Babyproofing Essentials For Your Toddler

Well, your baby is officially mobile so you are in need of babyproofing essentials to protect your baby from anything that could hurt them.

Which is pretty much everything in your house.

The moment my daughter started crawling was when I knew that I needed to start babyproofing our home.

And when she started walking was when I had to really make sure our home was secure and safe while she explored her new legs.

They call it babyproofing, but essentially you are “toddler-proofing” your home when you are taking these measures to ensure the safety of your little ones.

Toddlers need to explore because that is how they learn and become familiar with the things around them.

And it is our job as parents to ensure that the environment is safe and to redirect any behavior that we don’t’ want to happen.

My daughter is currently 19 months old when I’m writing this and has found a way to open doors, lift toilet seats, and stand on her toys to reach things on the counter.

Since she has been doing this, I have been trying quite a few things in the childproofing aisles in the store and have even had some failures.

But I finally found some childproofing devices that work and I want to share those with you all for anyone looking to childproof their home.

Here are the babyproofing essentials that I have been using to childproof my home for my toddler.

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Do I Need To Babyproof My Home?

Before I get into my babyproofing essentials, let’s address this question because it is a valid one.

Do I need to babyproof my home?

I don’t think there is a yes or no answer to this question.

It is ultimately up to the parent if they want to babyproof their home or not.

I know some parents go over the top and will try to wrap their entire house in foam if they could and then I know some parents who do the bare minimum or nothing at all.

It is the parent’s choice.

Most of the time, first-time parents are the ones who babyproof their homes really well while parents of multiples tend to slack on the babyproofing.

Parents of multiple children probably already have some child safety stuff leftover from the previous children and will only pull out what they need.

As, a first-time mom, I know that I am wanting to do everything in my power to ensure that our home is safe for my daughter to wander around.

As much I as try to do my best with keeping an eye on her at all times, there will be a couple of times that she gets away from me and I feel better knowing that I have certain safety measures in place.

So to answer the question at the top, my answer is yes.

And I have been doing with all the items that I will be mentioning below.

With that being said, let’s get into my babyproofing essentials.

Babyproofing Essentials For Your Toddler

The way that I will be discussing everything that I have been using to babyproof my home is to go room by room so that way if you are looking for what to do in each room, you will have an idea.

Kitchen

The first room I want to talk about when trying to babyproof your home for your toddler is the kitchen.

The kitchen is one of the most dangerous areas in the house for a toddler, but it is also one of the main areas of the home that most of us spend our time in.

The first thing you want to check is whether not your appliances have locks on them that don’t allow your little ones to manipulate the buttons.

For instance, I would turn on the dishwasher, and then my daughter would come over and start pressing the buttons on the dishwasher as well.

My dishwasher has a button to lock the screen so my daughter can’t press the buttons.

We have this same button on our refrigerator as well.

Speaking of the fridge, our daughter figured out really quickly that there is food in the fridge, pantry, and some of the cabinets.

We don’t currently have locks on either the fridge or pantry, but we had to get some for the cabinets in our kitchen.

These cabinet and drawer latches are a babyproofing must-have and have been a lifesaver for us.

They don’t require you to actually drill into the cabinets and drawers which is great if you are currently renting.

They are adhesive and have been very effective at keeping my daughter out of the cabinets and drawers.

And the last and most dangerous thing that you have to worry about when you have a mobile toddler in the kitchen is the stove.

We luckily have a stove where the knobs are at the back so our daughter can’t reach them.

But if you have a stove where the knobs are in the front and your toddler can grab them and turn them, then make sure you get some stove knobs covers.

I know I don’t even want to think about that type of accident and I know you don’t want to either.

Living/Family Rooms

These areas are another space in the home that we spend a lot of time in.

I also have a tendency to treat this area as an additional play area outside of my daughter’s room.

If you do the same, then we definitely have to make sure this area is secure.

For any doors, especially the front door and the door that leads to the garage, you should utilize door locks and we use the ones by Safety 1st.

If you have stairs in your home, then baby gates are essential when it comes to babyproofing.

We actually tried a couple of baby gates before we finally found one that was functional and sturdy enough.

We finally landed on this one from Safety 1st.

It has worked great and my daughter still hasn’t figured it out.

Bedroom

A lot of the same things mentioned above can apply to the bedrooms.

Once again, utilize door locks, drawer latches, and foam corners to make the bedrooms safer.

And you also want to make sure that if you have any large furniture, such as dressers and wardrobes, make sure they are mounted and secure against the wall.

The other thing I would add is outlet covers.

To a toddler, outlets are just holes in the wall that need to be plugged up and trust me, they will find something to put into that hole.

My daughter has not figured out how to climb out of her crib yet, but I know that it is coming.

To be preventive, I make sure to have the mattress on the lowest setting her crib allows.

I also don’t have anything around her crib for her to grab ahold of and use to get out.

Bathroom

Lastly, we move into the bathroom.

I treat the bathroom very much like the kitchen because there is so much for toddlers to get in the bathroom.

I also keep her medicine in her bathroom, so I have to make sure it’s locked up at all times, which I do through the cabinet locks I mentioned earlier.

As babies graduate from their little baby tubs to the actual bathtub, you have to babyproof the bathtub as well.

The first thing we got was a bathmat to keep them from sliding over the tub so, we got this bathmat from Skip Hop along with the matching spout cover.

You want the spout cover as protection for when they start walking and moving around in the tub in case they fall and bump their head.

This spout cover is sturdy enough to where my daughter can’t take it off and gentle enough to protect any part of her body that bumps in it.

The other area in the bathroom you have to worry about is the toilet.

We are currently in the early phases of potty training my daughter, so the toilet has become her latest obsession.

There are toilet locks that you can invest in to secure the toilet, but we made the decision not to.

Your Turn

Now it’s your turn! I have discussed all of the babyproofing essentials that I use for my toddler to make sure she can safely explore and play. What are some of the babyproofing must-haves you use with your little ones? Let me know in the comments and while you are still here, check out my previous post below. Until next time!

• Read More: It’s Time To Ditch The Mom Guilt

Love,

Just Jass