Baby Proofing The House
Updated: Mar 9, 2022
Baby has arrived and now it's time to baby proof the house. Time to organize your house to get anything thats not safe for baby up and out of reach. Add latches to all lower cupboards and drawers. Cover sharp corners and sharp edges around your house. Install baby gates at the top and bottom of stairs or baby gate in the playroom to create a safe space. Last add plug covers all over your house and secure any cords to the wall or get them out of reach.
First things first open and go through all your lower level cupboards and drawers in your kitchen and bathrooms. Because even though you are being responsible and baby proofing you need to account for human error, that one day you forget to re-latch the cupboard is the day baby sneaks in there. I once had all my cleaning supplies down low and re-located as many products as possible to an upper shelf in a closet for safety. Next you need to pick the type of latch that you feel will work best for your family.
Adhesive latches that go on the outside of each cupboard or drawer. The pros of these ones is you can visually see when you forget to re-latch the safety latch. The cons are they are visible so they aren't as aesthetic as the other options.
Magnetic baby proofing safety locks that go on the inside of each cupboard or drawer. The pros are they are invisible from the outside and do not change the appearance of your kitchen or bathroom and open and lock easy with a magnet key. The key can easily stick to your fridge and the same one opens all latches. The cons are you need to keep track of the magnetic key!
Invisible baby proofing latches for cupboards and drawers. These are a simple plastic latch that lets you open the cupboard or drawer about an inch and then to open you push the latch down to unlatch it, when you close the cupboard it will re-latch itself. The pros are it is invisible from the outside and doesn't involve a key to open. The cons are they do break easily if you pull cupboard open with strength without remembering about the latch. Also baby can still accidentally get their fingers in the cupboard since it does slightly open even when latched.
Once baby starts cruising along furniture and taking their first wobbly steps it is time to baby proof all corners and sharp edges in all spaces your child has access too. You can add clear silicone bobbles on any corners that baby might bump their hand on like coffee tables, end tables or bed frame corners. If your house has larger areas of sharp edge like a brick fire place you may want to add a foam edge or plastic edge to the area. These baby proofing items may seem extra but trust me they can save your little wobble monster from a trip to the ER.
Baby gates are a great baby proofing tool to add to your home to keep your baby safe! You can decide where in your house you might need a baby gate like at the top and bottom of the stairs, across the playroom or to keep baby out of the kitchen. They now make many varieties of baby gates that are slim or wide and either pressure mount or attach to the banisters. Here are three popular baby gate options:
Regalo 2 in 1 stairway and wall mount baby gate. This baby gate in nice and wide and comes with the attachments to add to your stair banisters or attach to the wall.
Perma child safety retractable baby gate. This gate is good for an area you only need the baby gate across some of the time and can have it retracted during babies nap and night time.
Regal extra tall pressure mounted gate. This baby gate works the best in a door frame or at a staircase where it can pressure mounted to the wall instead of the banisters. Pressure mounted gates are less permanent and can be moved easier than gates that are installed to the wall.
Last on the list was running around the house and adding self closing outlet covers, plug protector and concealing any visible electrical cords. Outlets are mostly all at babies level as they are crawling around and they may get curious and when to explore them. Cords can sometimes be out and dangling down and if baby pulls on these something very heavy could come crashing down on them. These are the baby proofing cord and outlet covers we have installed around our house: