Baby Y could be walking any day now, and he can certainly barrel his way to any destination with lightning-quick crawling. We had held off childproofing our old place before we moved, but we’ve slowly but surely been making our new pad as kid-friendly as possible without going overboard.

We’ve spent a decent chunk of change on childproofing products, and I’ll list my favorites later in this post, but sometimes you can’t throw money at every problem. For instance, our fireplace is smack in the center of Baby Y’s living-room play area, and the only thing that was separating him from soot and ash was a movable mesh curtain. Hearth guards like this gate were pricey, not to mention space hogs. So we had a clear plastic sheet cut to the size of the fireplace opening, and then we attached it to the metal surround with industrial-strength Velcro. Works like a charm!

We’ve also made a few simple lifestyle tweaks. For now, I’ve stored our coffee table and replaced it with a couple of inexpensive square ottomans we already had on hand. Baby Y can still cruise along and pull up, but without yet another thing with hard edges in his path. I can also use the ottomans as toy storage, so that’s a bonus. And it might seem obvious, but I’ve also given away or stored a lot of our knick-knacks. We still have some breakables far beyond Baby Y’s reach on the mantle, but otherwise, our collection of ceramic thingies and framed pictures is much smaller than it used to be.

Also, while I’d love to be able to keep Baby Y out of our kitchen, we have an open floor plan and it would be a major pain to gate off. So, aside from normal kitchen-safety measures, I’ve given him his own drawer of goodies down low to distract him while we’re cooking or cleaning. Of course, it doesn’t always work, but he has spent a good amount of time playing with his treasures: a couple of random Tupperware containers, some measuring cups, plastic Asian soup spoons, and so on. It’s all stuff we don’t often use, so I don’t worry about him dragging it around the floor.

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Behold … the drawer of distraction!

The number of childproofing gadgets out there is overwhelming, and the reality is that you don’t need half of them. A lot of them also get surprisingly dismal reviews online. Here’s a roundup of some products I’ve been pleased with:

  1. Prince Lionheart Table Edge Guard – I put this on an end table that the kiddo is constantly pulling up on and crawling around, as well as our TV console. The brown blends fairly well with the wood and he hasn’t been able to pull it off. Bonus: it’s nontoxic and stands up pretty well to gnawing.
  2. Munchkin Easy Close Extra Tall and Wide Gate – We have these in our upstairs and downstairs hallways to block off the stairs. Disclaimer: Papa Y did a fair amount of cursing while installing them, but now that they’re in place, they’re great. I don’t have to bend to open or close them, I can get through them with a 12-month-old in one arm and a bag in the other, and they’re very sturdy. Bonus: They aren’t obnoxious looking (at least as gates go).
  3. Mommy’s Helper Slide-Lok Bi-Fold Door Lock – These are so fantastically simple for keeping a child out of a closet with folding doors. You just pop them over the center of the door and slide them out of the way when needed. I have them on Baby Y’s nursery closet doors as well as the closet that holds our washer and dryer, which is in the upstairs hallway and within easy crawling range.
  4. Door Monkey Speaking of doors, this is an easy-to-use, long-term solution to keep the kiddo out of certain rooms, like our bathroom or the decidedly non kid-friendly office/guest room. You can put it up high, so even toddlers and older kids who have figured out knob covers can’t get past it.
  5. Ready America Flat Screen TV Safety Strap – No doubt you’ve heard horror stories of little ones pulling TVs over on themselves. While we’d love to put the TV out of reach on the wall, we want to minimize drilling since we’re renting. This is the next best thing, and you can secure the straps with mega-strong adhesive to your TV console (I fully expect that this might damage the wood a bit if we ever have to remove the straps, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take).
  6. Skip Hop Bath Spout Cover – We often bathe with Baby Y, but I’m starting to plunk him in the tub by himself more and more. This cheerful little whale has already prevented a couple of nasty bumps to the head.
  7. Kiscords Cabinet Locks – I bought these after a couple of frustrating weeks using the Safety 1st Grip ‘n’ Go locks on our kitchen cabinets. I can only recommend the latter if you want to adult-proof your cabinets, too. Ugh! In comparison, the Kiscords are a breeze. The downside is that they’ll only work on knobs that are relatively close together.
  8. Safety 1st Adjustable Multi-Use Straps – Again, we’ve wanted to minimize drilling, and these keep the kiddo from opening a couple of kitchen drawers within his reach.

As Baby Y learns to walk, I know we’ll have even more to watch out for. I just bought appliance locks to be on the safe side, and we have a couple pieces of furniture that we will be securing to the wall with anti-tip straps in case the kiddo becomes a climber. But for now, I feel pretty good about our level of childproofing, especially knowing that none of it is a substitute for actual supervision.

What childproofing measures have you taken? Any products you’d recommend?