We are starting to baby proof the house and was wondering what things work, and which are a waste of money, Specifically the appliance locks. Do those work, or do kids figure them out right away?
I only had one appliance lock and it was for the oven... and my son broke it! I installed locks in all the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. I put the doorknob locks on the outside doors and bathroom before potty training. I also have outlet covers and the box outlet covers for cords. We have 3 baby gates: one in family room, one in play room, and one at the top of the stairs. Whew...more than I thought!
We didn't need a lot of baby proof items since our kids didn't get into everything. We did have a gate for the stairs, cabinet locks and outlet covers. A bumper for the coffee table would have been good since our kiddo split her lip on the edge of it. Just get the basics and then see what else you may need once they start to explore. We never needed appliance locks. We cleaned out a (bottom)drawer in the kitchen and filled it with some old pots, lids, dishcloth, and plastic containers so that they could keep entertained in the kitchen while I cooked.
Outlet plugs are a must.
We don't have knobs on our cabinets so we used the latches that you attach inside the doors.
The foam cushioning that sticks to the corners of your coffee table and fireplace did not work for us. I followed the directions 100% and the adhesive just wouldn't stick for more than a day or so. We just folded thick blankets/quilts in half and put over our coffee table and around our fireplace.
The doorknob covers did not work at all and actually made it easier for my daughter to open doors.
They also make some foam "C" shaped things that you put high up on the door to keep it from closing all the way (think they're actually called finger guards). We got those after my daughter accidentally locked herself in her room and they work great. She's 4 now and we still use one one her bathroom door because she's been known to close and lock the bathroom door and get on the potty and then end up needing help. Now she's able to close the door most of the way so she can have some privacy but we can still see her through the crack and go in if she needs us.
Kidco makes a great toilet lock. I tried a different brand that used suction and it didn't work. All of the others that I looked at had some kind of adhesive that you had to use to stick it to the side of your toilet with and part of it went inside the toilet. The Kidco one is nice and sanitary (no parts go inside the toilet) and it doesn't use any adhesive either. I insisted on a toilet lock because one of our friend's kids' flushed (or tried to flush) several bars of soap and they had to call a plumber. Another friend's kid flushed several sponges and clogged their toilet up too.
I found the outlet plugs that you just stick into the outlet do not work. Not for my crafty baby anyway. She figured out how to get them out of the sockets in a matter of minutes and I find that they caused more of a hazzard as they now pose as a choking hazzard and it was something that just brought on curiousity so she was drawn to play with the plugs all the time. Get the ones that you screw over the outlets. Much better investment and much safer.
Matters on the kid. my 1st they mostly worked for, the 2nd would just bee line for them and work on them until he could bypass them.
-Outlet Plugs
-We used the "u-shaped" cabinet latches from Safety First (they are on the outside and you have to "pinch" the clasp to open)
-Baby gates on the stairs
- inside-mounted drawer latches
We did not use appliance latches b/c they are expensive and cumbersome-your little one probably won't be strong enough to open them until they are also old enough to know not to touch them! You are better-off teaching your child not to touch the oven and stove then using the latches, which just makes them "interesting".
The only baby proofing I did was outlet plugs. We got some at wal-mart that I have a hard time getting out, so I'm pretty sure my baby can't. I wish I had gotten a foam bumper or something for the coffee table... she knocked her head on it pretty good a few times (but then again, she only did it 3 times before she started being more careful about it...) If we had stairs, we would have definitely gotten gates for those.
Dear mom, they may figure out by the time they're 4 or so, by which time they know better and aren't really interested in the stuff you're trying tp protect them from. I would focus your energies on the cabinet latches for where you keep cleaners and other hazardous products and the outlet covers. Don't worry about trying to keep them away from pots and pans or tupperware, it's good for them to explore and soon enough they will be over that stage.
