You baby-proofed your house six months ago. Outlet covers, cabinet locks, gates at the stairs. Done, right?
Not even close.
A crawling 6-month-old and a walking 12-month-old are completely different creatures. The hazards shift, the reach extends, and the creativity explodes. What worked three months ago might be totally pointless now.
Reach and Mobility
A crawler can access things at floor level. A new walker can reach countertop edges, pull tablecloths, and grab things off low tables. Within a few months, they'll be climbing. Chairs, step stools, the couch, the bookshelf — if it has any kind of foothold, they're going up.
This means you need to re-evaluate every room from a higher vantage point. That decorative bowl on the side table? It was fine when they were crawling. Now it's getting pulled down. The lamp cord that runs along the wall at knee height? Yanking hazard.
Cabinet Locks get Tested
Those basic adhesive cabinet latches that stopped a curious crawler? A 15-month-old with developing fine motor skills might figure them out. This is when magnetic locks start earning their price tag. The mechanism is hidden, there's no visible latch to manipulate, and you need the magnetic key to open them.
Also: toddlers start opening doors. Interior door handle covers or door lever locks become necessary for rooms you want off-limits. The bathroom, the laundry room, the home office — anywhere with hazards behind a closed door.
Climbing Changes Everything
I can't overstate this. Climbing is the single biggest safety shift between baby and toddler stages. They'll push chairs to counters, stack toys to reach shelves, and scale furniture you didn't think was climbable.
Anchor every piece of furniture that could tip: bookshelves, dressers, TV stands, nightstands. IKEA made this a major campaign after multiple fatalities from tipping dressers, and they were right to do it. Anti-tip straps are cheap and take five minutes to install.
Move chairs away from counters when they're not in use. If you have bar stools, consider storing them flat or in a closet during the toddler years. It's annoying, but so is an ER visit.
Water Hazards Escalate
A baby near a toilet is gross but usually not dangerous. A toddler who can lift the toilet lid and lean in headfirst? That's a drowning risk. Toilet locks should go on around 12 months.
Bath time supervision stays the same — never leave them alone, not even for 30 seconds. But now you also need to think about them turning on faucets and potentially scalding themselves. Set your water heater to 120°F if you haven't already.
Small Objects and Choking
Babies mouth everything. Toddlers still mouth things, but they're also collecting small objects — coins, batteries, small toy parts from an older sibling's stuff. Button batteries are the scariest: if swallowed, they can burn through tissue in as little as two hours.
Do a regular sweep for small objects, especially if you have older kids whose toys have small parts. Lego and marble cleanup becomes a safety task, not just a tidiness one.
The Mindset Shift
Baby-proofing is mostly about restricting access. Toddler-proofing is about anticipating capability. You're no longer blocking a baby who can only crawl. You're outsmarting a small human who's figuring out how the world works — and testing every boundary you set.
Re-audit your home every three months during the toddler years. Their abilities change fast, and your safety measures need to keep up.