Baby Proofing the House

[MommyToAshley]

I am in the process of baby proofing the house -- Ashley is getting more mobile by the day!

Do any of you have stairs and what have you done with the railing? We could get a gate for the top of the stairs, but not sure what to do about the railing. We live in a bi-level and our office is on the top floor so this is where we spend a lot of time.

Also, what about patio sliding doors. I love to open the doors and windows in the spring/fall. Our kitchen has a sliding door leading to our patio (which is on the upper level). If I leave the screen door open, she will just go right thru it! Do they make anything for this or do I have to just keep the door closed. The kitchen is just too "open" to put gates to close off the entire kitchen.

And finally, in your experience, what are some important baby proofing things that I might not think of?

Thanks for you help in advance!

[madaise]

Dee Dee,

The only "serious" place we had to put a gate (or fence, more like it) was around our fireplace. We bought the one that they have in the One Step Ahead catalog, but I got it somewhere else, cheaper. I highly recommend thier gates! We are going to get one for our basement steps too. We have a door there, but want a gate also.

We've bought cheap gates that you get from Babies*R*Us to put in the hallway, or to block of the kitchen. Really, we just move gates around as needed while he's been growing. Currently, we block off the girls bedrooms and bathroom... way too much little stuff for him to get into. Other than that, he's got the run of the house.. but our house is small.

I've never been one for 'baby proofing'. Not sure if that's bad or what. We really pay attention to what he's doing and into.. and move things as it becomes necessary. Kind of like with the gates. If I'm cooking, we gate the kitchen. I do have a lock on the fridge and the stove. Had one of those protectors on the front of the stove, but sadly, it fell off after a week. Just be prepared to move everything up.. then up again.. and up yet another... 50 times, .

[supermom]

With my first, I think I went a little overboard with the babyproofing - even went so far as to buy a toilet lock for the potty! But I do recommend the drawer locks if you have any kitchen cupboards that have lovely things like sharp knives, etc, in them. We always left the pots and pans cupboard unlocked and let them play in there when we were in the kitchen, and that way they were a little less "help" in the food department. This time was the only time we've had to lock the fridge - the other three never got into it, but Anders is ALWAYS in there so we made our own lock using some sticky-back velcro and put it up high (he can figure out a lot of locks!)

As for gates, we have really liked the "non-scissors" type of gates because there is a lot less possibilities of pinching little fingers in them, however we did have to get one of those for our businesses' back room because it was too wide for a regular size gate - but we don't have to go back there much so it's not a problem. However, as far as rails, we've never had stairs so I am not much help here - wonder if they sell the same type of mesh they use around construction holes (the bright orange stuff) in a more "home compatible" color, like brown or something? I bet if you surfed around, someone has invented something to cover the rails on the stairs. But get good gates, spend the few extra bucks, they are well worth having the sturdiness for the several years you will want to use them.

As for the sliding door, I have seen more "sturdy" mesh-type doors than just plain screening at Lowe's or Home Depot that you could replace your screen with - or you could just get a wider gate, but that wouldn't help much to keep out the flies and such. Or you might be able to cover the screen with the same type of protection they use on screen doors - the screen guards - wonder if they make them that wide for the whole sliding screen? I bet if you checked with someone at a home improvement store, they would be able to offer some suggestions.

No matter how hard you try to get everything, she'll manage to find something you've not done to get into and then you'll need to add/get more stuff! Hope that helps, take care.

[madaise]

Oh, yes! The kitchen drawers... I got a couple of jars and put all our sharp items in it and put that on the counter, out of reach. He loves to help put the dishes away.. but his little fingers can get into the drawers now..

[MommyToAshley]

Thanks for your replies and very good suggestions! I am going to put a lot of the ideas to good use! By the way, Supermom, do you remember the brand name of the gates that you really liked?

I watch Ashley like a hawk, but she is the love of my life and I am sooo paranoid. They say it only takes a split second for something to happen. And, Ashley is definitely a very active girl --

I can tell, I am going to be one of those over-protective Moms. Thanks again, it is so nice being able to talk to experienced Moms!

[madaise]

check out One Step Ahead for safety products... once you find something of interest, though, do a search on it.. generally, you can find it cheaper elsewhere.

[MommyToAshley]

Thanks! One Step even has a railing cover for the stairs... we could prolly make something like that ourselves cheaper. I will just put that at the top of TLCDad's "Honey Do" List.

Thanks for the great site.

[supermom]

Hi -
Sorry it's taken so long for me to answer, R/L is interfering - lol - but the name of the gate we liked so much is SuperGate III - made by a company called North States Industries www.northstatesind.com

I bought them at our local Wal-Mart, thought - and they were not all that expensive. They have mounting hardware that you can mount permanently so it can swing out of the way when you don't use it, or you can leave it as a detachable type gate too. Very versitle!

[MommyToAshley]

Thanks so much for gettting back to me! I will check our local Wal-Mart tomorrow!