Some days it feels like it was just yesterday when abc was born. After the allure of having a baby on me 24 hours/day wore off, I couldn’t wish for her to be more independent and mobile. And now that she is, I have to say that I was soooooo not ready for it!!! Now don’t get me wrong, abc is not a hard baby but in comparison to mini, she is into EVERYTHING and way earlier. At 5 months she started crawling and by 11 months she was toddling all over the place. And now at almost 16 months, she’s a Tasmanian devil tearing everything apart. In all honesty, I don’t mind her getting under the cabinets and playing with the pots and pans. I think it helps in the developing those fine motor skills. But even though we use natural, homemade cleaners, I still don’t want her dumping out liters of cleaner on the floor and happening to guzzle anything so baby-proofing is a natural must.
Because this hit me by storm, I came up with 3 quick tips to ready your home for a toddling baby:
1.Keep all your harmful chemicals in one (or two) central areas and put a lock on that.
We have all of our cleaning supplies and things that we don’t want her getting her grubby little hands on underneath the sink in the kitchen and under my husbands sink. Both of those areas have The Baby Lodge Adjustable Multi-Purpose Locks on them. We tried a different brand and abc, aka Baby Hulk, quickly tore that off. The Baby Lodge locks have 3M adhesive on the back so they’re better quality and offer an easy install so we were up and running safely in minutes.
2.Cover outlets.
Naturally. Unless you want your baby walking around with hair like Albert Einstein this is something that you have to get on stat. They have the nifty outlet covers or you can just move a piece of furniture in front of them. It’s imperative that those get covered ASAP because electrification can lead to death in babies.
3.Teach them.
Yep. Teach them boundaries. Teach them how to do things. Teach them early. I remember when my husband’s niece was itty bitty they had locks and gates on literally everything. She was essentially quarantined to one area. Instead of being taught how to go up and down stairs, they were blocked off. With abc, I opted to teach her how to go up and down the stairs which she’s known how to do longer than she’s been walking! But if you teach them, they will learn and this is incredibly important for both their longer term safety and development.
When it comes to baby-proofing your home, it can be quite the obstacle course because you want to create an environment that is safe for your little one. I encourage you to create these safe spaces without blocking their development and their natural affinity for exploration.
How do you baby-proof your home?
**I received complimentary products in exchange for my review. These thoughts are all my own. This post may contain an affiliate link.**
