Babyproofing Corners

[Anonymous]

I previously installed heavy duty silcon strips on baby crib rails, to stop my baby from chewing on the wooden crib. My precocious lttle tyrant immediately tugged on the end of a strip to start peeling it off. So, I taped that edge down extra tight, and covered the crib rails with decorative cloth protectors. Problem solved!

Then I hired an expensive consultant to babyproof my house. Unfortunately, my dining table is beautiful, Italian marble, with custom beveled edges and corners. The company put four cheap, ugly, foam corner cushions on it yesterday. My 12-month-old easily peeled one off this morning. Many Amazon reviews say that babies peel off corner cushions. Is there a solution, or must I discard the expensive table?

[Anonymous]

I would be way more worried about your kid choking on all this stuff. It sounds really dangerous in particular on the crib to have stuff taped on to it.

[Anonymous]

I never did this and we have nice tables like that.

[Anonymous]

Babyproof against the things that are likely to seriously injure or kill your kid. So - medications and cleaners out of reach or in childproof cabinets. Anchor furniture to the walls. Baby gates at the top of your stairs. Remove choking hazards.

Don't worry about the bumps and bruises. Take the corner cushions off. He'll hit is head. He'll get a bump. He'll learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Babyproof against the things that are likely to seriously injure or kill your kid. So - medications and cleaners out of reach or in childproof cabinets. Anchor furniture to the walls. Baby gates at the top of your stairs. Remove choking hazards.

Don't worry about the bumps and bruises. Take the corner cushions off. He'll hit is head. He'll get a bump. He'll learn.

+1. The only thing we baby-proofed were cabinets mostly because I got sick of putting everything in the cabinets back. Hiring someone to tell you what to babyproof is so odd to me.

[Anonymous]

We hired a company to do a walk through and advise us on what to babyproof and to estimate the cost for them to implement their recommendations. What they recommended seemed insane and like total overkill. It was also going to cost several thousand dollars. We paid for the walk through and said no thanks to them doing any of the install. Fast forward 6-9 months and I'm pretty sure every single thing they recommended we've either now done out of necessity or still need to do. Our kid is everywhere, into everything, and often engaging in dangerous behavior. Point being, the amount of babyproofing you need to do really depends on your kid. We had to temporarily get rid of our family room coffee table (which has round edges) and I cannot imagine having a dining table with exposed square edges. Our child hits his head on our kitchen table routinely, but all of the edges are round. Can you at least cover your dining table with a thick table cloth for several months? Better yet, pad and then cover it. I initially thought it was ridiculous to live without our coffee table and didn't want our house taken over by the baby, but I am now grateful for all of the accidents we've avoided.

[Anonymous]

We put the glass topped coffee table with sharp corners away. Toddlers could walk under our dining room table. I was not worried about the edges.

[Anonymous]

No need to baby proof corners. Just babyproof the stuff that would seriously injure or kill them.

Are you worried about the kid chewing on the table? Maybe try some of that bitter stuff used to keep kids from sucking their thumbs. Or just supervise more closely . Or put the table away until they are passed the chewing stage.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I got one coffee table with a spongey upholstered leather top, and a round, tufted Ottoman. I also got a custom, upholstered hearth cover for the marble fireplace.

I use strong packing tape to secure silcon strips to the crib rails, after the babies started peeling them off. I wrapped the tape around the rails several times. Then I immediately covered everything with fabric covers. That worked.
https://www.buybuybaby.com/store/category/bedding-decor/baby-bedding-accessories/rail-covers/32506

My twins are not quite walking, but into everything - dog food bowls, sharp corners, cabinets. They are tired of safe, colorful plastic items. They prefer black, with wires, screws, sharp edges, and intricate parts. Their favorite toys are laptops, phones, remote controls, and power tools. They would love a chainsaw.

For the dining table, I just ordered a custom-sized, elastic tablecloth. This will hide silicon edges or corner cushions on the dining table. I might replace my sharp metal dining chairs too.

[Anonymous]

I used silicone corner guards. They are clear and use adhesive to stick. Adhesive comes off when heated for removal. They worked great on wooden furniture and corners of stone hearth.

https://www.amazon.com/UXU-Corner-Protector-Proofing-Furniture/dp/B083DDMKM5/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=3QGSDK6M50CRL&keywords=silicone+corner+protector+baby&qid=1682116361&sprefix=silicone+cor+er+%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzSVdDQjczSUpYWFo2JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTU4NDk2Mk5BQkFBQTVZV1lOVCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDg4NjQxQzY0UVlOWVNNNFRKJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfcGhvbmVfc2VhcmNoX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used silicone corner guards. They are clear and use adhesive to stick. Adhesive comes off when heated for removal. They worked great on wooden furniture and corners of stone hearth.

