Baby proofing

[TrimTheKing]

Evening all

With my little princess now fully in the swing of crawling around, and seeing how she immediately heads straight for lamp cords/plant pots/cupboard handles etc (not to mention all my expensive boy toys such as amp/xbox etc) I am feeling the need to get some babyproofing sorted.

I am currently googling but wondered if any of you lot had any particularly good sites, suggestions or ideas of the things I should be looking for, which ones work, which ones don't and which are all marketing guff and no substance etc?

Cheers

 

[wizer]

Fun isn't it Mark?

We haven't done much to be honest. Obviously all the plug sockets are protected but we've been lucky that she's not too destructive and responds to a bit of discipline. I wouldn't go over the top with it.

 

[jedmc571]

Oh I love parenthood \/

Mr Trimble Sir,

Mrs Jed is in the employ of a very exclusive baby shop in the Wirrall, she will be in tomorrow, and I will ask her to aquire as much nonsense pertaining to child safety fo you.

You'll be looking at 9 inch nails, harnesses, velcro, perhaps a cage..........ducking for cover from all wives :x

Ok, plug blanks, cupboard and drawer stops, corner bump stops etc, I'm afraid they always manage to hurt themselves on something, so the Mark 1 Eyeball is the best

Jed
I do believe discount would be in order for a fellow "Ruffian" :wink:

I'll see what she can do.

 

[cambournepete]

We bought none of this stuff for our son (he's nearly 7 now) and it wasn't around when we were young.
As for socket covers - why?
A baby would have to jam something hard in the earth hole and then at the same time stick something else in the live.
You'll have said something long before she gets far doing that.

I really wouldn't bother - if she gets a few knocks she'll soon learn

 

[Gower]

Good God. Where have I been? Just noticed that Wizer has past the 10000 post mark. I swear it was only at 9900 odd a few weeks ago. On that basis Tom, you've made more posts in a couple of weeks than I have in 5 years!
Has anyone baked you a cake or summut! Belated congratulations! =D>
Jim
Sorry to break into your thread Mark

 

[StevieB]

Plug protectors are a good idea simply because children WILL stick things in holes, not necessarily when crawling but around 2 years old its top fun! A bigger concern for me was pulling a plug out of a socket and touching the pins while half exposed. For this reason we put covers on a few of our in use but exposed plugs and I put in every faceplate with on off switches on them. Maybe overkill given some of the comments above but personally I didnt want to take the risk.

Other measures are mostly intuitive, like don't keep the bleach at floor level under the sink, put stair gates up and keep them closed, put cupboard latches on bottom cupboards and leave the hideous china ornaments from distant relatives at child height for inquisitive fingers.

It becomes second nature eventually as you will realise eveytime you go to someones house who doesnt have children!

Steve

 

[matt]

These are good latches (but make sure you get an extra magnet).

With regard to plugs and sockets... Make sure you don't have any old style plugs no things, esp if you decide not to use socket covers. By old style I mean the ones that don't have the plastic section on the live and neutral pins, thus allowing fingers to come in to contact with the pins.

Theseare good socket covers. It's not clear from the picture but there's a hole under the dome where you can use the earth pin of the plug to pull the cover out - much less hassle than the ones you have to fight with.

With regard to protection of expensive equipment... A stern word always worked for us.

 

[BradNaylor]

Keep it simple.

Fit socket covers.
Keep bleach & other nasties well out of the way.
Put in stairgates top AND bottom. Turn your back for 30 seconds and she'll be up those stairs in a flash!

That covers the dangerous risks. Apart from that accept that there will be little mishaps and accidents.

That's how kids learn.

Cheers
Brad
(father of four who all somehow survived infanthood intact!)

 

[loftyhermes]

We child proofed the house, but they still get back in. :lol: :lol:

 

[big soft moose]

Keep it simple.

Fit socket covers.
Keep bleach & other nasties well out of the way.
Put in stairgates top AND bottom. Turn your back for 30 seconds and she'll be up those stairs in a flash!

That covers the dangerous risks. Apart from that accept that there will be little mishaps and accidents.

That's how kids learn.

Cheers
Brad
(father of four who all somehow survived infanthood intact!)

and put a lock on the workshop door

 

[big soft moose]

A baby would have to jam something hard in the earth hole and then at the same time stick something else in the live.
You'll have said something long before she gets far doing that.

not so - if she jams somethin g in the live hole the current will run to earth through her to thr ground - she would only need to be in contact with the earh hole if she was otherwise insulated.

 

[matt]

A baby would have to jam something hard in the earth hole and then at the same time stick something else in the live.
You'll have said something long before she gets far doing that.

not so - if she jams somethin g in the live hole the current will run to earth through her to thr ground - she would only need to be in contact with the earh hole if she was otherwise insulated.

I think the point being made was that the neutral and live gates on a socket are not open unless something (usually the earth prong of a plug) has been pushed in to the earth opening.

 

[WellsWood]

A bigger concern for me was pulling a plug out of a socket and touching the pins while half exposed. Steve

I think unless you've got some very old appliances that this is nigh on impossible. The accessable portion live and neutral pins are insulated to prevent exactly this scenario. That said, it didn't stop me blanking off the sockets for the first few years - belt and braces never did any harm.

 

[wizer]

I once got a shock from putting my fingers around a plug whilst taking it out of the socket.... I was 14 I landed the other side of the room with nothing but a bruised ego. Maybe this is where my calamity adventure started ??

 

[TrimTheKing]

Thanks for all the replies chaps (cheers for the offer Jed, I will wait to hear what Ruffian options are available... ).

I have already got stair gates top and bottom so that's sorted, the only other things I was seriously considering were the socket covers and cupboard door stops/straps.

Regarding the sockets I started to think seriously about how realistic it was for her to get anything in there, but as you've said, for the cost it's worth it to be on the safe side (saying that, just had a quick run round the ground floor alone and would need about 50!!!).

Workshop is already locked with a key that is kept out of reach to ensure the safety of both baby and SWMBO!!!

 

[jedmc571]

Mark,

I think you just want plug blanks, and cupboard locks, you can get a fridge lock as well ! I laughed at this 6 months ago, but now my 2 year old knows where we keep the "Da Da" ( Chocolate ) she's always trying to get in.

It's a few quids worth, but worth every penny, you never know.

My eldest daughter now 8 was fascinated by my table saw, when the garage door was open she'd sneak in to play with the yellow handles, since then, when I cabled the garage this year, I installed an isolator just below ceiling height so theirs no power !

Like I said, you never know

 

[wizer]

I think the cupboard locks would be a good idea because your kitchen is open plan. Ours has a door and a gate, so she can't get in there unattended.

 

[big soft moose]

My eldest daughter now 8 was fascinated by my table saw, when the garage door was open she'd sneak in to play with the yellow handles, since then, when I cabled the garage this year, I installed an isolator just below ceiling height so theirs no power !

cant help feeling that that behaviour might be better dealt with by a robust talking to - some show and tell on the wood whisperer accidents forum, and if necessary a spanking

isolators are well and good but i visualise a horrible accident occuring the one time you neglect to hit the isolator when nipping out of the 'shop

 

[jedmc571]

BSM,

I agree totally, and that's what she got, I refer to it as " Education" she know's not to touch :wink:

She is currently working on handsaw technique, but she's showing signs of being a bit pink & girly!

Jed

 

[wizer]

Thirded. A couple of tellings off and she doesn't do it anymore.