Q: I have a Hemnes dresser from IKEA and while it is attached to the wall, my son loves to open and close the drawers as often and quickly as possible and I'm worried that he will hurt his fingers. What's the best way to baby-proof IKEA dresser drawers without permanently damaging them?
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Editor: Some babies aren't that curious about drawers - others are very curious! Readers, have you found a solution to this problem?
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I can't wait for the answers - we have a serious finger slamming problem too. I've thought about those cabinet stops that you push down to open, but haven't gotten around to it yet. We mostly just distract and move...
I know that they make little cabinet silencer things you can buy so your cabinets don't slam shut. Maybe those would work on drawers, too? Although, honestly, my 16 month old went through a phase about a week ago where she loved to slam one of the drawers in the bathroom. She smashed her fingers in it once, howled for a while and hasn't done it since.
Honestly, for us, the best baby proofing was our son smushing his fingers in the drawers a few times. As new parents, we tried everythin to keep it from happening and inevitably it happened a few times and then one day I noticed that he would close drawers purposefully holding his fingers away from the drawer fronts. That was when he was around 9 months old...he's never squished a finger since and he just turned two.
I agree that unfortunately it is best for the kid to slam their fingers once or twice. I mean you won't be able to babyproof everything. What happens when they slam their finger in something at another person's house?
We use those self-adhesive rubberized latches. (Similar to these: http://www.safety1st.com/usa/eng/Products/Home-Safety/Latches-Locks/Details/477-48483-Adjustable-Multi-Purpose-Strap) Yes, it sticks to your furniture and you'll have to scrape it off in a few years, but it's worth the trouble, IMHO.
I have to go with the "let him smash fingers" group. While we're careful and watch our son, there are times that no amount of us saying no and moving him is as convincing as a little pain. He's 17 months old and is now much more careful about drawers and doors.
Yeah, it's not the finger-smashing that concerns me...it's the potential injury from opening drawers and trying to climb them, or drawers coming all the way out, or the entire piece of furniture toppling over. I have wall anchors, but what about dressers that have drawers that can be pulled out all the way? And would standing/climbing on drawers even defeat a wall anchor?
Sadly, we also went the "let him slam" route - we have the same dresser, and he slammed his fingers a few times, then learned to not put his fingers in them anymore! Good luck!
This was addressed on Ohdeedoh in this post http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/good-questions/how-to-babyproof-a-hemnes-dressergood-questions-134031
Just so you can see even more responses :)
i had the same problem and asked the same question! http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/good-questions/how-to-babyproof-a-hemnes-dressergood-questions-134031
i ended up purchasing the soft closures at ikea, but i have to say i've yet to put them on, he just stopped opening the drawers one day! (he's 2 now and i've kept them just in case!)
@AmberM--Mine was never interested in actually climbing in the drawer--just pulling every thing out. :)
For a lateral file cabinet we bought several years ago, it came with drawer stops that stopped the drawer from being able to pull it all the way out. It is basically a zip tie kinda thing that attached the the back of the cabinet and the back of the drawer with little hooks. It is installed inside the drawer. Not sure exactly how to describe it but that might be what you'd be looking for.
Oh no, just as I suspected... I'm a new mom too and I'm afraid my baby would hurt herself, but you're saying it might be for the best. (Sigh).
We put bungee cords around the whole thing until he gave up. Pretty ugly solution, though!
I agree with GingerRoot's suggestion. We bought those latches for our tv stand cabinets and they've worked great! I plan on getting some for our ikea drawers because our twins like to get into the bottom and pull out all of their socks. You can get the latches at target. I don't like the ones that go on the inside of the drawer because you have to actually drill and install them. These ones are just adhesive.
We have that same dresser and we used the babyproffing latches from Ikea that you have to press 2 sides together to open a little strap.
I cut the strap really short, then used command strips to hold both pieces of each latch to the drawer and side of dresser. I had to kind of rub the original adhesive off before attaching my command strips.
The big kids (8 and 10) can open it, but my 2 year old can't. And when he is older, I can remove them with no damage.