# Mobility and keeping your baby safe...head bonking advice needed



## here we are (Sep 17, 2012)

Who wants to tell me how much head bonking your baby did/does?

I am trying to give more floor time but without supervision comes head bonks . Its on carpet. But we need to go downstairs to where its tile in the kitchen. Is this why people babywear?


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## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

If your child is mobile they will bonk their head all the time. It's normal. Just try to make sure there are things that are not unsafe, and be careful on the tile (I'd supervise more there).


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## rachelsmama (Jun 20, 2005)

A crawling baby who head-bonks isn't falling very far, or very fast, so tile isn't as big a deal as it sounds. Yes, you should supervise, but the tile floor is probably the least dangerous thing in the kitchen.


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## MeepyCat (Oct 11, 2006)

I agree, head bonks from crawling are unavoidable and no big deal. Basically, at this stage, a child will bonk its head on something at least twice a day. Babywearing a crawler is way harder then wearing an infant - the crawler wants to be down and exploring, which makes them wiggly and uncooperative.


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## here we are (Sep 17, 2012)

What a relief it is to hear from you all. Quick thoughts- what about heaters? I am hoping her facination with them wont last. And on to more dangers in the kitchen..do people babyproof the .refrigerator door and oven with cabinets? Are all cabinet latches equal=wont break? How dangerous are outlets? I need to get these. I'm mopping the floor and putting down a king blanket asap.


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## newmamalizzy (Jul 23, 2010)

For cabinet latches, we've loved the ones that latch inside the door and use a magnet "key.". The door can't be opened at all when it's latched. Just have to make sure the magnet stays in the right hands


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## DahliaRW (Apr 16, 2005)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *here we are*
> 
> What a relief it is to hear from you all. Quick thoughts- what about heaters? I am hoping her facination with them wont last. And on to more dangers in the kitchen..do people babyproof the .refrigerator door and oven with cabinets? Are all cabinet latches equal=wont break? How dangerous are outlets? I need to get these. I'm mopping the floor and putting down a king blanket asap.


If it's hot enough to burn her I would try to block it off. As for kitchen, I babyproof as I need to. If the child never touches the cupboards, don't bother with them. Do it as you need to. I never did the fridge, they never could open it young enough for it to be an issue! For the oven, I would right away or keep a close eye out when it's on. The nice big oven handle seems to be a great tool for kids to grab and pull on, and the potential for burns is high. I also used a stove guard because I have a gas stove and was really afraid my kids would light their clothing on fire by accident. I also did put the plugs in the outlets within my kids reach, since electrocution is no joke!

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *newmamalizzy*
> 
> For cabinet latches, we've loved the ones that latch inside the door and use a magnet "key.". The door can't be opened at all when it's latched. Just have to make sure the magnet stays in the right hands
> 
> ...


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## here we are (Sep 17, 2012)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DahliaRW*
> 
> If it's hot enough to burn her I would try to block it off. As for kitchen, I babyproof as I need to. If the child never touches the cupboards, don't bother with them. Do it as you need to. I never did the fridge, they never could open it young enough for it to be an issue! For the oven, I would right away or keep a close eye out when it's on. The nice big oven handle seems to be a great tool for kids to grab and pull on, and the potential for burns is high. I also used a stove guard because I have a gas stove and was really afraid my kids would light their clothing on fire by accident. I also did put the plugs in the outlets within my kids reach, since electrocution is no joke!


I plan on spending mostly all our time in the kitchen.:/..I cant drill in my apt cabinets.
Going to look up oven latch.


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## heather626 (May 31, 2013)

I bought a 6' by 6' foam mat because I was paranoid about head-bonks. My 8 month old spends 10% of her time disassembling the mat to chew on the individual pieces and the rest of her time army crawling around on the hardwood floors. She seems to prefer the wood, maybe easier to pull herself along? I'm not as worried about head bonks anymore.


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## capucine (Feb 4, 2012)

It's quite a mothering shift, from clean protected baby to mover with will power eating crumbs off the floor (clawing other babies faces).

I have two kids. I would babysafe your house so you can relax, and you'll learn what that means a little at a time - for us, it meant locks on the oven, stove, and knife drawer but everything else was accessible with safe innards (not toxic or sharp). There is so much grace in saying 'yes' to free exploring, my energy really shifted to a content place when I stopped thinking 'this is your area' and moved to 'check out the house'.

