Baby-Proofing Baby Gates
Easy, cheap, and effective. A parenting dream!
When your little one starts moving, the baby gates go up. Or they get closed again. Either way, they rock! Your baby is contained and you have peace of mind…until they grow up a little more. Then they see the baby gate as a challenge, and forcefully shake it until the baby gate breaks open. There’s no going back now – your child knows how to open a baby gate!
Except you can easily baby-proof a little more to prevent baby gates from unwanted opening. Breathe a sigh of relief and read on to see how it’s done!
Step 1
Get a few more sliding cabinet locks.
You probably already put these up around your house, and might have a few left over. If not, just get a few more. They’re really inexpensive. Here’s a link to the ones I use:
You’ll need two sliding cabinet locks per gate.
Step 2
Place one sliding cabinet lock on the baby gate, over the portion of the baby gate that can’t open. Like this:
Step 3
Place the second sliding cabinet lock through the first one, but don’t lock it in place yet. It should look like this:
Step 4
Now lock the second sliding cabinet lock through the portion of the baby gate that can open up. Like this:
And there you have it! No matter how much your child tries, the baby gate won’t open up anymore. So you can sit back and relax on the sofa – you won’t have to chase after your baby up the staircase anymore!
You might wonder why I use two sliding cabinet locks. Well, using two keep the locks at the top of the baby gate – making it easy to unlock and lock them so you can get in and out of the baby gate. Pregnant wives and older caregivers appreciate this! You could use one sliding cabinet lock, but then it would fall and rest on the floor. Meaning you would have to bend down to unlock the baby gate. Pregnant wives and older caregivers do not appreciate this. If you only used one, this is what would happen:
If you’re interested in the baby gates we’ve used for our kids, you can get them here:
I do want to mention that there are alternatives to using sliding cabinet locks. Reusable cable zip ties would work, too – they’re just a lot less common to have around the house. And don’t use string to tie the baby gate closed. I’ve tried it. My son figured out how to untie the string and get through the baby gate the first time I tried to tie the gate shut.
How did baby-proofing your baby gates go? Did this work for you? Or did you find another solution? Let me know in the comments below!
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