You don’t realize how unsafe your house is for a baby until there’s actually a baby in it. The corners, outlets, stairs, cabinets, drawers, cords, plants, shelves, etc. that were once invisible become your biggest fear, and there’s only one thing to do about it. That my friends, is to babyproof.
There are a handful of companies that will come out and babyproof your house for you, but the truth is, it’s pretty easy to do it all yourself. Not to mention, much more cost efficient as baby-proofers charge for their services and mark-up the cost of materials.
Here is what we used/did/bought to baby proof ourselves:
Safety 1st’s magnetic cabinet & drawer latch
These are brilliant! They are magnets instead of those annoying cabinet and drawer clips, and the best part about them is that you can disengage the locks with a click of a button when you don’t need all the drawers/cabinets to be locked. When locked, you simply use a magnet key to unlock. And to make these even more of a no-brainier, they don’t require any drilling.
Child-safety strap locks
These are perfect for drawers, cabinets, dishwashers and toilets, and again, no drilling.
Slide cabinet locks
These are great for cabinets that you need to lock together (we added this to our bar for example) and don’t have to access too often.
Electrical outlets covers
You can either buy outlet plug covers like these or replace electrical covers to include a child safety like these. Both work well but the latter are a MUST if your child figures out how to remove the plugs.
Surge protectors
If you use power cords or have items plugged into your electrical outlets, there are ways to keep your child safe with things like this electrical outlet cover, safety power strip and/or power cable organizers.
Corners
Depending on what kinds of corners you’re covering, you may have different needs. We bought a few different corner protectors to use on different surfaces, such as these clear guys from skyla homes for table corners, roving cove for some areas and baby-proofing edge and corner guards for others.
Gates
Whether you have stairs or are trying to keep your child in a contained area, gates are a great way to keep kids safe and kept put in. We ordered three different kinds from Amazon then decided on what felt like the best quality AND looked the best in our home. We ultimately settled on these by DreamBaby (more specifically we got these) which I really like. If you push them all the way open, they will stay open which is nice for things like carrying in groceries (assuming the baby isn’t around).
Also, don’t forget to add a gate to your fireplace if you have one and remove all the fireplace tools. We bought this one which fit in our fireplace perfectly.
Water temperature
Set the thermostat on your hot water heater to 120°F (49°C), or use the “low-medium setting.” A child can be scalded in 5 seconds if the temperature is 140°F (60°C). If you’re unable to control the water temperature (if you live in an apartment, for example), install an anti-scald device, which is fairly inexpensive and can be installed you or a plumber.
Spout cover
Be sure to protect your babies head from the faucet with a spout cover like this.
Plants
Plants can be toxic and/or choking hazards. It’s important to really survey the plants you have around your home. Then research them to understand if they may be toxic if your child were to ingest them. If they are, they’ve got to go. Other things to be mindful of are choking hazards like moss, little rocks, etc.
Mirrors and other furniture
Free standing mirrors and/or furniture that can tip over if your child were to climb on them need to be fastened to the wall.
Lockup medicine
Rather be safe than sorry – here is a great box to lock up medicine and vitamins.
First aid kit
Pick up two (like these) to have around the house because you never know when you may need one.
Alarms
If you don’t have smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, now is the time to add them. Nest makes really amazing ones that connect to your phone.
Fire extinguishers
It’s recommended that you buy a few fire extinguishers while baby-proofing.
Fire ladders
If you have an upstairs/downstairs style home, it’s recommended that you have fire ladders in the event of an emergency evacuation.
Hope you found this helpful! Anything else you would add to this list? Please share so we can all keep our kids as safe as possible!
