[CalFan]

What babyproofing/safety items do you have?
What is the must have item(s)?
What is a waste of money?

What babyproofing/safety items do you have?
Gates, outlet covers, shelf anchors, cabinet latches & door knob covers (not installed yet though)

What is the must have item(s)?
Gates!

What is a waste of money?
Perhaps the door knob covers, but we didn't pay for them.

[*Lana*]

What babyproofing/safety items do you have?
Cabinet latches and outlet covers. (there is only one doorway, that doesn't have a door, that is narrow enough for a baby gate)

What is the must have item(s)?
Cabinet latches and outlet covers! The best outlet covers are the kind where you replace the whole plate and it the cover slides so even if they get the cord out, the outlet will be covered.

What is a waste of money?
Nothing yet.

What babyproofing/safety items do you have?
Padded covers around the edges and sides of our coffee table, outlet covers, baby gate.

What is the must have item(s)? Baby gate. My child love to go up the stairs.

What is a waste of money? I think most baby-proofing items are a waste. You just have to watch your child, and discipline them when they touch something they shouldn't.

[Mom 2 Alayna N Hayden]

What babyproofing/safety items do you have?
Outlet covers, gate, and cabinet latches (not installed yet, and I keep bugging DH to do it so we just block off the kitchen for now)

What is the must have item(s)?
GATES! Hayden just discovered how to climb the stairs and he tends to fall quite a bit, so I'm not taking chances.

What is a waste of money?
I'm going to say the cabinet latches because I haven't installed them yet and I won't need to here in a week once I buy a new gate to block off the dining/kitchen area.

[SamuelsMommy]

What babyproofing/safety items do you have? cabinet locks, outlet cover, door knob covers, baby gate, netting that covers the banister slats, lazy susan latch, bifold door guards
What is the must have item(s)? I think they are all important. The bifold door lock is nice so he can't pinch his fingers, and the banister netting and baby gate is essential to keep him from falling down the stairwell.
What is a waste of money? nothing!

Cheryl - the doorknob covers are not essential at this age but come more into play once he can open doors by himself at around 2 or so. They are very important to us with a 3 year old so that he can't get into the bathroom (obvious hazard to Nolan if the door was left open as children drown in toilets and that Sam knows how to turn on the faucet to the tub yet another drowning hazard). And also, there have been many incidences of children waking in the middle of the night and letting themselves out of the house and going missing while everyone is asleep. He's not afraid of anything and it wouldn't surprise me for him to get it in his head to go outside at night and he can be very quiet when he wants to. I'm hoping that by the time he can open them, he'll be old enough to understand why he shouldn't do something like that. So hold on to them, you'll need them later for sure!

[Caelen]

At the moment the majority of it is a waste of money for us. We're in an apartment and can't do much. Most of the space is open and we can't do gates. We do have a few to block off rooms without closing doors though. We also do outlet covers just in case. We did some cord protectors too for some of the electrical cords on things like our fish tank.

We haven't bothered doing much mostly because I'm at home and I'm constantly with him, so he doesn't get a chance to go after a whole lot. We DO plan on doing much more once we're in our house though. Especially since its going to be a two story home and we will need to keep him from accessing the stairs. We'll probably handle kitchen/bathroom baby proofing at that point too.

[Ree!]

I'm kind of with Ashley, I think a lot are a waste and kind of over board sometimes. Obviously you cant watch your child every single second of the day, so I understand where some come from when they go all out.

Baby gates are a must though. We have three staircases off of the main floor in our new house, so I'm going to have to invest in all new ones because my current one doesnt fit correctly. (I guess they are expensive for a reason?)

Outlet covers as well. And I'm thinking cabinet locks might be next, because every time I turn around he's in the cabinets but there is no way to gate the kitchen off. I've found some no-drill magnetic locks, so I'm hoping they work decently..

[SamuelsMommy]

It's very different when you have two small ones, like under 3 or 4. If we didn't have child locks, I would never sit down, even our refrigerator has a lock on it because one time Samuel took out a dozen eggs and started cracking them when I was nursing Nolan. I think baby proofing is much more necessary now that I have a toddler and a baby than it was when it was just Sam.

[joanna26]

So far we just have baby gates on the stairs and few cabinets locked (the ones with chemicals/medicines/etc). We are just playing the rest of it by ear.

Originally Posted by Ree

I've found some no-drill magnetic locks, so I'm hoping they work decently..

We put some up. They work, but it is a bit of a pain to remember to grab the key (or another magnet) everytime you want to open the cabinet so I ended up only putting them on cabinet doors that I don't open much.