Hellobee

When we were getting ready for Baby C’s arrival, we wondered whether we should begin babyproofing at the same time, or at least as soon as she arrived. All the babyproofing guides were super extensive, and after reading a few, we decided that until Baby C could realistically get hurt by something (aka, until she was mobile), we wouldn’t worry about it.

As Baby C grew, our laziness did as well, so without really intending it, we found ourselves babyproofing in stages. A lot of this depends on the individual kid, of course. For example, we skipped certain things, like covering sharp corners on furniture, because Baby C rarely played around that furniture. We observed how strong she was and her ability to reach when she began pulling up, and figured out from there what we should secure or put away and what was probably safe for the time being. We skipped certain must do’s, like securing our TV and floor lamps, because there was no good way to do it with the alignment of our furniture, and focused on teaching Baby C not to touch those items and being extra vigilant in those spaces. No approach works the same way for everyone, but these steps worked for us (and saved us some time doing all the things immediately).

Stage 1: The Early Mobility Years (~8-12 months)

Our first babyproofing happened right after Baby C learned how to roll, around 5 months, which led us to get rid of her changing table on top of a dresser and switch to a more secure, standalone changing table in our bathroom that had barriers. After that, however, we didn’t do any proofing until Baby C learned to pull herself up on furniture, around 9 months. She was slow to roll and crawl, and fast to walk, so she was moving up and around furniture before she was crawling around. As a result, we focused on anything that could be easily pulled down, broken, etc.

• removed all our collectible shot glasses and beer glasses, as well as any other breakable items, from two shelf units in our living room
• put a few soft toys and books on the lower shelf as motivation to distract her from pulling on the furniture
• moved our coffee table out of the center of the living room, to give her more space to roam without bumping into it
• covered all outlets

At this point, we weren’t really worried about any heavy furniture or securing cabinets, since there wasn’t much grip for her to have on those things and she hadn’t yet figured out how to climb. We focused specifically on what was within her reach in a standing or crawling position, and light enough to be brought down or breakable enough to be dangerous. Thankfully because we live in a one floor condo, we never had to worry about security gates and stairwells, though I imagine this would be about the time to do that in houses with stairs.

Stage 2: The Early Toddler Years (~12-18 months)

Baby C’s curiosity exploded in these months. She began walking right before turning one, and shortly thereafter began to open everything she could possibly get to. As soon as that happened, we went to work on doors and cabinets, working with the goal of making as much accessible as possible for her, while maintaining a safe space.

• we latched the cabinet under our sink that contains cleaning products, and re-aligned our cabinet storage so that the lower level cabinet had non breakable items that she could go into and play with without any danger
• we cleaned out our junk drawers so that if she pulled them open, they were full of items that wouldn’t cause a major mess nor any harm
• we realigned the shelving in our refrigerator, which was a huge point of interest for her, to allow her to explore it without making any messes

Stage 3: The Getting Ready for Big Girl Bed Years (~24-30 months)

Baby C began trying to escape her crib right around her second birthday. Although she didn’t actively climb out of it, she was getting long enough to be able to, and a few months after her birthday, she managed to climb out and fall. It surprised her enough that she didn’t try it again for a while, but after she passed two and a half, we knew we had to move to a big girl bed, so this past February, we converted her to a toddler bed. My avoidance of this move was for one reason – Baby C takes a solid hour most days just to settle down to sleep, so I knew she would likely get out of bed and wander around her room. A week after sleeping normally as if nothing changed, she began getting up as I expected, so before we made the conversion, I wanted to make sure her room was 100% secure for her to be in it. This meant:

• finally securing her dresser to the wall. We have one of those heavy IKEA dressers, and although she hadn’t attempted climbing it or even opening it (which is why we didn’t bother with it before this time), we wanted to be completely safe
• putting her floor lamp behind other things (we surrounded it with her laundry basket and Diaper Genie) to make it hard to grab on it/reach
• replace the tower bookshelf we had in there (which would be easily climbed) with a floor level one
• position the rocking chair such that it hides the electric cords

Thankfully the wandering out of bed didn’t last long, but we have the peace of mind that her room is a safe space that we don’t have to be super vigilant over.

For anyone with very small babies, I do highly recommend babyproofing in stages as your kiddo grows, rather than doing all the recommended things at once. Kids will approach things differently – some will require less proofing, like we found, while others will need to have every corner covered to avoid bumps and bruises. Before spending tons of money on babyproofing supplies, follow your kiddo’s lead. They might just save you some unnecessary expenses.

What babyproofing approaches did you use? Share your tips and tricks!