All I did was covers on all the outlets and a cabinet lockish thing for the under-the-sink cabinet in the kitchen (storage for cleaning products, etc.).

Bought the stuff, installed it in 15 minutes.

You end up keeping one eye on them at all times no matter what, so I just went with the essentials and figured I add more if I came across something that seemed like it needed attention.

Thats all we ever ended up needing.

My son is 8, minimal proofing got us through the baby years just fine - but everyone's home and situation is so different - my advice is do whatever you need to do to feel comfortable. Parents know best!

We did the same as Janel. We made it seven-plus years with minimal trauma.

I don't know why I find it shocking that people pay to have their homes babyproofed, but I do...is it that hard that it requires a professional?

I say childhood isn't complete without at least one black eye from running into the corner of the coffee table. Just ask my brother...the rough and tumble one. The one that the doctor thought my parents were abusing when he went in with a smashed face from catapulting his big wheels off our back porch.

Ditto on the some baby proofing is useful. When we lived in our former house we put up a gate to the kitchen, but that was more because it was tiny and you couldn't have two adults plus a baby in there and get anything done. Now, the kitchen is open to the living area and we put cabinet locks in and those cord-wrap things on the cords for the blinds so the kids don't hang themselves, but that is pretty much it.

I broke a glass coffee table top when I was about 3 years old and lived with only a minor scar to tell the tale. Then there was the electric fan that I knocked over and cut my thumb, a lot of blood and tears, but no serious damage or stiches required. Every situation is different and baby proofing is important, but common sense (hopefully) can prevail and some bumps and cuts are a normal and healthy part of growing up.

Yeah, we covered all the outlets and secured the phone cords, locked up the toilet. Several people told us we absolutely had to get bumpers for the coffee table. We caved, and my son pulled them all off within five minutes. He liked them better than a teething ring to chew on until we got them away from him.

Some of it is knowing your own child. Our son is actually great at navigating around and under the coffee table whereas my godson clocked himself on the head at least three times per attempt when crawling underneath one. Do be aware that babyproofing needs change as they grow -- a shelf they couldn't reach yesterday is fair game today.

My best advice is walk through your entire house, room by room, wall by wall, and look up and down for any hazards, make a list and then figure out what needs to be bought and what just needs to be moved or have a piece of furniture put in front of it.

Good luck!

I imagine that you would have to do more hardcore baby proofing in a small apartment than in a larger house where an active creeping or cruising baby could be in a more enclosed space. But still - I'm the oldest in a family of eight kids and I spend a considerable amoung of time with a family with two small children. I think that prevention can only go so far, realistically. I mean, I will still baby-proof quite rigorously, but I just remember my brother, at three, climbing a chair up to a locked cupboard and opening my mother's impossibly childproofed jar of huge vitamins and chewing them. Repeatedly. He was so sneaky...

It seems, in general, putting anything truly dangerous up as high as possible is the best practical baby proofing. Also, baby proofing and good old fashioned child training have to meet halfway. There's a point, obviously when they're old enough, to learn that they simply must not touch things they're told not to. Hopefully that doesn't sound presumptuous, coming from a childless person - and obviously you have to be vigilant no matter what - but even small, crawling one-year-olds can be taught really effectively what their boundaries are.

Ah, yes - blind cords. Forgot about that one in my comment on the good question below.

New blinds have been designed with child-safe cords. Definitely make sure your blinds are safe. In fact, I think that's the thing we've really been conscious of, along with securing the cleaning products, and we're baby-proofing minimalists.

Two things to add to the babyproofing arsenal that you don't have to purchase. "HOT!" in a sharp voice. Our son cried just a little the first couple of times we said that, but it certainly taught him to leave cups of coffee and the oven alone. And "not a toy," followed by giving him an actual toy. "This is a toy." Our whole house is divided into toys and not-a-toys.

Sorry if the 'hot!' sounds unduly harsh. But they do have to learn that some things are not safe. Not only can you never completely babyproof your house, you can't babyproof other people's houses. If they've learned 'hot!' at your house, it's an easy lesson to apply to other people's houses.

I was just reminded of a joke: "we tried babyproofing, but one got in anyway."

Besides blind cords, the thing that gets overlooked in my experience is the little springy doorstops that are probably screwed into your base molding next to every closet and bedroom door. The little rubber caps on the springs come off and are a choking hazard, and I've had a one-year-old actually spend the time to bend the springs back and forth until they break off. If I had a little one living in the house full-time (he just visits for a few days at a time), I'd replace all those springy doorstops with one-piece (capless) plastic ones.

original blues--
that's exactly how you train a dog not to chew on certain things.

More or less off-topic: but I couldn't just NOT share this.

My parents babyproofed their sharp-edged glass coffeetable by covering it with a thick quilted cloth, like a French boutis coverlet. I have it now, actually, after coming across the thing in a cedar chest.

I thought that was a great idea. I didn't poke an eye out on the table so I guess it worked.