I recently mentioned while writing about our living in quarantine how we hadn’t really babyproofed. Before shelter-in-place started, August wasn’t walking yet and he really only spent the weekends at home since he was in daycare full time while Daniel and I were working outside the home full time. Then the world changed and having a toddler, who has since learned to walk, at home full time with two people also trying to work from home full time shined a light on just how dangerous our house was. So, we finally got to babyproofing. I thought it might be helpful to share how we did it in case anyone else is living in a home with a lot of old, architectural details, old cabinetry and other elements that make basic babyproofing almost impossible.

Stairs

First, let’s talk about stairs. We have one set of stairs and they are kind of narrow, with very detailed posts and balustrades on one side and a wall with very detailed baseboards on the other side. While these details can look beautiful, especially if you appreciate the look of an old home, this does mean that no surface is flush, making it hard to install average baby gates that are meant to be as flush as possible against walls and very basic baseboards and mouldings. And because the stairs are narrow, I didn’t want a typical baby gate that hangs swinging open and taking up space. This really limited our options but I did find this retractable baby gate that we installed so the bottom of the fabric covers the bottom stair, making it harder for August to sneak up under it and start climbing unnoticed. We also use this same gate on our porch steps since it’s just wide enough to stretch from post to post and it’s made for indoor and outdoor use. These two gates were installed pre-pandemic.

But this type of gate is not made for the top of stairs because babies can crawl underneath them. Finding one for the top of the steps was a little more frustrating and took us several attempts over months. But once we all started spending all this time at home, we really needed to find one that worked. We finally did: this expandable baby gate that was super easy to install. It only requires two screw hooks on either end, so it doesn’t matter that the stair post isn’t one flush piece of wood. Unfortunately, it does not fold all the way flat, so it does take up space when not in use, but this baby gate is the one that makes the most sense for the top of our stairs.

Bathrooms

At some point in the past couple of months, August discovered toilets. I was on a conference video call when I had to run to the bathroom to stop him from splashing around in the toilet. I mean, that’s just disgusting. We have two bathrooms, one upstairs with a swinging door that closes that he can’t yet open, and one downstairs with a sliding door that he has learned how to open. And whatever we put in front of the door to block him from opening he just managed to crawl under or around, or push it out of his way. We almost lost a precious roll of toilet paper due to his shenanigans!

So we got a toilet lock to keep both of the toilets closed even if he was inside the bathroom. But that wouldn’t solve our problem downstairs as he’d still have access to unfurl the toilet paper and play in the garbage. I purchased these magnets and adhered them to the edge of the door and wall and this keeps it so shut that even I have a hard time opening the door. The first day he discovered that we took away his bathroom access, I can’t quite express to you just how badly he lost it.

For the upstairs bathroom, in addition to the toilet lock, we put a couple of safety closures on the cabinets with knobs, blocking him from accessing medicines, cleaning supplies, and other dangerous materials. This is pictured in the first photo at the top of this post.



Kitchen

There is one cabinet that is truly a danger zone: the cabinet under the sink that keeps our recycling and cleaning supplies. I knew we were in trouble when I found him playing with the dishwasher pods. But with our really old cabinets, no safety lock we had or had purchased was working. For a while, I just blocked it by pushing his high chair in front of the cabinet, but August could push that out of the way.

However, one mom in my group told me she used these magnetic locks. Right as I was considering purchasing to test it out, it just so happened that friends nearby were getting rid of all of their child safety locks and had the magnetic kind. I’m very happy to say that the magnetic lock worked on this cabinet!

Having this kitchen cabinet locked as well as the bathroom blocked has really made the work day feel at least a little safer while we leave him to play by himself for chunks of time. I’m sure he’ll develop a new skill that will make us have to babyproof or rethink something else at the cozy cottage, but this has been working for the past couple of weeks.

Have any babyproofing tips or questions? Share below!