apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

About 15 minutes after we installed those spring-loaded latches in our kitchen, our own Henry toddled out into the living room with one in his hand -- not so effective!

We switched to the magnetic TotLocks and love them. All the hardware is hidden away on the inside, and they're impossible to open without the magnetic "key". We just kept the key stuck to the fridge so it wouldn't get lost.

Good luck!

We used magnetic locks on our kitchen cabinets, they worked great, until our son turned 18 mo. & figured out how to put the magnet on the right spot. After that, we moved everything unsafe or too heavy out of lower cabinets. Our son just knows not to go into the garbage or recycling. We also have doorknob covers on the bathroom, basement and front door, and keep the bathroom door closed at all times.

Hi, I don't recommend stove guards. They don't stick well. You think they do but after a while (a week in our case and tried 2 different brands) they fall down because of the heat. Edge cushions are great. I used them everywhere. Also I recommend an oven front lock.

I second the oven front lock. We have our lower cabinets (except for under the sink) lock-free. Our son likes to play with at the tupperware and lids to the pots.

We keep bahtroom doors closed and when he can open the doors we'll put doorknow covers on them.

we put a baby gate at the kitchen door that keept him safest till he is old enough to learn hot and no. we use the plastic door knob covers ( some adult guests cannot open the door with them on ) and of course plastic plug covers. Hid wires behind fruniture, other than that its pretty kid friendly around here...super hard to take him to non kid friendly places!!!!

Europe is much more lax about this sort of stuff...

In North America, we had the tot locks, as well as super-duper wall outlet locks, baby gates, and a foam cover for the stone edge of the ledge in front of our fireplace...

Here though, we were supplied with crappy baby gates (the one at the top of the stairs fell out of the wall, and the others were installed too high, so the baby could squeeze out underneath) and crappy wall outlet plugs (the cheap plastic ones that didn't stay in)...

All this to say, I spent a lot of time teaching our second child "danger!", "hot!!", "BooBoo!". It seems to have worked (fingers crossed).

I think the best babyproofing product is a parent. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for outlet covers and cabinet door latches and baby gates, but they do create a false sense of security.
While it was a pain, I moved everything not-for-baby upwards and things safe for baby onto the lower shelves. Instead of a toilet lock we use the bathroom door (he can't open it), instead of a bed rail we had a mattress on the floor for a while to teach him how to get down (BACKWARDS! I called BACKWARDS! out a lot during those two months).
I hope this helps!

I agree with moving everything up and out of the way as the best baby proofing measure. Why make yourself and your baby crazy? Put anything breakable or potentially dangerous or anything that you care a lot about (books, knick knacks, etc.) up high or pack it away until the baby is older. I do like cabinet locks just so I don't have to pick up my pots and pans 12 times a day. I prefer the Gerber ones that have a push button, because they are easier for Mom and Dad to open. You can usually find them at Target. I also cover all the electrical outlets, and use furniture fasteners for any bookcases or dressers that might topple over if climbed. We don't have stairs, so never needed gates. I just close all of the bedroom / bathroom doors and that keeps a crawling baby pretty contained. Good luck!

LOVE the totlocks!!

I am so glad I did not go overboard with babyproofing!

I put all the no-nos in the undersink cabinet then used the totlot magnetic lock, keeping the magnetic lock high up and hidden on a cabinet side. I covered the outlets.

That's pretty much it. I let my child explore the other cabinets, and he did, then the novelty wore off. That was all during the crawling-cruising stage.

We purchased all of our baby proofing stuff from http://www.babypro.com . They came highly recommended by my friend.

We purchased all of our baby proofing stuff from http://www.babypro.com . They came highly recommended by my friend.

Tot loks and the fireplace protection products were the most useful. We were able to finally take down our pillows around the fireplace!