Best Baby Proofing Must Haves

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Every new parent wonders “How do I keep my baby safe?” I know I did as a new mom!

If you are wondering what the best things to buy to make your house safer for baby, then you right where you need to be!

Having a baby is stressful, and being bombarded with a plethora of different baby proofing must-haves is beyond overwhelming for any new parent.

Great Ideas to Baby Proof Your Home to Keep them Safe

When I was about to have my first baby, I wished I had an experienced mom to lead me by the hand and show me how to baby proof my house.

Now, as an experienced mom of 3, I can tell you off the top of my heads what baby proofing products are the best.

I want to show you what they are so that you can have the guidance & ideas that I wish I had had.

Some of these things are common sense items and others you would never think of until the second your baby shows you that you should have baby proofed a particular area!

You will be able to use the items in this list to protect your babies from heavy furniture, sharp edges, high ledges, small objects, household cleaners, sharp objects, and more.

Which Rooms Do You Need to Baby Proof?

These are the rooms I recommend baby-proofing, at a minimum.

living room (fireplace, coffee table edges, the tv stand if you have one, for the Christmas tree during the holidays)
kitchen (cabinets, outlets, stove knobs, appliances)
bathroom
dining room
bedrooms & nursery
playroom (bookshelves, toy bins, etc)

Really, any space the baby goes into is worth looking at adding safety precautions to!

Despite your best intentions there WILL be times your baby is out of your sight, even if for only a few minutes, so it’s best to be prepared for those instances.

Use this post as a checklist to guide your product choices, and you’ll be off to a great start with the essentials of infant home safety!

When you THINK you’re done, I recommend doing ANOTHER walk-through of your home to brainstorm ADDITIONAL ways to make your home safer. It’s always possible to improve your home’s safety here and there.

Related Reading >> Newborn Necessities Shopping List

ESSENTIAL BABY PROOFING MUST-HAVES

Although I could have sat down and written out a truly exhaustive list of every single thing you could ever need to baby proof every inch of your home, I don’t think that’s the most helpful thing for me to do.

I’d like to get you started, but I also want to mention that baby-proofing is an ongoing kind of thing.

What one baby doesn’t care about, another baby will be obsessed with! And every home is different. I just hope this list gives you a good starting point.

So….how does a new parent choose between all the different kinds products? I mean, there are so many choices, it’s hard to know where to start!

BEFORE WE BEGIN….HERE ARE TWO EXPERIENCED MOM TIPS:

As you think about your baby proofing needs, crawl around your house and imagine what trouble you, as a baby, could get into. That will help you see areas that you may have otherwise missed. Then you can make a list of additional baby proofing essentials your home needs.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get what you need. Moms of older kids often remove all of their baby proofing items all at once and then sell them in great used condition at a children’s consignment sale in one big set. I purchased a lot of what I needed at sales like this (& saved a bunch of money in the process!)

THE BEST PRODUCTS TO KEEP BABY SAFE

Baby proofing products have come a long way over the past 10-15 years!

Now, instead of only being able to find one type of baby gate that happens to NOT fit in your wide doorway, you can find 50 different types of baby gates in just about as many sizes.

On the one hand, it can be helpful to have so many options of baby safety products; but on the other hand, it can be overwhelming having too many choices.

This list of baby safety products includes recommendations of specific products that I recommend using, to not only babyproof (or toddler proof) your home, but to make your life easier and give you peace of mind about your baby’s safety.

Also, I tried to find products that are affordable in addition to being effective and easy to use.

There are lots of great alternatives available these days, so hopefully you will find many things in this list that work for you!

1. ELECTRICAL OUTLET COVERS

These outlet plug covers are a step above the traditional plastic plugs you insert into each outlet, making them harder to remove and overall safer.

If you want to take it a step further, you can use these self-closing outlet covers. And this outlet protector with a cord shortener is great for electrical outlets that are in use.

Super Mom Tip – There will come a day when your older toddler WILL be able to remove these safety outlet covers himself. All of my 3-year-olds were very resourceful in this way. Just keep that in mind if you’re trying to baby proof a home with an older child around. You may need to block off entire rooms to baby if this happens and there is a room with a lot of outlets.

2. CABINET + DRAWER SAFETY LOCKS

There are so many different safety latches for cabinets and drawers that baby can easily reach in your bathroom, kitchen, etc.

Let’s go over a few options so your little one(s) can’t get inside of the cabinets. This is especially important if there are harmful items like cleaners inside of your drawers or cabinets.

I love these magnetic locks because they’re aesthetically appealing and don’t require any tools for installation. No need to damage your cabinets or drawers (even better if you are renting your home).

For a next level of protection, these cabinet safety latches are awesome. I’ll warn you that YOU will pinch your own fingers a lot trying to get these open! They are great at keeping curious babies AND you out of drawers sometimes! LOL We had these for our bathroom cabinets because we didn’t want our little ones to get a hold of medication, creams, or soaps.

Finally, for very determined babies, these cabinet latches are great at holding doors shut. They are also easy for you to unlatch, so this is a great option if you need a strong hold against baby’s attempts to open cabinets AND something that’s easy for you to open. They are just very conspicuous, so keep that in mind. Your house will LOOK baby proofed with these. That’s a pro for me, but I could see how it’s a con for some.