We have a baby latch on teh fridge because the 4 year old climbed in and tried to shut the door so he could jump out and scare someone like on the opening credits to AFV. I totally freaked. The 7 year old can easily open them but the 4 year old can't.
The doorknob protectors work well. If they get dirty then the rubber will slip and you'll have to replace them. We had them on the outside of our bedroom so we could have some warning before the door pops open.
We have them on the bathroom doors, well the kids are potty trained now and they are not still there but they were until 6 months ago. K, the 7 year old, can open them by sticking her finger inside but J cannot figure them out yet. I give him 2-3 months. When my daughter was a newborn I worked at CR anthony's in OKC and a lady came up to me one day, she said I understand you have a new baby at home...then she started tearing up and said her baby had drowned in the toilet at about 18 months. She begged me to promise her I would always keep the bathroom secure and that has stuck with me all my life. I have real issues with the bathroom bing inexcessible until they are potty trained and able to pull their body out of a toilet/bucket, etc...baby and toddlers do not have the neck muscles until older to lift their head out of the toilet bowl if they fall in. So, keep the bathroom and other areas with water in containers secure.
We did, and still plan on doing, attaching the shelving units to the wall studs with L brackets on top, at least one and maybe 2 brackets if the stuff on the shelves is very heavy. Then also each individual shelf has tiny L brakcets insted of any peg type holders. Kids climb, shelves get unbalanced, shelves collapse and those little plastic pegs break. L brackets make much better sense.
Plug covers, kids figure out how to remove the simple plug in ones so we finally bought the better ones that are difficult for us to remove.
Your kids will "tell" you what you need to babyproof. So wait, before you go and buy a bunch of stuff.
For us, we never needed outlet covers. They just don't care.
Cabinet locks and door handle locks have been our necessity, and they work well.
Toilet locks and anything involving adhesive to make the lock work is generally a waste of $$. It'll come off.
Absolutely loved the magnet cabinet locks. Once installed, the only way to open the cabinet is with a magnet on the outside of the door. Absolutely no way a child could figure it out until they have good fine motor skills. You can set the locks to not lock so when they get older you don't have to remove them. I had a small kitchen and some of my good glasswear had to go on some bottom cabinets, put those locks on them and nothing got broken.
My oldest daughter should have been the baby proofing child tester. She came out of the womb bright eyed and looking around and is still at age 8 that way. When she was a crawler if there was a penny on the floor she would find it and put it in her mouth, started walking at 8 months, she crawled out of the crib for the first time at 13 months, climbed from chair to table to counter at 16 months. I felt like I was saying NO all the time and wanted to be able to say YES more so I hired in a professional company. The baby proofing company installed everything and gave us a couple of weeks to try them out and reimbursed us for the things she outsmarted when we returned them for not working. The items I like best are new door stoppers that were one piece with out the spring and removable topper, I really like the sliding electrical outlet covers so we don't have to remove something everytime we want to plug an item in. None of the DVD covers worked for us, there was a screen he put inside the cold air return vent to keep her fingers out because she would pull herself up using the slits then got her fingers caught inside. We used a 2 piece cabinent lock that you had to pull the door out alittle bit then push in on the lock to clear the latch so you could open it. She leaned against it and pinched her fingers a few times but we only had them on the knife drawer and the under the sink drawer where she could really get hurt if she got into them. We were trying to make it safe but more relaxed for us. We also used a mesh crib cover ( I know it sounds awful but at 13 months she was to young for a bed and we would never sleep if she had freedom to roam at night) we called it her fort and she loved it. We also used the over the knob 2 piece squeezing balls on all the round door handles that she still can't work ( I use chemicals in my art work sometimes and don't want the kids to get into something they shouldn't so I pull that one back out when I need it for my work room). Most kids try a thing once and don't really think about it again but mine would sort of make the rounds of a room rechecking things on a regular basis. Good luck and it's better to be safe than sorry and it feels great to say YES you can more than NOOOOOO don't touch that.
