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?

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.

 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.

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...

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.

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!