# Child proofing



## Narnea (May 20, 2010)

I have just been reading some discussion on child proofing the house, seems like ott with fridge locks, cupboard locks, plug locks, child gates, some sort of foam to put all over furniture! The list is endless!  
Does anyone know if these are requirements for sw etc. or can you use your own judgment?


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## Loopylou29 (Mar 4, 2013)

It depends on your sw and how comfortable you are. We've got kitchen cupboard locks and baby gates and nothing else. We have a 1 year old and a 4 year old. We've moved other items and most of our plug sockets are behind furniture. To be honest we've never made a big fuss over anything and neither child has tried anything dangerous.


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## katie c (Jun 15, 2009)

our SW hasnt even checked we've done any of the recomendations and master c has been home for months   

we have stair gates (more to stop him doing one and vanishing upstairs more than anything) and a couple of cupboard locks, mainly because he started opening and slamming doors and it was doing my head in. i got some plug covers from the pound shop but i think the jury is out whether they're still recommended anyway.

i think SS are more bothered for serious hazards tbh, say if you have a balcony or a split level room or something.

we got some free stair gates from a referal from the local childrens centre, so may be worth dropping yours an email to see if they offer anything similar. best doing is asap though as there was a bit of a wait


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## Miny Moo (Jan 13, 2011)

On both of our assessments we have completed the health and safety checks ourselves, we didn't do anything until we knew who our children would be and to be honest as both of ours have been older on placement we didn't do any if it, just used our common sense.


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## MummyElf (Apr 11, 2013)

They do a health & safety check and tell you what you need to do, but we were never followed up in it and nor was anyone else we know, it's almost a box ticking exercise! Hubby found an article which highlights that the plug socket covers are more dangerous to have than not which our SW then highlighted with the rest of SS (basically pushing it in slides a bit up which exposes the 'dangerous bit' which wouldn't normally be exposed and if a child took a small item and pushed it between the cover and the socket it could do a lot more damage than if they just put their fingers in the socket - my DD has has royal tellings off when she's touched them so doesn't do it anymore!).

Our knives / kettle are right up out if reach and we have stair gates on.


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## Wyxie (Apr 10, 2013)

We have stairgates and a fireguard, which is big enough to cover the stone hearth so the kids can't fall on it.  That's the sum total of our child proofing before we had the kids and has always been adequate for Wyxling.  We also have a play pen and a cot, and Bladelet goes in one or the other when not directly supervised because he is a complete liability to us and our stuff when left on his own for even a split second, and no amount of child proofing is going to deal with his level of determined troublesomeness and rascalling.  

Bladelet pushes things (toys usually, his garage or his sister's hoover) up next to the furniture so he can climb onto stuff, and to get to things he shouldn't have, and there's little I could do to stop him short of putting him in an empty padded room - which frankly, if we had one, would be tempting some days!


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## AoC (Oct 28, 2008)

The list is a box ticking exercise, real safety is child-specific and using common sense.    We had to put some safety plastic film over a glass door and a couple of accessible windows with old, non-safety glass in them - kind of thing you can order off Amazon for a tenner.  We had a stair gate downstairs which was never used, as it was immediately clear he was brilliant at stairs, and another on his room door to keep the cats out!    We also had a nursery fire guard fitted, which was a bit of a 'mare to source, but easy to fit and use.

The rest was just about moving breakables and anything potentially poisonous (including alcohol and some house plants) out of reach and into locked/inaccessible spaces.


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## -x-Lolly-x- (Feb 3, 2012)

All we have are stairgates, plug socket covers and one cupboard lock that we don't use as she's too small to reach! Like others have said most things are common sense, your home doesn't have to suddenly resemble fort knox


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## GERTIE179 (Apr 20, 2005)

Pre placement (but after approval panel) we did fire guard over hearth, stair gates and locks on the main kitchen cupboards. Since lil mans been home in like Wxyie in that I've had to try different things to proof from my very determined lil guy. Anything that's mine and precious is firmly away and we run out of high shelf space often. 

This "phase" is definitely lasting too long lol


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## GERTIE179 (Apr 20, 2005)

Haha lolly mine does now but that's for my own sanity - I agree it's mostly common sense ie I've had to remove the keys from the door lock as lil man can now let himself out onto the street!! No wonder I know have grey hairs ;-)


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## Macgyver (Oct 27, 2008)

Hi


We have a 14 month old, I have plug covers, corner protectors (which he takes off), cuboard locks on some of the kitchen doors (plates, cleaning stuff, food) the rest he likes to play with the Tupperware etc and as long as it's not going to hurt I can't see the point. I also have stair gates. But apart from that nothing else. 
When he can reach the window in his room I will get a latch that means it will only open a few inches as it's about the extension. (Very tempting for a little boy   )


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## Narnea (May 20, 2010)

Thank goodness it's common sense, I had nightmare image of my house looking like a padded cell! I was thinking I would have to take doors off hinges because of glass panels


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## Macgyver (Oct 27, 2008)

If they arnt safety glass (look for the kite mark) you can buy a film to put on them so if they do get smashed with a toy etc they will stick to the film and not shatter. We did this to our patio doors as we couldn't find a kite mark on them. (Just to be safe) and lo has used a car to hit them so I am glad we did. X


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## Hunibunni (Jan 18, 2009)

Just carrying on from what Macgyver says about patio doors. My patio doors do have the kite mark but it has been advised to me to put window stickers on so LO doesn't run into the doors. I bought some frosted spots especially for patio doors which at least you can peel off at a later date .

Xx


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## Arrows (Nov 9, 2008)

We had to put in extra planks on our stairs as the gaps were too big, we screwed in a corner protector on a particularly sharp one (screwed because it also kept falling off as someone else said) and child locks on the cupboards containing dangerous stuff like cleaning products.

We then moved house 4wks ago, didn't bother with anything as LO seems to be behaving and coping with restrictions so of course today with a little friend over, also two, he went into the kitchen, opened the laundry cupboard, pulled out Oxi-powder, used scoop to pour over the floor, over his friends hair then tried to eat it. Pestiferous child!!! Of course the stairgate is now across the kitchen door so at least that's done.


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## Flash123 (Jan 29, 2006)

Narnea - don't be lulled into a false sense of security! Ss health and safety checklist doesn't even begin to cover the mind of an energetic, mischievous 16 month old!!! The padded cell will follow lol. Wyxie, on many occasion dh and I have seriously contemplated turning the dining room into a 'soft play' room without the 'play' with only padded walls and serveillance cameras.
We started with the usually things (to pass the list) and have gradually escalated as his ability has to get to places even the most prolific burglar would struggle!


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## thespouses (Jan 5, 2006)

As I've said several times before, socket covers are less safe than not having them!

We didn't childproof before approval but now have stair gates, fire guard, cupboard locks (magnetic ones are a bit easier to use we find), and a cover on the banisters which had a hole at the top an adult could fall through, never mind a child!


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## -x-Lolly-x- (Feb 3, 2012)

Our little ones social worker requested we had plug socket covers and then checked at the next visit we had installed them. I chose not to fight that battle and we have them all over the house now. Luckily so far she hasn't bothered with them at all


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