Tips and tricks on baby proofing your apartment home when you have infants, toddlers, crawlers and walkers!

As a parent of a two-and-a-half-year-old and a six-month-old infant, I can without a doubt tell you that baby-proofing your apartment home is a MUST. In the blink of an eye, your adorable little squish of an infant is a fully mobile human ready to explore all nooks and crannies of your home. For the safety of your young ones and to keep yourself from having any nervous breakdowns, follow these tips and tricks for perfectly baby-proofing your home!

Baby Gates

Once your little one is mobile, they want to explore everywhere. Using baby gates can help limit their access to areas of your home that could be dangerous or even fatal for the little traveler.

• Baby gates are perfect for setting up play areas and blocking access to hazardous areas for your baby. To maximize the effectiveness of your gates, however, check out how the gates are secured. Some gates use pressure to stay up, while others can be permanently installed with screws and anchors. Make sure you check with your leasing office or maintenance team to ensure you are allowed to install the permanent gates before doing so!

• Not all gate systems are created equal! Some are best used to set up a perimeter, while others are meant to block access to stairways, kitchens, exits, etc. Make sure you are purchasing the right equipment when you buy your gates.

Photo courtesy of AMSW Photography via Pexels

Securing Furniture

• Mobile infants and toddlers are scientifically proven to be half human, half spider monkey. Children often want to climb, push, pull and scale all the furniture in your house. Below are a few links to some kits to help you secure your furniture.

• Bookshelves - Entertainment Centers - Cat Trees - Dressers By securing these items, you ensure they won’t fall over onto them if your child decides to climb your furniture.

Proper Baby/Toddler/Child Furniture Placement

• One aspect of having kids that even I was unaware of until recently was the location of your child’s furniture in their room, and the safety that comes with it. For example, a parent should never have their child’s crib or changing table close to or underneath a window. A child can fall out of that window so quickly that it’s scary to even think about.

• A second example is the distance between furniture in the room as well. If the furniture is too close together, your little one might be able to parkour their way around the room which can lead to a spill. Parents should always want to keep furniture at least a foot apart from each other.

Photo by Author, Nick Leone

Knobs, Tabs, and Clips, OH MY!

• Finally, you will also want to place safety locks on all your doors, drawers, and clips or tabs on your cabinet doors. So to help with that you can get a multi-purpose lock to help keep things locked.

• Other items include clips to keep bathroom cupboards closed or even installable deadbolt locks to help really drive the point home. You can even install pieces of plastic on your door nobs to make escaping rooms at night all but impossible for your toddler.

In all, making sure you’ve baby-proofed your home is very essential because children are the future. We must take care of them, nurture them and make them the best they can be. Visit us often for information on apartment home availability at a Camden community.

For more ideas and to answer your questions, Simply Camden has you covered. Check out the most common questions people ask about modifying their apartment home next!