baby arrives Archives - Easy Mommy Life

Are you looking for a baby proofing checklist that covers all areas of the house? I got you covered.

Now don’t worry, you don’t need all the baby proofing items as soon as the baby comes. But, depending on the age and stage of development you will need to add more and more layers of safety around your house.

As the baby enters the toddler years, the need for exploration is key for child development and having a safe environment to explore is important.

Children getting hurt is the most heartbreaking moment for parents, therefore start baby-proofing the house little by little even before the baby arrives.

In this post, we will cover the basic baby proofing checklist. We will go over the general areas you need to secure as you baby proof your house.

BABY PROOFING CHECKLIST- baby proof the house

HOW TO BABY PROOF THE HOUSE: A BABY PROOFING CHECKLIST

1. Safety Gates

If you have stairs in the house or an open room structure, you may want to restrict the baby’s movement to a few spots of the home. In this case, you need safety gates. When safety gates are not suited to your home layout you can consider a playpen. A playpen can be used for short periods of time (say, when you are cooking) to keep baby safe and away from entering risky parts of the house when not monitored.

Safe-O-Kid – Safety Gate

Baybee Auto Close Wooden Safety Baby Gate

Baby Center India Baby Room (Play Pen)

2. Fireplace Screen

The first thing to install when you have a crawling baby in the house is a fireplace screen.

Panacea Products Panel Arch Screen For Fireplace

3. Table Corner Guards

Protect your little ones head from bumping against sharp table edges by fitting table corner guards.

Safe-O-Kid – Corner Cushions

4. Window Grills or Window Guards

Depending on the type of windows you have, you can either install a window grill or a window guard.

Safe-O-Kid- Sliding Door/Window Locks/Stopper for Baby Safety

Market Yard Zinc Sliding Window Patio Screw Door Locking Pin Push Child Safety Lock

Vanpower Zinc Alloy Child Safety Sliding Window Restrictor Press Lock

HIPPO Indoor Balcony Safety Net

5. Baby proofing Drawers and Cabinets

One way to discourage a curious toddler from fiddling and opening drawers and cabinets is to use stick-on safety locks.

KidDough Furniture Safety Locks for Kids

6. Plastic Cover on Electrical Outlets

Put plastic covers over all low lying electrical outlets and keep electrical instruments like hair irons and clothing irons out of reach from children’s play area. When these are in use, make sure your child is in a secure location away from these electric gadgets.

KidDough Baby Proofing Electrical Protector Socket

7. Baby proofing Furniture

All heavy furniture like dressers, wardrobes, bookshelves should be fit to the wall.

As toddlers learn to climb, these heavy objects can pose a real danger. In the case of baby proofing furniture better safe than sorry.

8. Keep Glassware To A Minimum

We had a few incidents of glassware like bowls, plates, and glasses breaking. In our old place, the kitchen was open, so there were instances of glass breaking and pieces flying off into our son’s play space. After these incidents, we decided to switch out from using glass. Now we try and use sturdy natural materials like bamboo wood, stainless steel, or reusable plastic ware wherever possible.

9. Design Your House With Minimal Furniture

One thing I cannot stress enough is providing the child freedom to move in a safe space. If the house is overcrowded with furniture there is not much space for movement and there are bound to be some accidents.

Keep minimum furniture and an open floor plan in your living room and playroom so that your child can move around freely without hurting himself.

Find furniture that has smooth edges and cabinets without knobs. Especially if the cabinet is low and the baby is figuring out how to stand or walk, he might just land face-first into the knob on the cabinet. This happened with us, and ever since we removed all the knobs from cabinets and bought only knobless cabinets.

10. Secure Curtains

One object in the house that gets the most attention from babies and toddlers is floor-length curtains. Make sure to secure your curtains safely with rings. If this is not possible, try and install cordless blinds.

New Age Blinds

Chicology Cordless Magnetic Roman Shades

11. Use Door Stoppers

There are many variants of door stoppers available online. No matter how old the child I find having door stoppers on all doors in the house a necessity. I even carry door stoppers on vacation to install on doors in our Air BnB’s.

Party Propz Door Stopper Cartoon for Kids and Baby Safety Pinch Guard

Dorver Aluminium Fully Automatic Door Closer (For the main entrance door, if your child has a habit of banging the main door for fun)

Rubber Door Stopper with Holder

12. Anchor TV To The Wall

TV is one of the most unsafe items in the living room. Getting the T.V anchored to the wall is one way to avoid any accidents with the baby trying to grab and pull at it.

13. Get Rid Of Glass Top Furniture

Glass top coffee tables especially ones where the glass moves are a big no-no in a house with a baby. We once visited the grandparent’s place where there is a glass top coffee table. On this occasion, it took less than a second for our son to topple over the coffee table with a glass top. Luckily I was sitting nearby and avoided an accident in the knick of time.

14. Invest in a good Baby High Chair for mealtimes

Toddlers love pulling at table cloths or throwing cutlery off the table and for this reason I prefer a designated seat aka the highchair for our son. It’s a safe place for him to sit away from hot foods and glass plates on the table.

Chicco Pocket Lunch Highchair

15. Safety In The Bath

Invest in a good bath chair, non-slip mats and plastic cover for the tap. All of these together make for safe bath time with a baby.

Mee Mee Baby Bather

LuvLap Baby Bathtub

Cartoon Elephant Shaped Bath Spout Cover

16. Keep Poisonous Items Locked Away

All cleaning supplies, medicines, cosmetics, and perfumes should be locked up or stored in high wall cabinets. In one of my previous jobs as a drug safety specialist, I remember getting many reports about babies or toddlers eating chapstick or some medicine that belonged to their parents or grandparents.

