Mom's Q&A: How Do I Babyproof My DVD Collection?

My baby is 8 months old, and she’s fascinated with our DVD’s. She crawls over and pulls them all off the shelves, and then I have to clean up a pile of DVD boxes.  This happens several times a day. How can I get this to stop?

Well, trying to get an 8 month old to understand that she can’t be touching your movies is probably a losing battle.  In my opinion, you’d be better off finding a different way to store your DVDs, even if it’s just temporary.

If you have space in a room that your daughter doesn’t have access to, you can move the DVDs in there, until she’s old enough to leave them alone.

Depending on how many DVDs we’re talking about, you could potentially put shelves up on the wall, out of her reach.

My favorite way to store DVDs, and what we’ve done in my house, is to purchase a CD/DVD binder. This is a small investment for a big payoff.  You can store the movie boxes if you want, or you can get rid of them altogether. You slide the DVDs into the pockets, the binder zips up, and can easily be stowed away in a cabinet, or on a bookshelf.  

One way or the other, I don’t advocate trying to change your baby’s behavior.  Babyproofing comes with the territory.  It’s not just about keeping her safe, but also about keeping your possessions safe, until she’s old enough to understand how to touch them, or what she’s not allowed to touch.

At her age, your daughter needs to have the freedom to explore her surroundings, so if there is something at her level that you don’t want her getting into, you really are better off moving that something, than trying to get her to stop touching it.

If you’re resistant to moving stuff now, don’t worry, you’ll have to get even more creative with babyproofing in a few short months when she starts walking. Oh, and then wait till she starts climbing.