Child-proofing without losing your home

At six months pregnant, I was introduced to the strange and often conflicted world of child-proofing. Walking into the toddler-inhabited home of a dear friend, we were accosted by no fewer than six baby gates, barring approach to the TV, the DVD racks, the staircases, the kitchen hall and the end tables. The toddler’s mommy said with a nod to my growing belly, “Just wait until your little guy is mobile.”

Well, my little guy is mobile now and we don’t have any baby gates. I suppose that either makes me a terribly irresponsible parent or one with a firm head on her shoulders. Child proofing can be a daunting task, and inarguably an important one—protecting the most important person in the household. Still, it is entirely possible to over child-proof your home. When presented with the dizzying selection of child-proofing products at our local merchant, I’ve often wondered if it might not be easier to wrap the baby in foam padding and force him to wear a helmet.

So, what do you really need?

Make a “safe” room

Go nuts on child-proofing one room of your house, usually the baby’s room. You need to have one room where, no matter what, you know he’s safe. Bracket all the furniture to studs in the wall. When your baby becomes a stronger toddler, he can (and will) begin trying to climb the furniture. Make sure your baby’s crib is placed away from a window. If it must be near one, make sure window coverings, especially cords to shades or blinds, are not long enough for your baby to reach, as these are strangulation hazards. Slats for cribs must be no wider than 2 3/8” apart. Cover outlets and shorten cords to keep prying baby and toddler hands away from electricity. You can keep his little fingers even safer by buying pinch guards for his closet doors and having open toy bins. If your toy boxes have lids, get ones with hydraulic ones that close more slowly and are less apt to slam on tiny hands.

Some of these suggestions, like outlet covers and cord shorteners should be carried over to all rooms of your house. Outlet covers come in a variety of types, from simple flap covers, to flip open styles that flap closed again when the outlets aren’t being used. Toddlers can often manipulate and figure out the simpler covers, so you may need to reinvest as they get older and wiser.

Child-proof the kitchen and bathroom

The kitchen and bathroom contain the highest number of hazards for your baby Think of burns, drowning and chemical dangers and you should be able to prevent most of the related injuries. In the kitchen, make sure your oven door has a lock. If it doesn’t; buy an aftermarket baby-proof one. If your stove’s knobs are on the front where your baby can reach them, get knob locks so your child can’t turn them. Cabinet locks in the kitchen are a must, especially on cabinets filled with heavy pots and pans or small appliances. If you’ve got cupboards filled with cleaning chemicals under your sink, it goes without saying that those need to be locked as well.

Cabinet locks come in a variety of types, including pressure-mounted and magnetic. Experts recommend the magnetic type because they are more difficult for toddlers to figure out as they require a parent “key” for entry. Keeping one cabinet unlocked and filled with toys for your tot might be a good idea, letting him explore the kitchen in a safe way.

The bathroom, also needs cabinet locks, to secure cleaning chemicals and medicines. You might consider moving all your chemicals to a consolidated location, like a utility room, kept in a locked child-proof box, available at most stores that sell child-proofing products. Consider toilet seat locks. They remove a possible drowning hazard, prevent your makeup or other items from being flushed down the toilet, and keep your child from drinking out of the toilet bowl.

You should invest in a bathtub thermometer to make sure his tub time is never too hot. They make floating ones mounted on rubber ducks that your baby will love to play with and ones that you can mount right on the tub. And, you can buy spigot covers to make sure he doesn’t get a bump on the noggin. But you might be going too far if you invest in one of the inflatable or padded tub inserts that ensures that all four walls of the tub are pillow-soft at all times.

Child-proof common areas, sensibly

Get down to your baby’s level to see what he can reach. If there’s something particularly precious to you, move it until he’s older. You don’t have to remodel your living room, but keep things that are less breakable and less important at kid-level for those first few years. Remember however that you will be in the common areas with your child and teaching boundaries at this time; so, you will be practicing “no.” Just don’t let him learn “no” as he’s breaking an heirloom.

If you’ve got stairs, get a gate. Kids are fast and uncoordinated , a surefire combination for falling down a flight of stairs. If you have a brick hearth, use foam liners that slip over the rough edges of the brick to protect against scratchy bumps to the heads of toddlers who will use that surface to pull themselves up. You may want to stop short of buying that same foam lining to coat every corner of every coffee and end table in your living room—it’s available but will look awful. As guilty as you feel when your baby bumps his head once or twice on the edge of your end table, recall in a brief moment of sanity that probably no child has ever been killed by a table, nor been horribly disfigured.

The minute your child can reach the doorknob on the front door, the back door or the side door, he’s going to be trying to turn it, and then he’ll be out in a flash. So, get doorknob locks. They are made for both regular doorknobs and the side knobs.

Child proofing is essential , but you can easily go overboard. Take each safety measure seriously while remembering that the overall goal is protecting your child, not your peace of mind. Keeping him in a bubble is not protecting him, it’s protecting you. And, by not over-child-proofing, you keep your house your home.