# How to Babyproof Computer Desk?



## WyattsMom2008 (May 9, 2008)

Moms with mobile babies, how did you babyproof your computer desk? I'm mainly worried about all the cables under my desk.


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## birdie22 (Apr 1, 2005)

If it absolutely has to be in the baby's living area, I think the best way would be to put a barrier... a big baby gate or something.

If that's too much, I would consider packing up any unnecessary equipment to streamline your cord setup. For example, do you really need that printer hooked up all the time? Could you put away the speakers and just use headphones for a while? Anything that is out on the desk is a magnet for little fingers. Put away office supplies out of sight, preferably somewhere baby can't get in.

Get some kind of cord managment (we used plastic tubing bought cheap at Ikea), and make sure the desk is tethered to the wall.

Maybe keep the monitor and keyboard pushed back and covered when not in use. If you've got a big, heavy monitor, consider whether that could be pulled down and mount it if necessary.

The best solution of all would be to move the whole setup to another room, but I know that's not always feasible.


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## rcr (Jul 29, 2008)

We used one of those covers for power strops, and mimized the amount of cords flopping around. We taped the cords leading from the power stip to the computer to the wall using electrical tape. We have wood walls, so it sticks really well. I am not sure how it would work with painted walls. We also have just a laptop with the kind of desk that covers up into a table, so we don't have it sitting out.


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## slgt (Feb 21, 2007)

We're going to put a piece of painted plywood between the back of the desk & the wall, and run all cords etc. between the plywood & the wall - out of reach of those grabby little monkey hands!


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## nolonger (Jan 18, 2006)

In baby's and my bedroom, i may just switch to the laptop, since the desktop is kinda sick anyway and it's too much temptation to spend topo much time online.

in the living room/visiting teenager's room, my plan was to put the computer equipment in the pack 'n play (not the baby) and then use the pack 'n play as a barrier.

I'm getting a bit skeered that nobody else is doing this and wondering if my plan is stupid.

ds's mobility is increasing exponentially and i remember all too well how i used to laugh at pictures of my unbabyproofed house when dd was his age! i'm probably in for just as many changes and paradigm shifts in the next few weeks or months!


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## User101 (Mar 3, 2002)

Moving to family safety


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

:

My six-month-old is rapidly gaining competence in getting around the room... and unlike his big brother, cables and cords are FASCINATING.

First time around, we did nothing much. Cords that were right out in the middle of everything (like from the phone jack to the phone on the kitchen counter) we affixed to the wall, but stuff behind furniture held no interest at all. It never even got investigated.

This baby managed to get under daddy's desk last night (pushing the Boppy ahead of him... he also likes moving things that are as big as him or bigger ;-). So I *know* we're going to have to do something.

For us, moving it "out of the baby's living area" isn't feasible, as that's also our living area, and we spend an enormous proportion of our wake time in front of the computer. Our office and family room are connected, and can't be closed off from each other. DH and I don't even watch anything on the TV; if we want to watch a show, we watch it on one of our computers from the web. We also are talking about two desks with computers on them.

I can do some simplifying, but I need two machines (laptop with Windows, desktop with Linux) and DH will probably replace his second machine eventually too... so there's a *ton* of cables!


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