stress over lack of baby proofing!

[Anonymous]

I nanny for an awesome 10 month old, but am so stressed out at work lately due to lack of baby proofing. The baby has been crawling for several months and walking for about one month. He's really good on his feet and is actually really fast!

The problem is the parents haven't really removed any of the glass/dangerous things in his reach. He pushed his walker past a display hutch thing causing a glass vase to fall and break. Last month he pulled down a bottle of wine from this decorative wine bottle display thing that's about 2 feet tall and sits on the floor, glass and wine everywhere So I have been on edge, always right behind him to make sure he doesn't pull down any more bottles but I'm mad they won't just put the damn thing away. Each time something is broken I've been in the same room as him, it's not like I'm not watching, he's just fast and I never know what he's going to lunge after.

So then last night he pushes his walker past a wobbly table, it catches one of the legs and down comes the table and lamp, glass everywhere and of course he's hysterical. I was scared to death as well, and crying once I got the baby calmed down and safe in his pack n play so I could sweep up the glass. DB apologized to me for having to clean up the mess and said him and MB have been saying they need to get rid of the table for awhile because it's not stable.

He said he was going to get rid of the dangerous stuff last night but everything was still here when I got to work this morning. The table is up again, minus the lamp. The wine bottles are still out where the baby can reach them, and there's a huge glass vase as tall as the baby that he is already trying to mess with. What would you do in this situation? I hate that keep getting broken but I feel like the burden is on them to remove these obviously dangerous things.

[Anonymous]

When you get there in the morning, move everything that you don't feel safe having around. Put the end table in a room you don't use, put the wine in the kitchen...take it upon yourself to baby proof instead of following the kid around like a hawk. Work smarter, not harder.

[Anonymous]

I will move the vase but the wine display thing is so heavy I can't move it, I've tried using the baby gates around it but it's in a weird spot so that doesn't really work.

[Anonymous]

Talk to them? Parents spend less time at home with the kids than you do, and when they do, they have two sets of hands and eyes, so they simply may not realize. I always have a baby proofing meeting once the kids get to a certain age, where I note problem areas, give links to checklists, and answer any questions they have about baby proofing. If they are first time parents they don't really understand the extent to which little people have no sense. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will move the vase but the wine display thing is so heavy I can't move it, I've tried using the baby gates around it but it's in a weird spot so that doesn't really work.

can you just remove the bttles?

[Anonymous]

Op here, there's 12 bottles so it would take a little time then I'd have to move the base part. I just think it would be a little awkward, too, if the mom or dad come home early and I have to spend twenty minutes putting all their stuff back, some of which is basically furniture.

[Anonymous]

I would simply tell them, "I'm a bit worried about Tommy getting hurt on XYZ, I've used X for babyproofing in the past, if you purchase it, I'd be willing to set everything up during nap."

I always joke with first time parents that the baby will let them know what does or doesn't need babyproofing after he becomes mobile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would simply tell them, "I'm a bit worried about Tommy getting hurt on XYZ, I've used X for babyproofing in the past, if you purchase it, I'd be willing to set everything up during nap."

I always joke with first time parents that the baby will let them know what does or doesn't need babyproofing after he becomes mobile.

+1

[Anonymous]

I'm from Canada and walkers are ILLEGAL here for that exact reason! Stop using that. And secondly tell them to baby proof this weekend! Are they just waiting for the weekend? Or I'd even do it myself. I'd move the table of wine bottles into another room. Or turn it around, and I'd remove all unsafe stuff from the one room baby is in daily. I have a very active 10.5 month old so I know and get it. I know when he started crawling It took me a few months to find an appropriate gate. I have an older child and needed her to open and close it etc.

You need to tell the parents how stressed you are and if they don't mind can you permanently remove furniture to the other room so baby can have a safe play area? And then make sure gates are up or a baracade. I use an ottamon infront of the room. My babies learned rather quickly and I never moved stuff out of the room. But I don't have anything dangerous either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm from Canada and walkers are ILLEGAL here for that exact reason! Stop using that. And secondly tell them to baby proof this weekend! Are they just waiting for the weekend? Or I'd even do it myself. I'd move the table of wine bottles into another room. Or turn it around, and I'd remove all unsafe stuff from the one room baby is in daily. I have a very active 10.5 month old so I know and get it. I know when he started crawling It took me a few months to find an appropriate gate. I have an older child and needed her to open and close it etc.

You need to tell the parents how stressed you are and if they don't mind can you permanently remove furniture to the other room so baby can have a safe play area? And then make sure gates are up or a baracade. I use an ottamon infront of the room. My babies learned rather quickly and I never moved stuff out of the room. But I don't have anything dangerous either.

First of all that's not why walkers are dangerous. Walkers themselves can turn over and THAT'S why they are bad. Not because a child can use it to get around the room and turn other things over, they can do that without a walker. Secondly, I don't know for sure, but I suspect that OP actually meant a push toy that babies use to help them walk before they can walk on their own. That's not the same thing as the old walkers that children stand in that are considered dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talk to them? Parents spend less time at home with the kids than you do, and when they do, they have two sets of hands and eyes, so they simply may not realize. I always have a baby proofing meeting once the kids get to a certain age, where I note problem areas, give links to checklists, and answer any questions they have about baby proofing. If they are first time parents they don't really understand the extent to which little people have no sense. Good luck!

Better yet, have a professional teach them some parenting classes.

[Anonymous]

That's a lot of broken glass. Why haven't they gotten the hint yet.

[Anonymous]

if I find something dangerous, I just move it and when the parents get home and there's a pile of stuff on the kitchen counters or whatever, I just say oh I had to move this stuff because baby keeps getting into it over and over. it's a safety hazard.

Done.

[Anonymous]

Are there any other rooms you can play in? Perhaps they're being passive-aggressive and want you to take their child outside more.

[Anonymous]

I watch him 11 hours a day so we typically play in his bedroom and hall area where it's carpeted or in the living room where he has a huge playmat, and outside some. I really hope they are baby proofing this weekend, but you guys are right, I'll have to talk to them if not. But Dad did tell me after the last accident he was going to remove the dangerous items so I thought it was handled.