Thanks, but my dining table has beveled edges. Corner cushions don't stick well to porous stone, and the bevel leaves a gap for tiny fingers to grab the cushions. I might have to tape the whole table in bubble wrap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We hired a company to do a walk through and advise us on what to babyproof and to estimate the cost for them to implement their recommendations. What they recommended seemed insane and like total overkill. It was also going to cost several thousand dollars. We paid for the walk through and said no thanks to them doing any of the install. Fast forward 6-9 months and I'm pretty sure every single thing they recommended we've either now done out of necessity or still need to do. Our kid is everywhere, into everything, and often engaging in dangerous behavior. Point being, the amount of babyproofing you need to do really depends on your kid. We had to temporarily get rid of our family room coffee table (which has round edges) and I cannot imagine having a dining table with exposed square edges. Our child hits his head on our kitchen table routinely, but all of the edges are round. Can you at least cover your dining table with a thick table cloth for several months? Better yet, pad and then cover it. I initially thought it was ridiculous to live without our coffee table and didn't want our house taken over by the baby, but I am now grateful for all of the accidents we've avoided. [/quote

A company isn’t going to come in and say “looks good, not much to do”. It’s like hiring a designer for a remodel and then saying, nope, nothing to touch here. Baby proofing stage actually doesn’t last that long. We lived like nomads during that time - abroad, serviced apartments, hotels, vacation homes, and never baby proofed anything beside covering a few tables with towels and gating the stairs. We moved all the dangerous stuff in cupboards to the high ones. If we didn’t want them in a particular closet or cupboard, we just told them no, which took a lot of repetition. Never had anything besides normal bumps and bruises. So, it totally varies by kid, by family, and environment.

I will say, don’t pad everything. If you do, your kid will treat your house like a bouncy castle and when you go anywhere else, they will have no common sense and will crash into everything. They have to be safe, but experience at least a few consequences. It’s a good thing for them to be told “No, you can’t open that cupboard”, and “No, you can’t climb on that table”, even if you have to repeat it a million times. Otherwise you can’t take them anywhere that isn’t bombproof.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We hired a company to do a walk through and advise us on what to babyproof and to estimate the cost for them to implement their recommendations. What they recommended seemed insane and like total overkill. It was also going to cost several thousand dollars. We paid for the walk through and said no thanks to them doing any of the install. Fast forward 6-9 months and I'm pretty sure every single thing they recommended we've either now done out of necessity or still need to do. Our kid is everywhere, into everything, and often engaging in dangerous behavior. Point being, the amount of babyproofing you need to do really depends on your kid. We had to temporarily get rid of our family room coffee table (which has round edges) and I cannot imagine having a dining table with exposed square edges. Our child hits his head on our kitchen table routinely, but all of the edges are round. Can you at least cover your dining table with a thick table cloth for several months? Better yet, pad and then cover it. I initially thought it was ridiculous to live without our coffee table and didn't want our house taken over by the baby, but I am now grateful for all of the accidents we've avoided.

Oops, that didn’t format correctly! Trying again


A company isn’t going to come in and say “looks good, not much to do”. It’s like hiring a designer for a remodel and then saying, nope, nothing to touch here. Baby proofing stage actually doesn’t last that long. We lived like nomads during that time - abroad, serviced apartments, hotels, vacation homes, and never baby proofed anything beside covering a few tables with towels and gating the stairs. We moved all the dangerous stuff in cupboards to the high ones. If we didn’t want them in a particular closet or cupboard, we just told them no, which took a lot of repetition. Never had anything besides normal bumps and bruises. So, it totally varies by kid, by family, and environment.

I will say, don’t pad everything. If you do, your kid will treat your house like a bouncy castle and when you go anywhere else, they will have no common sense and will crash into everything. They have to be safe, but experience at least a few consequences. It’s a good thing for them to be told “No, you can’t open that cupboard”, and “No, you can’t climb on that table”, even if you have to repeat it a million times. Otherwise you can’t take them anywhere that isn’t bombproof.

[Anonymous]

Yeah you don’t really need to do this stuff. Window shade cords, kitchen hazards, stair gates. Done.

[Anonymous]

If you can’t find a good solution I’d recommend trying one of the following:

1. Bubble wrap corners or entire tables. Use silicone or foam bumpers in corners for extra padding; wrap will hold it in place. Order a custom dining table mat/cover you can lay on top of it so it doesn’t look as messy (but it will still look messy).

2. If you don’t use table often, push it to the side of the room against a wall; takes away half the surface area that could be problematic. You could also use extendable baby gates but it’s an eyesore.

3. Put the table in basement or storage temporarily. Or replace it.

4. Double down on verbal warnings to stay away from table.
We did not baby proof our oven or range for example and just taught kids not to go near it. Hard at your baby’s age but it’s an option of keeping the table is important.