https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 13 Apr 2026 19:44:03 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209774 Tue, 16 Jun 2015 09:22:27 +0000 ShootingStar 2209774@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're mostly #teambabyproof. I do have a gate in the playroom to keep him inside or keep the dog out of it, but I don't really leave DS in there like it's a play pen. </p> <p>We have a gate at the bottom of the stairs that's for both DS and the dog. But mostly the whole downstairs is childproofed enough that I don't feel like I have to chase after him all the time or put him in a baby container. We close the doors to the office and have a baby lock on those, and we baby-proofed all the kitchen cabinets. We have nothing on any drawers because he hasn't tried to go in them yet. We have a few outlet covers and a few of the outlets that are the newer style that doesn't need covers. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209640 Tue, 16 Jun 2015 08:23:16 +0000 Mrs. Yoyo 2209640@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are team Babyproof, just because Babycontain only works for such a short time. You may as well prepare for the long haul, right?</p> <p>That said we are fairly minimal. There are gates on the stairs and cabinet locks. There are outlet covers that sometimes we forget to use. That's about it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209608 Tue, 16 Jun 2015 07:53:28 +0000 Anagram 2209608@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We only did outlet covers and put rubberbands around a few of the kitchen cabinet handles (the ones with cleaning supplies). Super classy!</p> <p>I never used toilet covers, oven knob covers, baby gates, baby pens any of that stuff--LO has been fine. We would go through periods where I would have to teach her not to do certain stuff (like touch the toiler), but she learned and got over it </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209553 Tue, 16 Jun 2015 07:22:32 +0000 looch 2209553@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My husband is not a baby container fan, so he took the lead and baby proofed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209509 Tue, 16 Jun 2015 06:35:21 +0000 daniellemybelle 2209509@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We could only contain for so long. When LO was crawling we contained her somewhat but when she started walking at 10 months she didn't want to be contained and let us know! We did pretty minimal baby proofing. We just watch her. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209471 Tue, 16 Jun 2015 05:05:42 +0000 lamariniere 2209471@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Ajsmommy: Us too, just outlet covers. We don't have any stairs to worry about either. My older LO was exceptionally good at not getting into anything he wasn't supposed to. My younger LO is 18 months and while she isn't as mindful, we haven't had any incidents. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209468 Tue, 16 Jun 2015 04:55:16 +0000 SugarplumsMom 2209468@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MsMini: Good advice. </p> <p>My LO will turn 3 soon and looking back, there has been various stages of baby proofing (a lot of adjustments along the way). Keep in mind the length of usefulness of those baby playpens, because once they learn to walk, they want to explore. There's some gates that convert into playpens that can detach to section off a room. I think you'd get a lot more use from having one of those. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209419 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 23:25:27 +0000 birdofafeather 2209419@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>babyproof. we lived in a small place and honestly, our living room was smaller than most of these baby containers. also, i wanted to give her boundaries, but not NOs all the time so she could figure things out for herself. we put some breakables and such out of the way if they were precious and put chemicals and such out of reach for her safety, but otherwise, live was pretty much as normal. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209375 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 21:27:38 +0000 cat620 2209375@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did baby proofing. I had a playpen, but my son hated it! He's always been very curious and wants to be wherever I am, so anytime I put him in there, he would scream. I put all knickknacks away, installed cabinet and drawer locks in the kitchen, put covers over the stove knobs, put bumpers on the corners of our furniture, used outlet covers, and put up a gate at the top and bottom of the stairs. He has free reign of the house, and now that he's a toddler, I know he would not tolerate being in a pen at all! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209312 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 20:17:14 +0000 Mae 2209312@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We sort of did both? Our house/furniture doesn't really lend itself to being totally baby proofed without completely replacing a lot of our current furniture. So we sort of made stuff as baby proofed as possible (made it so we can let her run around supervised, and can probably leave her alone for like 1-2 min at a time) and then also did a "baby jail" for if I need her to be totally safe when I leave the room for more than a minute. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209266 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 19:15:22 +0000 babybean404 2209266@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is all good advice. I think I will relax and figure it out as I go! Any favorite brand of baby proofing stuff?</p> <p>@gingerbebe: that is amazing and I love the #teamcontain! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209196 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 17:35:16 +0000 regberadaisy 2209196@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We also have an open floor plan and a big dog. I prefer to let her roam free. I'm not a fan of "baby jails" and don't foresee my LO like being contained. But most of the time I let her crawl downstairs in the family room where there's carpet. When we're upstairs in the open floor plan I let her go wild in the walker. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209126 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:49:21 +0000 kiddosc 2209126@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We put in outlet covers and cabinet locks, but otherwise just kept an eye on him. I think people tend to go a little overboard on the baby proofing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209125 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:48:27 +0000 snowjewelz 2209125@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: nice job!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209123 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:46:38 +0000 gingerbebe 2209123@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@snowjewelz: Yes I made it with PVC piping, T joints, and foam pipe insulation cinched on with zip-ties. It's 6x8 but we can make it bigger or smaller by adding/subtracting pipe slats. We also pipe insulated his crib slats so he would stop slamming his noggin in there! