Once your baby has mastered tummy time and is on the move, it’s time to start toddler proofing your home. Realistically, you’re proofing long before the toddler stage. Once your little is crawling, you won’t have much time to think about how you want to proof, because babies are fast! Here I’m going to tell you the simple ways to toddler proof your home. I’ll also include a couple of things we did when building our home, before baby was even conceived!
Cordless Blinds/Shades
This is something my husband and I did when we first moved into our home. We didn’t have a child yet, but we knew there would be one sooner than later. Toddlers love blinds! Honestly they love anything they can get their hands on. But, those long cords that hang from blinds pose a serious choking/strangulation hazard. So, we installed cordless. I am so glad we did this! I’m happy my husband and I thought ahead with this because it was one less thing we had to worry about once our little guy was on the move.
Electric Socket Covers
These are an obvious. Those little hands are going to be so curious with those socket plates on the walls and figuring out what can fit into those tiny holes. Something we did when building our home was installing child proof socket plates. These are already child proofed as they have a little piece on the inside of the plate that covers the hole until a plug is fully inserted. My husband and I still went the extra route and plugged every socket with covers. Can’t ever be too safe with your babies!
Cabinet/Drawer Latches
One of the first things our son went for once he could really move, were cabinets. Constantly opening and closing doors. Wasn’t too much later he also realized drawers for a fun thing to open and close too! Installing latches on all cabinets and drawers put an end to that pretty quick. Under the kitchen sink is notorious for having some cleaning supplies so it’s important to latch up those cabinets! You can move cleaning supplies to a higher cabinet out of reach to insure your little won’t be able to access them. I also designated one of the smaller cabinets in our kitchen “Jaxson’s cabinet”. It has plastic bowls and small toys in it to help keep him busy while in the kitchen.
Once my son was tall enough to reach door handles, he went for them! I’m pretty certain his favorite door to open is the pantry. He knows that’s where the snacks are! The door handles in our home are the lever type, so they are extremely easy for him to pull down to open. Thankfully there are handle covers specifically for that type! If you have the knob type, they are much easier to find.
Child Safety Gate
Stairs can be pretty scary, but to a toddler they look like a lot of fun. I’m sure to a child, the stairs are a mystery, curious as to where they lead to. We installed our a baby gate pretty quickly. Once your child starts crawling and pulling up, you can bet they’ll attempt pulling up the stairs. Having a baby gate has really helped insure our son can’t climb up them!
Fireplace Guard
If you have one of the gas fireplaces with the glass front, this won’t pertain to you, unless that glass gets hot. Our fireplace is an open gas fireplace, meaning anyone and anything can reach into it. Of course, our toddler went for it. You can bet several toys ended up in it, thankfully it wasn’t on! If you want to keep your child out of it and insure they don’t accidentally get burned, invest in a fireplace guard. There are some really pretty one’s around!
Oven Latches
Oh the oven. Toddlers are so curious! My son will point to something and say, “hot” but i’m sure given the chance he would still touch it. I’m actually surprised that this day and time, ovens do not come with a child lock. The buttons on the front of ours lock, but not the actual door. My husband found these latches, and they work awesome! I love that the color is a simple gray, so they blend with the appliances well. We also placed one on the dishwasher!
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