Babyproofing Questions

AlwaysGrateful

Mon, Jan 05 2009, 9:14 am

As my baby starts getting more mobile, I'm starting to get really worried about babyproofing the apartment. Here are a few of my concerns:

1. Garbage cans. We have them all over the place. How will we keep him out of them? Do you put them up higher?

2. Lamps. We have stand-up lamps (pole with the lamp on top that sits on the floor). We absolutely need the lamps since our apartment doesn't have overhead lighting. It just seems like an accident waiting to happen, though. Any suggestions?

3. Oven. Easy to reach one he's standing.

4. Dishwasher. Ditto.

5. Drawers with no handles - kitchen drawers that have knives, etc in them. There's not much storage space int he apartment anyway. What can I do? I know there are ways to keeps drawers with handles closed. But are there child safety locks for drawers without handles? (you pull them from the top)

TIA!

MiracleMama

Mon, Jan 05 2009, 1:05 pm

1. Garbage cans. We have them all over the place. How will we keep him out of them? Do you put them up higher?

No, we didn't move ours. In the kitchen, we have a garbage can that the top opens when you step on a pedal. But it also has a "lock" on top. It just clicks back and forth, but you need a certain amount of force and my 2 yr old can't get in so far. If you are interested, I got this at Bed Bath and Beyond. In the other rooms there are just small waist baskets. Nothing much gets thrown in there but tissues and some other odds and ends. Nothing dangerous or gross, and kids so far have no interest. My toddler and my babies both have diaper bins in their rooms which are emptied often, usually 2x per day. So there isn't much to get into there either. Bathrooms are locked (I guess this will have to change once toddler starts potty training) so that keeps him out of bathroom garbage.

2. Lamps. We have stand-up lamps (pole with the lamp on top that sits on the floor). We absolutely need the lamps since our apartment doesn't have overhead lighting. It just seems like an accident waiting to happen, though. Any suggestions?

I only have one floor lamp. My son was VERY interested in knocking it over for a while. Because I really watch him and every time I saw him touch it I said NO and moved him right away and distracted him with another activity, he has learned to stay away from it. It took some time and a lot of patience. I don't know what other alternative there is, since you say you can't get rid of them.

3. Oven. Easy to reach one he's standing.

A few options. They sell oven straps that will keep your child from being able to open the oven. Or you could gate off your kitchen when you're cooking, or at least while you are opening and closing the hot oven. Or you could just say "Danger, Hot!" when your child plays by the oven door and teach him not to touch. I'm not sure how easy it really is for such a small child to pull open anyhow. My 2 yr old has yet to open mine, hot or cold.

4. Dishwasher. Ditto.

Mine is very hard to pull open, so I don't worry. But they sell straps for locking that too.

5. Drawers with no handles - kitchen drawers that have knives, etc in them. There's not much storage space int he apartment anyway. What can I do? I know there are ways to keeps drawers with handles closed. But are there child safety locks for drawers without handles? (you pull them from the top)

There are self-adhesive locking mechanisms you can easily use to keep kids out of drawers. My drawers don't have pulls either. One catalog that sells a lot of safety/ baby-proofing items is www.onestepahead.com. I don't know how they compare with other stores price-wise, but it's a good place to look just to get an idea of what is available.

GetReal

Mon, Jan 05 2009, 4:58 pm

1. Garbage cans. We have them all over the place. How will we keep him out of them? Do you put them up higher?

The bathroom door is closed when DS is awake, the one in the bedroom I put higher, and the one in the kitchen has a lid.

2. Lamps. We have stand-up lamps (pole with the lamp on top that sits on the floor). We absolutely need the lamps since our apartment doesn't have overhead lighting. It just seems like an accident waiting to happen, though. Any suggestions?

I put ours in a corner between the couch and the wall.

3. Oven. Easy to reach one he's standing.

I try to cook when he's asleep, but I think I need to get an oven lock.

4. Dishwasher. Ditto.

don't have one Sad

5. Drawers with no handles - kitchen drawers that have knives, etc in them. There's not much storage space int he apartment anyway. What can I do? I know there are ways to keeps drawers with handles closed. But are there child safety locks for drawers without handles? (you pull them from the top)

There are all kinds of child locks, you need to find the ones that work for you.

Good luck!!!

Nomad

Mon, Jan 05 2009, 9:43 pm

1. Garbage cans. We have them all over the place. How will we keep him out of them? Do you put them up higher?

The garbage can in our kitchen is one that you have to step on it to open but ds figured it out anyway. so usually we just face it backward and he hasnt figured that out. random wastebaskets around the house (except for bathroom where door is closed) we did have to place up higher becuase he would pull everything out of them ALL the time.

2. Lamps. We have stand-up lamps (pole with the lamp on top that sits on the floor). We absolutely need the lamps since our apartment doesn't have overhead lighting. It just seems like an accident waiting to happen, though. Any suggestions?

We placed the stand up lamps behind things. like one is between the wall and a table. the other is between the wall, a couch and an end table. this way ds cannot knock them over.

3. Oven. Easy to reach one he's standing.

my ds couldnt open the oven but he would constantly try to touch the door (even when it was on). a lot of "NO! HOT! worked. we also had to remove the knobs for the overn range becuase he kept pulling them off. but I know they sell oven locks and knob covers that you can find online.

4. Dishwasher. Ditto.

our dishwasher has a handle that needs to be pushed while being pulled open so he cant do that. they do sell straps that you can stick on the dishwasher though that you can use to keep it locked.

5. Drawers with no handles - kitchen drawers that have knives, etc in them. There's not much storage space int he apartment anyway. What can I do? I know there are ways to keeps drawers with handles closed. But are there child safety locks for drawers without handles? (you pull them from the top)

we have the same type of cabinets and ds figured out how to open them so I installed these:
http://www.toysrus.com/product.....19695

check out this page, they have all sorts of gadgets...
http://www.toysrus.com/family/.....56220

good luck! Smile