I may have mentioned that my daughter is getting married. She is marrying her childhood sweetheart, it’s a very long story but the great news is that I’m getting a bonus granddaughter. My little Lillie Bean is just over a year old and at a very curious stage.
Now having been a single mom of a pre teen and then a teenager for many years now, we are in no way a baby proofed household. I’m having to remember all the things I did when Hailey was little to keep her safe.
If you are the single mother of a toddler or small child, baby proofing is even more important, there isn’t another set of eyes and ears to watch out for this little one.
First things first, if it’s low and can hurt your child or you child can hurt it, it’s time for it to go up, up, up! Cabinet latches and the like are wonderful but not foolproof. As a single mom you can’t guarantee that the baby won’t wander into the kitchen while you are in the laundry room and the cabinet lock will hold. Hailey was able to figure out most child proofing mechanisms in just a few minutes. Putting things out of reach was a better solution.
I will again be making the switch in my kitchen, the lower cabinets will hold plastic containers, baking pans and the like. Lillie may make a mess but she won’t hurt herself.
Keep doors closed. You can’t baby proof everything in every room so keep the doors shut. I purchased hook and eye latches and put them out of Hailey’s reach when she was small, this way when she learned to navigate the door knobs she was still unable to play in the toilet.
If it’s wobbly either secure it or remove it. A toddler doesn’t know that your marble topped table will pull over as she tries to pull up on it, better to remove it.
Use baby gates to confine the baby from certain areas, like a formal living room that you don’t want to baby proof, or the bottom of the stairs. Never trust a baby gate at the top of the stairs, even if its screwed into the wall. Babies climb gates and then they have even farther to fall.
Do your best to remove hazards rather than using store bought childproofing gadgets. Most children figure those out in no time. So until you grow an extra set of eyes it’s better to remove things than to always be worried.