you purchase anything through them (at no extra cost to you) Thanks so much!

15 comments:

  1. Great tips! You've put together a list every parent with a baby should print. I've done all these way ahead and I agree, you shouldn't put it off for too much. Pinning this!

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  2. I'm definitely saving this...thanks for sharing! I'm 20weeks along with my first and there's just sooooo much to think about :-\

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  3. Visiting from Mom's Resource, congratulations on being the blogger of the week!

    Definitely agree with all of these! And I love some of the other suggestions that I never thought of. lucky for you your son hasn't figured out the deadbolt, our child has figured out those, so we had to get this. And she hasn't touched the door since.

    You might also like this we didn't want to have ot close close our doors but didn't want Sophie getting into them either.

    liz @ sundays with sophie

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  4. Visiting from Mom's Resource, congratulations on being the blogger of the week!

    Definitely agree with all of these! And I love some of the other suggestions that I never thought of. lucky for you your son hasn't figured out the deadbolt, our child has figured out those, so we had to get this. And she hasn't touched the door since.

    You might also like this we didn't want to have ot close close our doors but didn't want Sophie getting into them either.

    liz @ sundays with sophie

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  5. These are all great tips! We're actually getting to the point where we can start taking some of the stuff away, like the outlet covers. We're saving the baby monitor though...we're going to use it so we can spy on our girls when they're teenagers...LOL

    Visiting from Mom Blogs Party (and congrats on winning this week!)

    xoxo
    Lisa

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  6. What an awesome post. We still use our baby gate but it is to keep our 4 year shih tzu on our porch. Thanks for linking up on the #HomeMattersParty this week. Hope you will come back this weekend to link up again.

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  7. re-visiting your post to thank you for sharing it at bloggers brags pinterest party. Pinned!

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  8. Great tips Kristin! I agree, the baby gates that secure to the wall are the best. One thing I didn't see on the list was for fireplaces- I have a comforter that is permanently draped over the fireplace just in case my toddler takes a spill next to it (and he has!). Thanks for sharing:)

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  9. Great tips! This will be very helpful when our baby girl starts moving around. As you said time goes fast she is only 2 months but grow steady. I found your post at the Bohemian Blog Hop. Shared!

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  10. Thanks for a great checklist! I have lots of pregnant friends that can use this. I never had a list when I was pregnant and wish that I did. Thanks for sharing with Saucy Saturdays!

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  11. Baby-proofing. Can definitely tell you how much it benefited me when my kids were little; a curious bunch they were. Your tips could certainly prove useful for other parents out there looking to make their homes safer for the meantime. Thank you for sharing this!

    Helene Raymond @ Trade Squad

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  12. I admire this article for the well-researched content and excellent wording. I got so involved in this material that I couldn’t stop reading. I am impressed with your work and skill. Thank you so much. baby safety gates

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  14. Wow! Such an amazing and helpful post this is. I really really love it. It's so good and so awesome. I am just amazed. I hope that you continue to do your work like this in the future also infant

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  15. The kids can have fun on the slides. And it's great to get your kids up and moving. You don't have to worry about getting your kids to exercise because for them to repeatedly climb up those ladders and slide their way down can prove to be a real work out. bed with slide

    ReplyDelete

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