If there is one thing I learned, it is DON’T WAIT TO BABY PROOF YOUR HOUSE! I know some people think, well she’s a newborn it’s not like she’s going to be able to open this cabinet for months, or crawl towards those stairs, or climb that furniture, but believe me your baby will surprise you at one point or another with how fast they can get into mischief even at a very young age. There is really no reason to wait, and sometimes when you decide to wait, you just end up forgetting all together and that is when terrible, totally preventable accidents can happen. Trust me, you’ll be hating yourself all the way to the hospital, and possibly for years to come, so just suck it up and endure the minor inconvenience of a few extra months with the annoying baby proof products. Now, onto the goods…
This post contains affiliate links that may earn Bananas About Babies commissions if products are purchased.
One of the biggest accidents waiting to happen is falling down the stairs, so first things first, make sure to have stair gates at the top and bottom of your stairs, as well as stair rail guards if your munchkin is even remotely small enough to squeeze themselves through the rails. Both of these gates and rail guard are highly rated, very safe, and easy to install (while also being easy on the eyes as far as these things go).
Those curious little fingers are going to get into everything in your house, so those alluring outlet holes have got to be plugged up with outlet covers asap before they decide to see if their cute little finger or fun new toy fits inside them! These are cheap, easy to plug in and take out (for an adult with actual strength and dexterity), and fairly unnoticeable, making them great deterrents.
Your baby will become an acrobat much sooner than you think, so make sure to avoid serious injuries by attaching all of your furniture to the walls so they can’t tip over and fall. You might need a couple different types of furniture straps, but these should have you covered for most of the furniture in your home. A lot of furniture straps are made of plastic and essentially zip ties, or fabric which wears down over time, but I always choose to buy straps and anchors that are made of steel because they are obviously a much tougher and more reliable product. When installing these kinds of things you want to attach them to the studs in your wall and the strongest parts of your furniture (think solid wood and not particle board backing or thinner less sturdy pieces of your furniture) so that they are safely secured in any event. It is also always best to attach two per furniture (one on either side), especially for bigger things as they will have the most tendency to fall forward to one side even after the strap catches it.
Whether or not you want to wall mount your television, or save a few dollars and just attach it to your furniture and wall with tv straps, one thing is for sure you definitely want to secure your television especially with how large they are these days. I’ve heard horror stories (that thankfully all ended well) about babies crawling up dressers to get to the tv, and they ended up pulling it down on top of themselves– don’t let that be your baby!
While your toilet doesn’t particularly thrill you by any means, it will thrill and delight your new walker so to avoid the risk of drowning you should make sure you have a toilet lock on the seat. You may also want to get a lock for your flusher because that will also provide an endless source of entertainment for your little one, and while it may be cute a few times, it won’t be cute when that obsession is reflected in your higher water bill for the month.
Door handle locks, especially for any exterior door is also going to be a baby proofing must. If you don’t already have a deadbolt, door chain, or swing bar that is completely out of reach of your child then you will want to put a handle lock on them. These also work great for interior doors so your little one can’t get into certain rooms that contain hazards or breakables that you can’t put away.
Whether it’s sliding doors, or regular ole windows, at some point your child is going to try and open them, so window locks where they couldn’t possibly reach are a must for a child safe household. My little one was only 18 months the first time I saw her drag a chair to a second story window and try to open it. Luckily we had our house baby proofed like Fort Knox before she was even born but it was still frightening to see that, that was on her mind. We also stuffed tension rods in the bottom of the window tracks so that just in case one baby proofing method was figured out, we had a second line of defense (thought I wouldn’t use tension rods alone).
Unless you want every item in your kitchen or bathroom cabinets emptied out onto the floor and possibly in need of cleaning you will want to add cabinet locks to every cabinet in the house. It’s preferable to use ones that even if your child figures out how to use them, there is a strong magnet they would need to have in order to open them up, so you can safely store it high up where they can’t reach to minimize those little adventures. This particular set is super easy to install, works very well, has an easier to hold magnet and is larger and less of a choking hazard than its competitors.
Some of the more dangerous things we own are the ones stored in drawers, so drawer locks are an obvious baby proofing tool, but ones some people wait a little too long to install because the baby isn’t even walking yet, so what’s the harm? You are going to have to do it eventually, and it’s better to not wait until something happens to remind you how necessary they are.
The oven is another big baby hazard in your home, so you’ll want to put oven knob covers and an oven door lock on it asap, so they can’t turn on the stove or open up the door and burn themselves.
It’s also prudent to make sure they don’t get into the refrigerator since glass condiment bottles can break, there can be things they are allergic to or alcohol in there, the contents are constantly changing, and not to mention the extra mess you’ll be in charge of cleaning up. This refrigerator lock is small, super simple to install and use, unlocks with a magnet so you don’t have to enter a code or mess around with straps, and can be placed any height making it perfect to keep tiny hands out of your fridge. Also, keep in mind that most refrigerators that have an ice maker/water spout (another fun “toy” your child will never tire of playing with) also have a lock button to keep tiny humans from turning your kitchen into a waterpark.
We wanted to prepare for all contingencies, so we swapped out all of the glass in our picture frames with a plastic plexiglass version that wouldn’t break if she picked it up and dropped it, or it fell off of a shelf etc. It’s little things like that, that you wouldn’t even think would be a problem until they become one.
Not every supplement and medication comes with a childproof cap, and even the most cautious parents can accidentally leave a bottle out on the counter for a minute, or their child figures out how to open the baby proof lock, and that’s why it never hurts to buy reuseable medication bottles with childproof caps. It may seem like overkill, but you can never be too safe when it comes to your little ones life.
