7 Baby-Proofing Must-Haves For Your Home

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There’s a funny stage of parenting when your baby goes from happily staying wherever you put them to suddenly being everywhere. One day they’re sitting sweetly on the floor playing with a toy, and the next they’re crawling toward an outlet, pulling themselves up on the coffee table, and discovering every cabinet you never realized was interesting. 

Baby-proofing can feel overwhelming because once you start looking around your house through the eyes of a curious baby, there are approximately one million things to worry about. But you don’t necessarily need to turn your entire home into a padded room overnight. Start with the biggest hazards and the areas your baby can actually access. 

Here are the 7 baby-proofing must-haves to prioritize as your little one starts becoming mobile.

1. Outlet Covers

This is one of the easiest places to start. Cover any accessible electrical outlets once your baby starts moving around the house. Traditional wall socket covers work, but they made me nervous about a choking hazard if little fingers could pull one off. Instead, we used these sliding plate covers in our home. The installation was fairly easy, they blend in well so our home still looks like adults live here, and they offer me some peace of mind. 

DMF Tip: Don’t forget outlets that are usually hidden! Babies have an incredible ability to find the one outlet tucked behind a chair that you completely forgot existed.

2. Cabinet and Drawer Locks

The goal doesn’t necessarily have to be locking every single cabinet in your house. Focus first on anything containing cleaning supplies, medications, alcohol, sharp objects, breakable items, plastic bags, or anything else you absolutely don't want your baby accessing.

For kitchens and bathrooms, these magnetic cabinet locks are a great option if you don't want visible baby-proofing hardware all over your cabinets. There are also adhesive locks that can work well if you’d rather avoid drilling into cabinetry.

DMF Tip: I love leaving one safe kitchen cabinet unlocked and filling it with baby-friendly things — plastic bowls, silicone utensils, containers. If your toddler is determined to explore the kitchen, you might as well give them somewhere safe they're actually allowed to explore! 

3. Baby Gates

If you have stairs, baby gates quickly become one of the most important pieces of baby-proofing equipment in your home. At the top of stairs, look for a hardware-mounted gate rather than a pressure-mounted option. You want to be sure that your gate won’t shift or give way at the top of a staircase.

DMF Tip: Baby gates can also be incredibly helpful even if you don't have stairs. Pressure-mounted gates can help create boundaries around where your baby can and can't go.

4. Furniture Anchors

This is one of those baby-proofing steps that's easy to overlook because heavy furniture feels impossible for a baby to move. The problem isn't necessarily your child pushing the furniture over — it's what can happen when they start pulling on drawers or eventually trying to climb them. 

Dressers, bookshelves, cabinets, and other potentially unstable furniture should be securely anchored to the wall. This multipack of anchors is a great place to start. 

DMF Tip: Have an extra pack of anchors on hand at all times. You might need an extra anchor on a piece of furniture your little one is obsessed with, and you don’t want to be caught unprepared. 

5. Cord Management

Before having a mobile baby, I never realized just how many cords were within reach around a house. Lamp cords, phone chargers, monitor cords, extension cords, and window-covering cords can all become incredibly interesting to little hands.

Secure loose cords against the wall or behind furniture whenever possible, keep chargers out of reach, and pay particular attention to cords near the crib or other places where your baby spends time. If there’s an area that you can’t keep cords away from little ones, this dual lock power strip cover might help.

DMF Tip: Create a designated charging spot that’s completely out of reach of little hands. We invested in an electronics box to get off of our phones more, and it’s been much easier to get in the habit of leaving phones to charge in one safe place rather than constantly remembering to pick up chargers around the house. 

6. Doorknob Covers or Lever Locks

Once your toddler figures out doors, you enter an entirely new phase of baby-proofing — the most terrifying era for me. 

Depending on the type of handles in your house, doorknob covers or lever locks can help keep children from getting out of the house. To keep kids out of rooms that aren't completely baby-proofed, we like these glide locks. They're especially useful for bathrooms, utility rooms, garages, offices, or anywhere you store things you don't want your toddler accessing but don’t necessarily need to be locked constantly.

DMF Tip: The second your toddler shows even the slightest interest in opening doors, go ahead and install the locks — don’t wait until they actually figure it out. Toddlers have a funny way of mastering a new skill overnight.

7. A Fireplace Barrier

If you have a fireplace, think about both the sharp edges of the hearth and access to the fireplace itself. Depending on your setup, that might mean padding the hearth, installing a fireplace gate, securing fireplace doors, or creating a larger barrier that keeps your child away from the entire area. It might not be the prettiest, but our setup is this large gate that attaches to the wall on either side of the fireplace to block off the entire area. 

DMF Tip: Give yourself permission for this one to be ugly! I always try to find solutions that don’t take over the room, but sometimes the safest option is a giant gate. It’s temporary, and I’d much rather have an eyesore for a few years than spend every minute in the room redirecting a toddler away from the fireplace. 

Don't Forget the Less Obvious Hazards

Baby-proofing isn't only about buying products. Some of the most important changes are simply moving things around. As your baby becomes mobile, regularly scan the rooms they spend time in from their level. Things that seem completely out of the way to an adult can suddenly be very accessible to a determined toddler.

And remember that baby-proofing isn't really a one-time project. It can feel like a never-ending project, but a handful of smart changes can make your home much easier to navigate once your little one is on the move. Start with the essentials, watch how your child interacts with your space, and add additional safeguards as you need them — because every baby and every home is a little different.

Sincerely, 

Your Dallas Mom Friend