7 Essential Products to Babyproof Your Home
I’m sure you’ve been there – relaxing at home when a friend calls and announces they will be popping by soon. Suddenly, you notice every trace of dust and clutter in the house, all the dirty dishes in the sink, piles of laundry on the floor, and toiletries strewn about the bathroom countertops. You have 15 minutes to make the place look magazine-ready – can you do it?
Expecting parents go through a similar routine, with even higher stakes, as they suddenly see their entire home through the eyes of a curious infant. Cabinet corners, furniture edges, sharp objects, medicines, household chemicals inside cabinets and drawers, loose rugs, dangling window blind pulls, and much much more.
Thankfully, babies usually come with a few months warning, so there’s plenty of time to prepare your home to welcome a new addition. Here are seven of the most essential babyproofing products on the market.
1. Padded Corners
Find a wide variety of corner padding options at Dreambaby.
They might not be the prettiest things within your interior design, but they sure make a room filled with sharp edges and corners a bit safer in an instant. Most come with peel-off adhesive strips so you can press them right onto tables, countertops, and cabinet edges. When it’s time to remove them, simply apply an adhesive remover like “Goo Gone”. If pinched fingers in doors are a concern, Finger Guard USA has a variety of options for all sorts of doors and wall corners.
2. Electrical Outlet Protectors
The Child Safety Store offers a wide variety of electric socket protection products including KidCo Electrical Outlet Caps.
Such a simple product provides such a simple solution to protect wet heads and fingertips from mild or severe shocks. Much like any basic shape matching game, natural brain development involves seeing “what fits into what”, so it's best to remove electrical sockets from the equation. These protectors make tempting sockets blend into the wall, and by the time toddlers have the strength and dexterity to remove them, they can also understand the rules for not doing so.
3. Coaxial, Ethernet, and USB Outlet Protectors
Electrical socket protectors have been around for years – but what about all those other easily reachable outlets along the walls in most homes? Seattle inventor Ryan Ames didn’t think much about these outlets until the day his baby boy bumped his head against a metal coaxial outlet. A major owie could have been much worse, so Ryan set about finding a solution.
Before Ryan invented OutletGuard, here are the top solutions he found online, and his responses to each:
“Place furniture in front of the outlet” — Easy? I guess — but so impractical. Plus having outlets dictate room design throws your Feng Shui WAY off.
“Stick duct tape over the outlet” — OK, this is both unsightly and a choking hazard. Plus tape doesn’t last long before fraying, curling, and wearing off.
“Buy a plastic or metal cage to place over the outlet” – I’ve seen these products online, and wonder if they’re just as likely to result in bumps, bruises and owies – to babies and adults!
“The super easy 4-step solution!”
Remove the faceplate
Disassemble the coaxial outlet
Force the wiring into the socket housing
Replace with a blank face plate — Too complicated! — Plus I would not want to be at risk of getting a mild electric shock.
Ryan wanted a plug-and-play solution, so he sketched out some ideas and hired a professional product design and development company to perfect the concept. The result is OutletGuard – the first snap-on solution to babyproof all those other outlets.
The OutletGuard Variety Pack contains covers for the five outlets you’ll most likely find exposed in any one room: Coaxial outlets, Ethernet, AC+USB jacks, and two USB covers (one each to cover most top and bottom-mounted USB receptacles). Shipping now from MyOutletGuard.com
4. Cabinet Locks
Safety 1st is a popular brand, available at McLendon's Hardware.
You’d be surprised just how many hazardous chemicals are within easy reach of curious kids – in the kitchen, the bathroom, basement, and garage. These protective covers snap over latch handles to keep kids away from these cabinets. Even when kids outgrow them, many parents opt to keep them on certain cabinets for added peace of mind.
5. Door Handle Spinners
The Dreambaby EZY-FIT collection is available at Ace Hardware.
These products come in two pieces and easily snap on top of most interior door handles to keep little kids out of rooms they’re not supposed to access. In addition to covering safety concerns, they also provide older siblings and house guests with added privacy from curious kids.
6. Baby Gates
These practical barriers aren’t just for babies – they also keep pets and party guests from straying to places where they shouldn’t go. For young parents, these provide peace of mind that crawling and waddling children won’t get close to stairs, the kitchen, bathroom, or exit without your awareness. True Value Hardware has an attractive steel swing gate by Toddleroo, with tension-mounted rods to prevent drilling and damage to your walls.
7. Toilet Locks
Pick up the Safety 1st toilet lock with a decoy button at Home Depot.
Toilets present both sanitary hazards, tipping risk, and drowning dangers to young children, therefore it’s essential they can’t access the bowl or the water in the bowl when you’re not around.
Editor’s Note: Beyond telling the story of our product, Outlet Guard, the rest of these products were selected by our editorial staff, each of us parents of children of varying ages. These are not paid AD/PR placements, we are under no contractural agreement with any of these retailers or manufacturers.
Did we miss any of your favorite baby proofing products or life hacks? If so, share your stories with us by email or Facebook.
