The Baby-Proofing Jobs Parents Often Miss Before Crawling Starts

 

There’s a slightly dangerous period in early parenthood when your baby stays approximately where you put them.

You pop them on the play mat, turn around to grab something and, reassuringly, there they still are.

Then one day they aren’t.

Perhaps they’ve rolled somewhere unexpected, shuffled backwards under the coffee table or performed a strange combination of wriggling and determination that has somehow transported them halfway across the room.

Crawling might still seem weeks away, but this is exactly when it’s worth looking at how to baby proof before crawling.

Not because your home needs to become a padded fortress, and certainly not because you need another enormous parenting job.

It’s because babies don’t see your house the way you do.

To you, that’s a perfectly ordinary living room.

To a newly mobile baby, it’s an unexplored world filled with things to pull, climb, open, shake, taste and investigate.

Unfortunately, they haven’t read the risk assessment.

Baby-proof before you think you need to

Babies have an inconvenient habit of acquiring new skills without consulting the family diary first.

One morning, your baby is rocking on all fours. A few days later, they’re heading towards the dog’s water bowl with the speed and determination of someone who has been training secretly for months.

The NHS recommends fitting stair gates once babies start crawling, while other NHS home-safety guidance specifically suggests fitting them before crawling begins.

That’s really the key to baby-proofing.

Do the important jobs while your baby is still thinking about becoming mobile rather than during the afternoon they unexpectedly manage it.

Start by getting on the floor

This sounds ridiculous.

Do it anyway.

Put your phone down, get onto your hands and knees and look around your home from roughly your baby’s height.

The room changes.

Suddenly you notice the cable disappearing behind the television, the tiny object underneath the sofa, the plant pot that’s remarkably easy to reach and the tablecloth hanging down invitingly from above.

That low shelf you barely notice contains approximately 14 things you’d rather your baby didn’t investigate.

Babies are naturally curious, and mobility gives that curiosity a completely new range.

At Adventure Babies, we actively encourage babies to reach, move, investigate and explore because that’s an important part of development. In class, however, we can carefully choose what sits within their reach.

At home, babies make their own selections.

Their criteria are somewhat less rigorous.

 

Look for the tiny things, not just the obvious hazards

Most parents think about stairs, plug sockets and cupboard locks when they consider how to baby proof before crawling.

The easily missed hazards are often much smaller.

Coins, loose toy parts, older siblings’ craft materials, pen lids and other tiny objects can suddenly become accessible when your baby starts moving around independently.

The NHS baby and toddler safety guidance recommends keeping small objects such as buttons, coins and small toy parts out of babies’ reach because they can present a choking risk.

If you have older children, this becomes particularly interesting.

LEGO and crawling babies are not natural housemates.

Try regularly checking the floor from your baby’s perspective, particularly underneath furniture and around places where older children play.

Button batteries deserve their own check

These are easy to overlook because they’re often hidden inside completely ordinary household objects.

Think remote controls, car keys, kitchen scales, calculators, musical cards and small electronic gadgets.

RoSPA warns that button batteries can cause serious internal injury if swallowed. Unlike toys, which should have secure battery compartments, everyday household products may have compartments that babies can open more easily.

So don’t only check the toy box.

Look at the things your baby actually wants.

Unfortunately, this is rarely the expensive developmental toy you carefully selected.

It’s usually the remote control.

Make sure battery compartments stay secure, keep spare and used batteries safely out of reach, and treat a suspected swallowed button battery as an emergency. The RoSPA button battery safety advice explains what parents need to know.

That lovely low furniture can become a climbing frame

Crawling isn’t always the final destination.

Once babies discover movement, many start looking upwards.

A low coffee table, sofa, shelf or set of drawers can suddenly provide the perfect opportunity to pull themselves up and, eventually, attempt to climb.

This is where baby development and home safety collide rather spectacularly.

Your baby is supposed to become interested in moving their body, changing position and reaching things that previously seemed impossible.

We see that determination constantly in our Adventure Babies classes. A sensory object placed just beyond easy reach can suddenly inspire an extraordinary amount of concentration and movement.

At home, though, babies don’t distinguish between an inviting play resource and a chest of drawers.

RoSPA recommends securing furniture that could tip, including drawers and bookshelves, to the wall. It also warns that televisions and other heavy objects can cause serious injury if children pull them over.

It’s worth checking furniture before your baby begins pulling themselves upright, rather than discovering the problem when they’re already using it for support.

Windows need another look once climbing becomes possible

A window that seemed completely inaccessible to your tiny newborn can become a different proposition once furniture turns into a climbing opportunity.

The NHS recommends keeping low furniture away from windows and using suitable window locks or safety catches.

Have a look at what sits underneath your windows, rather than concentrating only on the window itself.

That little chair or storage box may look harmless now.

To a determined one-year-old, it could eventually become a step.

Baby-proofing isn’t only about removing dangerous things. Sometimes it’s about noticing how babies might use completely ordinary objects in ways no adult ever intended.

Check your blind cords before your baby can reach them

This is one of those safety jobs that’s easy to forget because blinds have probably been hanging there unnoticed for years.

Once babies become mobile, that changes.

RoSPA warns that looped blind cords and chains can pose a serious strangulation risk to young children. It advises keeping cords securely out of reach, using suitable safety devices and positioning cots, highchairs and other furniture away from windows with blind cords.

