Baby Proofing help!

Funkyzeit

Hi Folks.
We have a low lying Tv which sits on top of a stand (about 2.5 ft wide) that has DVD, Xbox etc. As our Little Emperor is now nearly crawling I want a way to block off this area for his sake and the TV's!

Any suggestions for baby proofing this area? Maybe some type of flexible gate?

Oryx

I never baby proofed my sitting room. I was always in there with the kids so it was just a matter of keeping an eye and re-routing them when they go somewhere dangerous. I also found that the more you keep a baby away from something, the more that's the only place they want to be. Our kids investigated things like the tv once or twice, and then the novelty wore off and they were off to check out other things, so it was never a big problem for us.

A friend had a kid who could scale the side of their wide screen tv like some kind of rockclimber and never quit loving doing that, too. So all kids differ.

Older kids can be more trouble, as they like to feed the dvd player sliced cheese and stuff. You could try things like those big expandable fireguards, or getting a cabinet with doors (esp for the games and dvds which toddlers can wreck). Also watch for loose cabling, they can pull and chew them worse than puppies. Unfortunately as with most baby things, you can baby proof all you like but theres no replacement for eagle eyes.

Funkyzeit

Thanks for the advice. Totally agree that thee is no subsitute for eyes. It's a flat screen Tv and stand or no stand (ours is bolted in) they have been in the news a lot for the growing risk to children that they pose so would still look to corden it off

Nevyn

Large fire guard might be an option or child never left alone in the room.

Deliverance

I dare to suppose that a child would never be left alone at this age in a room with anything potentially dangerous i.e. everything;) Constant supervision is the only real way as Oryx said. Apart from that keep any exposed wires sockets etc out of reach.

Oh wait that is impossible, a nice fireguard i.e. climbing frame should provide a challenge though? I fall back on the best defence of 'Constant supervision'.

Eoineo

We are using this product to cordon off the fireplace, shelving & TV combined.

http://www.lindam.com/product/play-pens/baby-play/safe-and-secure-soft-play-pen--grey.html

He is a climber unfortunately and has recently taken to pulling his pushcar over to the playpen, tipping it on its' side and then climbing on top in an effort to get over the playpen. It worked for the past 6 months though so that's a bonus.

It might be of some help to you though & if you have more than 1 small child, you can use the playpen for the older toddler - to protect the younger one!

JoeyJJ

We didn't go overboard baby proofing but did make sure the tv could never topple, we couldn't mount on wall as still renting so got one of these.

http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/30133942

Set top box ect go in the drawers which allow the IR remote with the glass. Then we stuck on door stoppers.

nesf

New cabinet for the TV putting it up nice and high out of arms reach for the kid for a year or two is the best bet.

Beyond that, I've not found any child proofing gizmo that our guy didn't figure out how to open/whatever when he was 2. The Plug guards are actually worse in someways because he found it great fun to put them in and out of sockets and change which order they were in etc.

delly

One cheap tip to give protection againest falls is pipe insulation. You can pick them up in metre lengths for less than a euro. My TV stand has three glass plates and they fit on perfectly, the same goes for the length of the fireplace which gives good protection for a trip or stumble.