This is a serious danger, please keep all such items out of sight, preferably locked away.

I hope this baby proofing checklist helps you as you baby proof your home. Over the years we have realized there are many areas that can be easily missed as you baby proof the house.

Sometimes we don’t perceive some household items or locations as dangerous until an accident happens. Therefore vigilance is very important. Baby proofing the house does not mean you stop being vigilant. There is no substitute for a watchful adult in the room.

If you have some babyproofing tips for us, do take a moment and comment below.

If you are pregnant I am sure you may have seen these -things to do before baby arrives lists on the internet by now. But not everything on those lists is a must-do. And many a time these lists give you some serious FOMO.

There are a few absolutely essential to do’s that I want to cover though.

These from my experience make life so much easier and you mentally prepared when baby arrives. I missed out on following through with a few of these. When my son came home from the hospital we had a mad rush the first week trying to get things running smoothly. If only I had set up these systems in the last trimester I would have had it easier during that first week with my son.

Oh well, my learnings will serve you well, right? So hear me out and definitely do these 5 things before baby arrives.

Here we go,

THINGS TO DO BEFORE BABY ARRIVES

Babymoon

Yeah, it sounds like a trend these days and you may shrug it off as an unnecessary expense just like me. But, believe me, so much time with the partner is lost once the baby arrives that you may regret not finding and cherishing those quiet moments during pregnancy.

There is no need to go on an extravagant holiday, you can simply go out for a weekend getaway. Think of it as a time to focus on the relationship and plan your life together. A way to connect with your partner before you set out on an adventurous new journey together.

Clean the house

Clean every nook and cranny of the house. Don’t miss any spot or delay cleaning for later. Once the baby comes home that special cleaning day will never come. It gets difficult to manage the house and baby at first. It’s best to keep things in order and sanitized with less stress for later.

Check for spots in the house that develop molds or insect infestation and treat these places weeks before baby arrives.

Related reading : Baby proofing checklist.

Buy new baby essentials

Now, you don’t need too many things to prepare for baby. Here is a minimalist baby essentials list that worked just fine for us. Set your baby budget and then note all the big and mandatory expenses like car seats, cribs etc. These are basics you will need to focus spending on. Then move on to the non essentials like baby toys. Babies don’t play with toys until they are at least 6 months old, yet the most common first purchase many new moms make is a soft toy!

In many traditions, people delay buying baby essentials until after the baby arrives. But trust me you should buy everything beforehand. The third trimester is a good time to start baby shopping. Once baby arrives you may not be able to make these choices for your baby and other’s will have to pitch in and help you shop. Then you are stuck with baby items that weren’t your first choice.

If you need help deciding how many baby clothes you will need in each size I got you covered with this helpful post.

Take a pregnancy and breastfeeding class

You may have heard that pregnancy and breastfeeding classes are not really needed. Believe me, they are! The more informed you are the better prepared you are for any eventuality.

There were a number of times during my first month of breastfeeding when I felt like giving up. But it was the constant support from my doctors and the information I learned at a class that helped me continue. You need to build a support system and that can only happen through knowledge. When you know what needs to be done, then can you plan and arrange for the required support.

These days you don’t even have to travel to go to a class. Online classes like The Ultimate Breastfeeding Class are easy to complete online in a self-paced manner. The class provides all the evidence-based information you need to start your breastfeeding journey. What I especially liked is the information on possible roadblocks to breastfeeding. This is the kind of information I was seeking when I started and any new mother can greatly benefit from.

Stock healthy food and snacks

Another often missed planning step is stocking up on healthy snacks and foods. In India, we have our moms and mom in laws helping us in the initial months’ postpartum. This makes us lax about planning healthy meals and snacks. This dependence on the support system to provide healthy foods sometimes can turn into a lazier approach to fitness post-baby.

Many a time the new baby takes away so much of the families time that meal prep is delayed or your support system may end up looking after you and not find time to cook you something.

What you end up with is ordered in restaurant foods or hurriedly prepared meals that may not be nutritionally balanced. Read here to learn more about healthy breastfeeding foods.

Another important point we forget when planning meals ahead of time is healthy snack options. Breastfeeding makes you ravenously hungry and if you don’t plan your snacks in advance you could be eating everything from chips to take out junk food between meals. That’s not good either.

What worked for me is to eat small healthy meals and snacks throughout the day. I thought of healthy and easy to make snacks that I could eat in between meals that required little to no preparation.

Another trick was to sip on soups in between breastfeeding sessions to keep me hydrated. Here are three soup recipes for breastfeeding moms.

I relied heavily on soups and smoothies the first month postpartum. I kept a thermos flask with soup next to my bed so I could keep my tummy constantly full and not end up with crazy hunger pangs and binge eat.

There you go, these are definite must do’s before baby arrives. These points sound so simple and I thought I had it covered when I went to labor. Even so, I felt unprepared once my baby was home.

Things I didn’t think to clean suddenly became the reason my baby suffered a stuffy nose.
The last-minute realization that the socks we bought for the baby were not the correct size.
No-one told me about a breastfeeding pillow! And I went to class!
My mom came over to help but between the two of us, we were engaged with a constantly crying baby. So no food for lunch on many days. We quickly figured out a system to cook food or snacks everytime baby was sleeping, this sounds so silly but this was all new learning as a first-time mom.

The point I am getting at is, there will be times you feel like “I prepared and yet I am not prepared”. A tiny little baby does put our adult worlds into a tizzy in the initial months. But you will figure it out eventually. Until then complete these 5 things before baby arrives. And welcome to motherhood!