Home Safety

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elgoh

Registered User
Hello,

Our little one is 8 mths old and starting to cruise around the house.

We bought some table corner guards, but our baby could pull them off easily. Pls do recommend us a good brand if you have tried any.

Secondly, in addition to corner guards, it looks like he is more likely to bump his head anywhere along the edges of furniture and floor skirting all around the house instead of only the corners, so what do you use to make those safe?

Thirdly, we are also considering to get some kind of fence to act as a perimeter around his (quite large) playmat. We can buy something, or we can do something DIY... any idea/recommendation?

Thanks!
 
Not sure if this is helpful to you but I didn't use anything. Basically, didn't "babyproof" the house at all. Now that my son is a toddler and can climb onto the window ledges himself, we put grills on the windows since that's an accident we cannot risk.

We had one major accident when my son hit his head on the corner of our coffee table and got a bad cut just above his eye. But even that didn't require a trip to the doctor, just ice and dettol ointment.

I realised that we start babyproofing there would be no end to it because basically almost everything is a potential hazard. We had to have someone keeping an eye on him always anyway so that's what we did.
 
We didn't really child proof either except for outlet covers. We always have someone watching the baby. And we teach him not to climb on some stuff, and how to get off a couch safely etc.
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We just have table corner guards & outlet covers. Other than that, nothing else too. I have found that with both my kids, they learn to navigate their way around the house without bumping into things. True, they will have near misses but they learn. I think it's best to teach them their boundaries rather than set it. After navigating the head space under the coffee table, my 11 month old has learned to crawl under it without hitting her head.
 
And we have a travel crib aka baby jail for the short time period we had to leave baby alone, eg I need to go to bathroom, so sth in kitchen.
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I agree with many of the previous posters. It's pretty much impossible to "baby proof" everything. Just accept that your child is going to bump his/her head once in awhile--maybe a lot. As long as it's not serious injuries (like falling off a table on to a concrete floor etc.) then accept there will be bumps and there will be bruises. We actually had a few little pillow things that could be tied on to furniture made. They were useful moreso when my son was crawling and if there were sharp edges on the under sides of furniture.

Once we were at a friend's house. The floor was cement with tile over it. Our son was tired and he was doing this "downward dog" yoga pose and he just let go of his hands and his forehead crashed straight into the floor. He was about 18-months-old. His head swelled up really fast and really big so we rushed him to the Emergency Room. He was totally fine. No concussion--actually they just gave him Panadol and we put ice on it and it went away on its own--within a couple of hours it just looked like a red spot on his forehead.

Best plan is to let your child learn his/her own lessons and move serious hazards out of the way (cover outlets, don't leave wires lying around etc.). Teach your child how to get up and down off of furniture safely (this is pretty easy to do--you just guide them how to do it every time and eventually they'll figure it out--I think we taught my daughter this within a week).
 
Very helpful replies from all.. yes, I do sense the futility of trying to babyproof everything in the house!
About keeping things away from him, again, it is impossible to clear the house of every furniture and gadget, he has a penchant for dehumidifier, air purifier, his booster chair... Just wondering, how do you guys deal with these things? 1) Would you let them touch/play and climb over them under supervision? or 2) keep saying "no" and move him away from these objects?

The logic of method 1) is that after a while of playing with them, he realises that they are not so interesting after all and no longer goes after them (for e.g. have noticed this to be true in the case of remote controls, handphone etc.); the logic of 2) is that if we say "no" often enough, they will understand the meaning of "no" and stay away. I have not witnessed the success of this method yet and wonder if this should be something I should work harder at, or just stick to method 1.
 
elgoh said:
Very helpful replies from all.. yes, I do sense the futility of trying to babyproof everything in the house!
About keeping things away from him, again, it is impossible to clear the house of every furniture and gadget, he has a penchant for dehumidifier, air purifier, his booster chair... Just wondering, how do you guys deal with these things? 1) Would you let them touch/play and climb over them under supervision? or 2) keep saying "no" and move him away from these objects?

The logic of method 1) is that after a while of playing with them, he realises that they are not so interesting after all and no longer goes after them (for e.g. have noticed this to be true in the case of remote controls, handphone etc.); the logic of 2) is that if we say "no" often enough, they will understand the meaning of "no" and stay away. I have not witnessed the success of this method yet and wonder if this should be something I should work harder at, or just stick to method 1.
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As long as he can't get a shock from playing with the dehumidifier or air purifier, pushing the buttons on them would be something I would be okay with. Our year-old daughter pushes the buttons on an upright fan we have (not the one with rotating blades). As long as the baby isn't pulling on or chewing on wires or electrical equipment, it shouldn't be a problem.

I don't see why the booster chair would be a problem? Is it hazardous? If it's set up high, supervise him while he's in it. If it's portable, move it out of the way when he's not using it in case it's a fall hazard.

Basically, in our house, except for a few instances, if we don't NEED to say "no", we don't. Cases where we do NEED to say "no" include: it's highly breakable and we can't move it out of reach; it's hazardous or dangerous. Otherwise, our children have free reign of the house. If we don't want them entering a room (such as the bathroom where they can pull all the tissue off the roll) we close the door.

So, there's not need to say "no" to everything and there is also no need to "hide" everything either. Pick your battles. In the case of electrical equipment that can't be moved out of the way or concealed (and we do have a few of these thins) our daughter understands very clearly she is not to even go near it. All we have to do is say "no" in a firm voice and she'll turn the other way and walk away--but we supervise her around it. In the case of everything else, if it's really breakable (glass objects) and is not absolutely necessary for daily life we put it up and away out of reach. If it could be hazardous we warn strictly with "no"--this means we're not saying "no" all that often actually. But, when she hears "no" she knows it's serious and she responds well.
 
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