Whether you’re expecting a baby or already have a little one in the home, you’re looking for ways to keep your child safe, from your curious little crawler to your rambunctious climbing toddler. Keep reading below for the best advice on baby proofing your home.
And for those of you who prefer to scan blog posts quickly, keep an eye out for the bold words, as these are the main points to focus on.
First thing’s first: we adopted our children, therefore, we were required to have multiple home studies. Home studies require a lot more than most “normal” homes require before a child enters it. For that reason, I consider myself somewhat of an expert (wink) and we definitely went above and beyond baby proofing our home before any children lived here.
For simplicity reasons, let’s go room by room.
I have provided links below to make your life and shopping just a little easier. Should you choose to make a purchase through one of my links, I may make a small commission and no cost to you.
Main Areas / Living Room
Sharp corners, heavy furniture and outlets. Oh my!
Let’s start by covering all of your electrical outlets. You can buy these anywhere. I prefer these clear ones.
Coffee tables and end tables typically have sharp corners. For little one’s sake, you may want to grab some corner protectors like these clear ones, or foam edgers like these. Side note: I used the black ones on my son’s very first big boy bed so his little head wouldn’t hit the sharp edges while he tossed and turned in his sleep. Anyone else have a wild sleeper?
For entertainment centers, TV stands, tall bookshelves, and more, I highly recommend buying furniture anchors, much like these. Many manufacturers include them with your purchase (I know Ikea does) but for all existing furniture, you can anchor them to the wall and have some serious peace of mind when your crawlers begin to pull up and toddlers begin to climb.
Indoor plants can be poisonous to children, therefore, I recommend you do a little research on any existing houseplants and either get them up high or remove them completely. Remember, this is all for a short season. You can and will get your home back to (almost) normal once they get beyond the put-everything-in-the-mouth stage!
You may need to run the vacuum pretty regularly to pick up anything small that may have been dropped or left behind. I’m talking paper clips, pieces of food, pebbles, leaves, trash, etc. While I know a robot vacuum is not in everyone’s budget, if you have one already, set it to run every evening after baby goes to bed. You’ll be ready for a fresh start in the morning.
Amazon has some really affordable, highly rated models these days. Here’s one I’d buy today if we didn’t already have one. Now that I know better, my next one will have mapping capabilities.
Check your blinds for cords. Many newer models are cordless now, but if yours are several years old or more, they probably have those long annoying (hazardous) cords. You can fold them up strategically and zip tie or twist tie them together, up out of the reach of babes. I used to just tuck them behind the blind (on the window side vs. the indoor side) and that was enough out of reach for my little ones.
Doorways / Stairways
We use these doorknob covers for doors like the pantry, bathroom, or any doorways that lead to the garage or outside.
These knob covers have been a lifesaver for us. My kids are 2.5 and almost 5 now and we still use them for the pantry and upstairs rooms that are no-no spaces. 😉
These latches were also a God-send. I have a very curious son. In order to feel like I could go brush my teeth or let the dogs out and have him not wander outside, we installed these door latches on our front door, back door and door leading to our garage. We still use them to this day and they bring us such peace of mind. Our friends’ daughter was sleepwalking and this was a brilliant quick fix for keeping her safe at night as well!
You know those little springy things that sit behind each door? Yep – doorstops, and they are all over your home! Ours not only come off the wall easily, but the small end caps pop off easily and go straight into baby’s mouth! Be prepared to remove all of those doorstops or just take them from rooms the baby accesses regularly. These are far too tempting for baby to play with!
Your stairways need baby proofing on the top and the bottom. We swear by this line of baby gates by Summer, and used ours for over 4 years. I was able to match the iron and wood of our staircase, which really helped from a decor perspective. If I had to go back, I’d purchase that gate again any day.
I did not use one at the top of our stairs, as the design won’t allow for a gate up there. So, we used this play yard gate across the opening and continued it around the playroom to keep baby inside the space and safe (i.e. not crawling down the hallway toward the upstairs bathroom). It not only did the trick upstairs, but it served us for many years outside, downstairs, with dogs, during garage sales, and more! These are worth every penny!
Kitchen / Bathrooms
Medicine should be stored high out of reach or behind a locked cabinet. I put all my meds in a plastic drawer bin much like this one, created some labels for each drawer, and put it up high inside of a cabinet in my master bathroom. One, it’s organized (yay!) and two, it’s safe from little curious hands. Win-win.
If you despise those little doorknob locks I mentioned above (and believe me, plenty of grown ups can’t maneuver them very well), then you may want to invest in a toilet locking mechanism, like this one. We never had them, thankfully, but some littles find it far too tempting to play in the water.
These are the holy grail of cabinet locks for baby proofing your home. Seriously. I’ve always hated those plastic ones that you have to push down. And I really despise the ones that ruin your clean/minimalist vibe or tear up your cabinetry.
I use them under my kitchen sink where we keep our cleaners. I also use them to lock all of the bathroom cabinets (beauty products, nail polish, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, etc.). You just stick the little round magnet somewhere nearby and…viola!
If those locks above weren’t awesome enough, I got creative with these cabinet/drawer locks. I needed a solution for our “junk drawer” where we keep batteries, scissors, etc. It has worked like magic. It works great for a corner drawer or double doors. You just unsnap one side, grab what you need, and snap it back in place.
I know, I know…they are not pretty! However, it was the best solution for my ONE drawer that needed to be locked.
When I needed to keep the little ones out of my home office and my master bathroom (both have double doors) I used the same lock straps. Brilliant, right?! I am now so good at opening them up easily with one hand. And the kiddos won’t be able to reach the lock until they’re at least eight. 😉
Another great tip for baby proofing your home, even before baby is home, is to change the settings on your water heater so that your hot water doesn’t reach beyond 120 degrees. You’ll want baby’s bathwater to be more around the 98-104 degree mark for baths. Additionally, you can buy this little rubber ducky to keep in the tub for extra peace of mind.
Miscellaneous (Hazardous) Stuff
Alcohol. Judge me if you will, but we like a good cocktail every now and then around our home. 😉 If you have a boozy area in your home, keep it up high or behind a locked cabinet.
Garage paints, pesticides, gasoline, etc. This is all extremely hazardous to a child. If you have shelves in your garage, work on getting all of these items up as high as possible. If you don’t have storage, consider investing in some sturdy garage shelves. We love these metal ones from Amazon.
Granted, young kids will probably never end up unattended in the garage, but we’re all human and mistakes happen. I choose to err on the side of caution when it comes to chemicals/toxins.
That’s a wrap, yall!
What did I leave out? Anything else you would add to this list for baby proofing your home? Shoot me a message or comment below.
Speaking of new babies in the home….have you registered for your little bundle yet? Amazon has a baby registry program now. There are added discounts and extended return periods. I wish I had known about this when we were waiting for our little guy. Happy shopping!