SUPER MOM TIP: It’s also a good idea to have the number of poison control somewhere handy in case you need to call it! If you have to call them, you’ll be glad you already had the number posted on your fridge or in another convenient location already.

3. SPOUT COVER

I actually didn’t know about this potential hazard before I had my own kids.

Apparently it’s very easy for small children to hit their heads on the bathtub spout!

This adorable spout cover is a great option for a safer bath time. This would be a good idea of something to put on your baby registry because it’s really cute!

4. BABY GATES

A must-have for every set of stairs (bottom of stairs AND top) and some doorways.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can get away with minimal baby gates because you’ll just watch the baby. They move so much faster than you’d expect!

Sometimes I swear I would just turn around to set something on a counter, and in the 3 seconds that took, my baby was in the next room already.

There are tons of baby gate options, but here’s really what you need – this gate is extra tall and has extensions so it will work in wider spaces too.

And if you have a super-wide area to gate off, want to gate off your Christmas tree, or want to make a play area that your baby stays inside of? This gate is perfect for that (we used it and loved it).

Or maybe you would prefer a fabric gate that’s a little softer in case your baby falls against it. If so, check out this gate from Evenflo.

I love that there are different ways & different products to suit every home layout. Keep in mind that your needs will change as your baby achieves new milestones in ability, but luckily there are all sorts of wonderful options to help you at every stage.

5. FURNITURE PROTECTION

How do you baby proof a coffee table or end tables in your family room?

Speed-crawling babies are notorious for slamming headfirst into tables and other pieces of furniture. Cushion those edges and corners with edge protectors and corner guards like these.

6. PREVENT HEAVY ITEMS LIKE TV + FURNITURE FROM TIPPING

Babies are guaranteed to grab onto objects and pull on them, usually when they are trying to pull themselves up to standing.

These anti-tip straps keep TVs and other heavy items from falling down and landing on your little ones.

These furniture anchors help you attach dressers, bookshelves, and other heavy pieces of furniture to the wall).

They are also the perfect solution for ambitious older children who love to climb! Oh, the potential dangers I didn’t know about before I had kids!

7. DOOR KNOB COVERS + LOCKS

Babies love going for doorknobs. They will climb to get to them and open up the door to freedom in a heartbeat.

Even if you want to have an open-door policy in your home, there are certain areas that just aren’t safe for an unsupervised baby (like the bathroom or home gym). Use doorknob covers to help keep them safe.

When my kids were little, we had the lever type of knobs, making them even easier to turn at an early age. I really wish we had these level doorknob locks!

Don’t forget to secure the doors leading outside of the house too. Both sliding doors and regular doors need locks on them to prevent young children from escaping.

If you want to go the extra mile, you can even install alarms on the outside doors that will make a noise when the door opens so kids can’t slip outside unnoticed.

8. DOOR STOPS

Depending on what kind of doorstops you have, they can either be a choking hazard or a pinched finger hazard for your baby.

These door stops are perfect because they are one piece and don’t move.

9. BLINDS CORD SHORTENER

Once babies become mobile, they are quickly attracted to every string and cord they see. My kids loved to pull cords!

It’s so scary because they don’t realize how dangerous this can be.

These great blind cord shorteners will be used longer than you may think. Not only are they good for keeping little hands off of them, they come in handy when you have a puppy that is teething or a cat that loves to swat.

This genius product is also great for handling really long window cords. It allows you to wind them up and keep them out of reach.

If you really want to create a failproof way to get rid of the cord dangers, you could always invest in cordless blinds! These amazing window coverings eliminate the cord issue!

10. FINGER PINCH GUARD

You might not think these are useful at first, but they’re so necessary. It’s amazing how little fingers will find their way into the most dangerous of places – I learned that one the hard way.

Especially if they have older siblings that are shutting doors to keep them away. These finger guards work very well.

11. STOVE KNOB COVERS + OVEN LOCKS

Stoves are another danger zone for baby. If you allow your baby in the kitchen, even with you in there, you’ll need to proof it up!

For stoves, I like these clear knob covers because they’re very minimalistic. For ovens, these oven door locks are great.

12. TOILET LOCKS

File this under “things I didn’t know I needed” as well!

Once your baby can actually reach into here, you’ll be glad you have this taken care of! Once they start pulling up on furniture to stand up, the toilet is a prime target!

My new walkers LOVED to go into the bathroom and put their sweet hands on our dirty toilet, then look in it! ewwwww

It was not only dangerous, it was super gross!

We got one of these toilet cover locks and it worked like a charm. Highly recommend.

This childproof lock was essential even as they got older and decided it was a great idea to THROW THEIR TOYS INTO THE TOILET! ha

BABY SAFETY PRODUCTS THAT AREN’T MUST-HAVES BUT ARE NICE TO HAVE

Stair/Balcony Banister Guard – If you have a balcony or a long walkway with a banister, I highly recommend this. We kept ours on our upstairs landing until our youngest was 5, simply because they were prone to climb and also try to reach through to throw things over the edge to the hallway below!

Well, that’s my list of baby proofing must-haves from an experienced mom. I hope all of these tips help whether you are trying to make a safe space for your first newborn, your second child, your third infant or relatives who visit often.

~ Lena