Babyproofing, room by room: what to do first

The best time to babyproof is a few weeks before your baby starts to move, which for most babies is somewhere between six and ten months. The second-best time is now. Once they are crawling, they can cross a room while you answer the door, and they will find the one thing you missed with remarkable reliability.

Most checklists present fifty jobs as if they were equally important. They are not. A dresser falling on a toddler and a toddler bumping their head on a table corner are different kinds of problem, and this list is ordered accordingly: the serious jobs first, the room-by-room detail after, and the gadgets last, with an honest word on what each one is good for.

Before you buy anything, get on the floor

Go through each room on your hands and knees. It sounds silly and it works. From down there you see what your baby sees: the cable behind the TV stand, the dishwasher tablets under the sink, the coin that rolled under the sofa in 2023. Make a list as you go. It will be different from any list you find online, including this one, because it is about your home.

Five jobs to do this week

1. Anchor furniture and TVs to the wall. Dressers, bookcases, wardrobes and TVs can tip when a child climbs them, pulls out drawers or hangs off the top. According to the CPSC, tip-overs injure thousands of children every year, and some of those injuries are fatal. Anti-tip kits are cheap and take a few minutes per piece with a drill. Mount TVs on the wall or strap them to the stand, and keep remotes and toys off the top of furniture so there is less reason to climb.
2. Turn the water heater down to 120°F (49°C). Hot tap water can scald a small child's skin in seconds. Lowering the thermostat takes one visit to the heater and protects every tap in the house at once.
3. Deal with cords. Blind and curtain cords are a strangulation hazard for babies and toddlers. Cordless window coverings are the safest option. Otherwise, cut looped cords and tie up the rest well out of reach, and move cribs, beds and chairs away from windows.
4. Put medicines and cleaning products up high, and lock them. Including vitamins, the handbag on the floor, dishwasher tablets and laundry pods. Keep them in their original containers. Save the Poison Help number, 1-800-222-1222, in your phone today; it connects you to your local poison center from anywhere in the US.
5. Hunt down button batteries and small magnets. Look in remote controls, key fobs, kitchen scales, greeting cards, toys and the kitchen drawer of odds and ends. A swallowed button battery can cause serious internal burns within hours, and swallowed magnets can do similar damage. If you think your child has swallowed either one, go to the emergency room immediately. Don't wait for symptoms.

Room by room

Kitchen

• Lock the cabinet with the cleaning products, or better, move them to a high cupboard
• Knives, scissors, foil boxes with serrated edges and plastic bags out of reach
• Cook on the back burners, with pan handles turned inward
• Lock the oven door if yours opens easily, and the dishwasher (the tablets are a poisoning risk)
• No tablecloths that a toddler can pull, taking everything on top with them
• Hot drinks well away from the edge of the table and counter

Bathroom

• Never leave a baby or young child alone in the bath, not even for a moment. Children can drown in a couple of inches of water, quickly and silently
• Empty the bath as soon as you're done, and don't leave buckets of water standing
• Check the bath water before your baby goes in: warm, not hot, around 100°F (38°C)
• Medicines, razors, cosmetics and mouthwash in a locked or high cabinet
• Keep the toilet lid down, with a lid lock once your toddler is curious about it, and keep the bathroom door closed
• Unplug hair dryers and straighteners, and store them away from the sink

Nursery

• A firm, flat crib mattress with a fitted sheet, and nothing else: no bumpers, pillows, blankets or soft toys
• Crib away from windows, blinds, cords and wall decorations
• Monitor and camera cables at least three feet from the crib
• Take down crib mobiles at five months, or sooner if your baby starts pushing up on their hands and knees
• Anchor the dresser and changing table
• Keep diaper cream, wipes, lotions and small items out of reach from the changing table

Living room

• TV mounted or strapped, and the stand anchored
• Cover unused outlets and tidy cables behind furniture
• A fireplace screen or gate, and put away fireplace tools
• Check houseplants: some are poisonous if eaten, so move them up or out
• Coins, batteries, beads and small toy parts off the floor and low tables

Stairs, windows and balconies

• Gates at the top and bottom of stairs. At the top, use a gate that screws into the wall; pressure-mounted gates can be pushed out
• Window guards or window stops that keep windows from opening more than four inches. Screens keep insects out, not children in
• No furniture under windows that a toddler could climb
• Check the gaps in stair and balcony railings. If a child's head or body could fit through, cover them
• Balcony doors locked, with the lock high up

Where the gadgets fit

Locks, covers and guards are useful, but they are the last layer, not the first. Here is what each one is actually good for.

• Cabinet and drawer locks. Worth it for any cupboard you can't empty of dangerous things, and for drawers that a toddler might use as stairs. Adhesive locks like our strap-style cabinet locks and drawer locks need no drilling, which suits rentals. They only hold as well as the surface they're stuck to, so clean it first and give the adhesive time to set before anyone tugs on it. For fridges and appliances, the longer soft-strap safety locks bend around corners.
• Outlet covers. Many newer US homes already have tamper-resistant outlets, which have built-in shutters and need no cover at all. Check yours before buying anything. Plug-in covers like these are fine for outlets you rarely use, but a determined child can pull a plug cover out, and once it is out it is a small object that can go in a mouth. Push them in firmly, check them often, and count them back in when you take them out.
• A bath thermometer. Useful in the early months, when you are still calibrating what "warm, not hot" means. A floating thermometer takes the guesswork out, and it doubles as a bath toy.
• Railing and balcony netting. A safety net closes the gaps in railings that a small child could slip through or push toys through. It won't make a railing impossible to climb, and it is not a stair gate, so use it as well as, not instead of, a gate.
• Corner and edge guards. Last on the list on purpose. Foam corner guards and edge strips soften the bumps that come with learning to walk, especially on glass or stone tables at head height. They prevent bruises and cuts, not serious injuries. Check them now and then: some toddlers peel foam off and put it in their mouths.

Keep checking

Babyproofing isn't a weekend job you do once. The baby who couldn't reach the counter in March drags a chair over to it in June. Go round the house again every few months, especially after each new skill: crawling, pulling up, walking, climbing, opening doors.

And none of it replaces watching. The point of a babyproofed home isn't that you can stop paying attention. It is that the few seconds when you look away are less likely to go wrong.