Check every room your baby spends time in rather than focusing only on their bedroom.

The RoSPA blind cord safety guidance has useful information about older blinds and the safety devices parents can use.

It’s a five-minute check that’s very easy to postpone.

Don’t.

The changing area can change surprisingly quickly

Remember when changing your newborn involved a baby who mostly stayed where you put them?

Those days may be numbered.

Rolling, twisting and suddenly attempting to escape mid-nappy change can appear remarkably quickly.

The NHS advises changing babies on a mat on the floor and never leaving them unattended on a bed, sofa or changing table, even for a moment.

This matters even before crawling because rolling often arrives first.

A baby doesn’t need to crawl across the room to surprise you with their movement.

Sometimes one determined roll is enough.

Nappy sacks aren’t as harmless as they look

While you’re looking around the changing area, check where you keep nappy sacks too.

Because they’re lightweight and often kept close to where nappies get changed, they can easily end up somewhere a baby can eventually reach.

RoSPA warns that nappy sacks can cover a baby’s mouth and nose and create a suffocation risk. It recommends keeping them well away from babies and young children rather than storing them around the cot or pram.

The same thinking applies to plastic bags and packaging that might normally sit unnoticed around the house.

Mobility changes what “out of the way” means.

Cupboards become considerably more interesting from the floor

Adults know that the cupboard under the sink contains cleaning products.

A baby sees a door.

That’s much more exciting.

Medicines, cleaning products, laundry capsules and other potentially harmful substances need secure storage well away from curious hands. RoSPA recommends locking medicines and toxic substances away, while NHS guidance specifically highlights risks from products such as liquid laundry capsules and dishwasher tablets.

It’s worth checking handbags too.

A bag left on the floor might contain medication, cosmetics, coins, hand sanitiser or other things you’d rather your newly mobile baby didn’t discover.

Once crawling begins, “I put it in my bag” no longer necessarily means “it’s safely away”.

Hot drinks suddenly need a bigger safety zone

The ability to reach changes quickly.

A mug that looks comfortably far back on a coffee table may not stay that way once your baby can pull themselves up or stretch towards something interesting.

The same applies to dangling kettle leads, pan handles and hair straighteners.

NHS guidance recommends keeping hot drinks well away from young children, turning saucepan handles towards the back of the cooker and keeping appliances such as straighteners out of reach while they cool.

You don’t need to predict every movement your child will ever make.

You just need to stop thinking about what they can reach today and occasionally imagine what they’ll manage next.

Water is another one parents can underestimate

Bath safety probably already feels obvious, but crawling creates access to other water too.

Dog bowls, buckets, paddling pools and garden ponds can suddenly enter your baby’s world.

The NHS warns that babies can drown in very shallow water and advises parents to remain with babies and toddlers throughout bath time, empty paddling pools after use and make garden ponds inaccessible.

Supervision around water matters even when the amount looks insignificant to an adult.

That includes the bathroom.

A crawling baby who previously stayed on the bath mat may suddenly decide that exploring elsewhere sounds much more interesting.

Baby-proofing doesn’t mean stopping your baby exploring

This is the part we think matters enormously.

The aim isn’t to create a world where your baby never encounters challenge, movement or something unfamiliar.

Babies learn by exploring.

They reach because something has caught their attention. They crawl towards objects because curiosity motivates movement, while pulling themselves upwards helps them discover entirely new possibilities for their bodies.

That determination is brilliant.

Our job isn’t to stop it.

We make the environment safe enough for babies to use it.

That’s very much how we think about development at Adventure Babies too. Our classes give babies opportunities to reach, roll, move, watch and investigate sensory experiences without expecting every baby to interact in exactly the same way.

If your baby is beginning to become more mobile, our baby development classes can give them plenty of safe opportunities to explore alongside you.

 

How to baby proof before crawling without becoming obsessed

You could walk around your house imagining 4,000 increasingly unlikely disasters.

Please don’t.

Instead, concentrate on the important hazards and revisit your home as your baby’s abilities change.

Start with the stairs, windows, furniture, blind cords, small objects, batteries, medicines, cleaning products, hot items and water. Then get down onto the floor and see what else suddenly looks accessible.

The RoSPA home safety guidance and the NHS baby and toddler safety advice are both useful places to check anything you’re unsure about.

Then remember that baby-proofing isn’t a one-off job.

Your six-month-old and your 11-month-old may live in exactly the same house, but they experience it very differently.

The best baby-proofing trick might be changing your perspective

So, if you’re wondering how to baby proof before crawling, begin somewhere slightly unexpected.

Get onto the floor.

Look underneath things.

Look upwards.

Notice what’s dangling, what could fall, what opens and what you’d immediately want to investigate if you’d only just discovered you could move independently.

You may find yourself wondering why anyone needs quite so many cables.

You may discover objects you thought you’d lost in 2023.

Most importantly, you’ll begin seeing your home through your baby’s eyes.

Their urge to reach, move, pull, investigate and discover isn’t something we want to dampen. It’s an exciting part of their development.

We simply need to stay one small step ahead of it.

And if your baby is currently rocking on all fours while you confidently tell everyone, “Oh, I don’t think they’ll crawl for ages”…

maybe fit the stair gate this weekend.