One of my children ate EVERY piece of lint or dead fly, so I got up and swept, mopped and vacuumed every.single.morning. One child didn't do that at all. Watch your kid and see which type you have.

I put plugs in outlets and a lock on the toilet so they never became interesting. I recommend that strategy. Hang your toilet paper backwards so it is less fun to unroll while you're at it. Then close the bathroom door.

For tile floors, a girlfriend welcomed me over the other day with "C'mon in, everything is babysafe except the floor". It is what it is. Head bonks hurt more on tile but happen daily on any floor. Adjusting to a down-and-dirty bonking baby is quite a shift, mams! Welcome to the grubby end of the garden! This is where the FUN is!


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## sillysapling (Mar 24, 2013)

I've half given up on baby-proofing, our baby sees it as a challenge and our cabinets are not designed for it. We have one of those baby gates set up across the living room to block access to the heaters, we can open or close it so our baby either does or doesn't have access to the rest of the apartment, and we keep the doors of rooms we really don't want kiddo in alone closed. There's a lock on the toilet, there's padding on exposed corners and edges, there's blocks on the outlets. Anything we want ready access to- we have to either decide to sacrifice the access or accept that our baby will get to it. On good days, as long as we're in the room kiddo can generally have free run- doesn't get into the bad cupboards, doesn't make a huge mess, etc.

Bonks, yeah, they happen. How you respond to them depends on your baby. Our baby usually doesn't cry at headbonks, he can take a tumble from standing up and not mind unless he's really tired. Also, be careful about how you respond to bonks. Ones that are clearly going to be bad- yeah, rush to the rescue. But if it's just a little slip while crawling, it's okay to let your baby decide if the fall was something to get upset about or not. When ours falls and it wasn't clearly bad, I'll acknowledge the bonk and ask if he's okay in an upbeat voice- if he just grins and continues, I leave it; if he starts crying, I pick him up and comfort him.

I agree, it's a shift.


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## preemieprincess (Oct 21, 2011)

My little one could not be out of my sight for 10 seconds until she was almost 2, given her motor delay. Even with constant supervision, she was bumping into things constantly.

My mother assured me it's a normal part of being a baby. (She was SAHM to a small army of kids). They bonk their heads. As for supervision, my oldest brother lost several teeth around age 2, falling on pavement, while holding Dad's hand. Babies will get injured, even with the most careful supervision.


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## here we are (Sep 17, 2012)

What baby gate do you all have?


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## newmamalizzy (Jul 23, 2010)

With gates, I always feel obliged to give a PSA against lattice styling that kids can stick their feet in and climb. My DD lost two teeth doing that. We have the Munchkin Protect Wood and Metal gate from Babies R Us and like it pretty well.


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## here we are (Sep 17, 2012)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *newmamalizzy*
> 
> With gates, I always feel obliged to give a PSA against lattice styling that kids can stick their feet in and climb. My DD lost two teeth doing that. We have the Munchkin Protect Wood and Metal gate from Babies R Us and like it pretty well.


Do you know if Retract A Gate is lattice? It says mesh. Thanks for the suggestions. If I can't figure this out today im getting the same as you.

Also looking for recommendations for a longer gate to cover my patio opening out side.


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## newmamalizzy (Jul 23, 2010)

I'm not sure about the gate you mentioned, but it might be fine if it's lattice if it's the kind you install. The issue with ours was that it was pressure mounted and when she climbed it wrenched the top out of the doorframe.


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## here we are (Sep 17, 2012)

Are pressure mounted gates all bad?


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## newmamalizzy (Jul 23, 2010)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *here we are*
> 
> Are pressure mounted gates all bad?


No, I don't think so. For us it was just a bad combination of the ability to climb and the pressure mount. She was holding on at the top and pulling backwards as she climbed up the lattice, which put too much force on the top part of the gate. Kind of a freak thing to happen, but in retrospect, I can see that it would be a pretty avoidable accident if either it wasn't climbable or it wasn't pressure mounted. Consumer Reports has a little guide about buying safety gates that might be helpful. They say not to use pressure mounts on top of stairs, which seems wise. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/safety-gates/buying-guide.htm


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