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209118 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:40:45 +0000 Grace 2209118@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Babyproof and also started teaching her that just because she can touch something, doesn't mean she's allowed to. I purposefully left some not-dear-to me things out and used them to teach her "don't touch". </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209111 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:34:18 +0000 snowjewelz 2209111@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: looks so fun! did you make this yourself? it doesn't seem like any conventional ones I've seen for sale! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209109 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:32:04 +0000 meesker 2209109@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We contained. I got a huge playpen and it was fantastic. Until it wasn't. She is now a year old and walking everywhere and will not tolerate the playpen for more than a few minutes. Out house still isn't baby proofed and it causes me so much anxiety. Last week she started dropping things into and playing in the toilets, so toilet locks got installed. Now she is obsessed with emptying my kitchen cabinets, so I am constantly darting after her and taking things away from her. Two weeks ago, I caught her with a foam earplug in her mouth (thanks daddy for leaving those out). I nearly had a heart attack when I saw how easily she could have choked.</p> <p>If you can babyproof now, before she is walking, your life will be so much better for it down the road. Our problem is waiting on a handyman for latches and tethers and not knowing how to babyproof things like the floor lamp she pulled down today or my husband's entertainment system. Also, she thinks the corner guards are super fun to rip off the corners and use as chew toys. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209106 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:30:55 +0000 Raindrop 2209106@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We do a little bit of both. You got a lot of great advise! I just wanted to say ... don't worry too much. We basically figured it out as we went... oh he got into that drawer... I guess we will baby proof that drawer and so on. We only have 4 drawers baby proof drawers because they either dangerous or heavy items in them. I think you can just figure it out as they grow and do what's best for your family. I just wanted to say don't stress out about it! :)</p> <p>@gingerbebe: I heart this! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209100 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:26:25 +0000 gingerbebe 2209100@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are #teamcontain. We just moved to a new house and dedicated the family room off the kitchen to DS' custom baby jail. It's the greatest. He would kill himself otherwise - he's such an active daredevil. We can watch him while we eat or cook and we put a recliner next to it so we can sit there with him (or play with him inside of it). </p> [attach=1472/15/nq0641.600x600.image.jpg] https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209085 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:16:42 +0000 MamaG 2209085@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We do both. We have PnP in our room which is where she can be contained safely while we do things in our upstairs. We will have gates on the top and bottom of our stairs. Our downstairs is fairly open. Outlet covers and cabinet locks are all we do, aside from putting certain things out of reach. We have overhead lighting so floor lighting isn't an issue for us. But we do have two fireplaces in this space.</p> <p>We've also secured our blinds (strings are shortened and out of reach. And on windows that are accessible, we just have the blinds raised up half way out of reach as well. We will add door knob covers to room doors (bathroom) when she can reach handles as well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209023 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:39:29 +0000 Bubbles 2209023@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I baby proofed our flat as much as possible - but like you we have things like floor lamps which I don't think you can baby proof. So I also have a baby gate on his bedroom (his room is completely baby proof), and he goes in there if I need to do something where I can't keep at least half an eye on him! I feel like the baby proofing goes on forever though - at 18mo DS has just now got the strength to open the fridge... a whole world of fun in there! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209016 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:35:57 +0000 snowjewelz 2209016@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Agree w/ Kemma! DD is only 6 mo but I'm trying to find used gates to make a play pen for her to contain her, Just baby proofing, for us, won't be that much cheaper b/c we would need multiple gates to block off stairs/kitchen, etc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209011 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:34:23 +0000 blackbird 2209011@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We put a gate up for the stairs, then baby proofed the dangerous stuff. Otherwise she has free reign. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2209008 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:32:17 +0000 Kemma 2209008@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did a combo but having a playpen was awesome for when I needed to contain LO while I cooked dinner, hung out washing etc. she didn't spend a tonne of time in it but it kept her safe when I couldn't be 100% focussed on her. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2208993 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:27:11 +0000 MsMini 2208993@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Eventually you are going to have to baby/kid proof ... I still have drawers and cabinets I don't want my 3 year old going into, so I am glad I got everything taken care of when he was little. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2208966 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:11:57 +0000 Foodnerd81 2208966@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Combo. Early on it was much easier to contain, but that only lasts so long before they are climbing the gate and pulling it down. We have the kitchen / living room area closed off by closed doors and one baby gate. Then the room is pretty much C- proofed-- so there are things other babies might try to get at but she isn't interested in, but all the things she tries to get into are baby proofed. For us that's outlet covers, lower cabinets locked (but not drawers), and dangerous things taken off low shelves or tables. But we can have things plugged in and she doesn't mess with them, she points to the wires and says No no no! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2208962 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:07:47 +0000 babynumber1 2208962@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@babybean404: Lamps are the only things that stayed on our tables. She never messed with them. Picture frames, nick nacks, etc. were taken off. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2208959 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:05:12 +0000 Ajsmommy 2208959@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Honestly, the only thing we did was put plug covers on our outlets. Everything else is the same as before. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babyproof-or-babycontain#post-2208954 Mon, 15 Jun 2015 14:02:02 +0000 babybean404 2208954@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What about lamps? I'm just now realizing we have no overhead lighting in either of our living rooms! What do you do with lamps? </p>