Last updated on September 9th, 2021 at 02:31 pm

Children love doors. They love opening them, closing them, hiding behind them, swinging on them, you name it: the door has inadvertently become an incredibly appealing plaything for little hands. Unfortunately, like many other inadvertent playthings, they can also be quite dangerous. Whether it’s what the door is concealing, or the snapping features of the door itself, door safety is an important consideration for all parents and carers.

In this article, we’ll talk about how you can best baby proof doors to keep your children and toddlers safe around the home.

How do I Child Proof Internal Doors?

Children are curious by nature; it’s how they learn. So when you’re child proofing interior doors, you’re battling their curiosity to see what’s on the other side, as well as their rapidly developing ability to get through to it! Luckily there are loads of great child and baby proofing products on the market to help you stay one step ahead.

First of all, lets think about baby proofing door handles. A doorknob lock or a door handle lock fits snuggly over the doorknob or lever of the door and typically requires two components to be pressed or squeezed together in order to operate the mechanism; easy for larger hands, while little ones will struggle. This is a great solution for how to childproof doors with handles, and although child proofing a door handle lever in this way might hide your beautiful hardware, it’ll keep your little ones secure!

Another option available to you is the Door Monkey, which clamps (in seconds!) onto the edge of your door, and uses its hard plastic monkey tail to lock the door to the frame. This is a great choice if you’d like to keep air circulating around your house while you childproof your internal doors, as it leaves the door slightly ajar.

Failing these two options, you could always simply put a tea towel between the doorframe and the door when you close it. This will mean children can still play with the handle but probably won’t have enough strength to actually push the door open.

When it comes to baby proofing bedroom doors, particularly the bedrooms of our children, you’ll need a slightly different option unless you’re happy to be continually letting them in and out! You could do worse than trying a Pinch Guard. These are U-shaped clips that can be attached to the locking side of a door or the hinged side (great for baby proofing door hinges!). They basically act as a buffer to stop the door closing all the way and trapping little fingers. An added bonus of this solution is that you’ll also cut down on door slamming!

One more great (and free) DIY way to baby proof your doors is to simply throw a towel over the top of the door to prevent it from closing.

How To Child Proof External Doors

Next it’s time to take a look at how to baby proof exterior doors. The first option available to you when it comes to childproofing the front door is the use of a deadbolt or Yale lock. Childproof door locks on a front door will keep it closed and secure, whilst enabling anyone with a key to come and go as they please.

Baby proofing using door locks is one of your quickest and easiest solutions and this could be all you need to child proof a front door. But if your external door isn’t equipped with such a lock (back doors sometimes aren’t) what options do you have then?  Baby proofing doorknobs, as described in the previous section may work well here and many entry doors can be child proofed with a slide bolt lock or a chain. Fitted high enough as to be out of reach, this can help keep children stay on the inside rather than the outside. However, both of these options will stop other key holders from getting in. If this is a problem for you, you could try the trusty stair gate (though this could just end up being used as a ladder: our children are ingenious escape artists sometimes). At the very least, invest in a door alarm that sounds a loud chime every time the door is opened so you know when an escape may be in progress.

How To Baby Proof Bifold Doors

To baby proof bifold doors (sometimes referred to as accordion doors), your best bet is to pick up a plastic slider lock, which are fairly easy to find in your local DIY store. These allow you to move a slider across a joint in the door to prevent it from bending and therefore opening.

An alternative way in which to childproof accordion doors is to use a simple hook and latch over the joint, as you might on a garden gate. Position it high enough so that your little ones can’t reach it, and you’ve just nailed how to baby proof accordion doors!

How to Baby Proof French Doors

To baby proof French doors, you’ll want to look at some of the suggestions already described above. You could consider handle locks, Yale locks, even the bifold door solutions above! A rather ingenious way of baby proofing French doors (or patio doors) is to actually use simple draw catches. They’re super cheap, look great, and once attached are difficult for little fingers to open!

Baby proofing French doors with glass, or any glass door is particularly important due to the added dangers associated with the glass itself!

How To Baby Proof Sliding Doors

When it comes to how to childproof sliding doors (also known as pocket doors), there are several locks available to choose from. These usually require a little drilling into the top of the doorframe to allow a bolt attached to the sliding panel to lock into, so it cannot be moved, or a bolt attached to the actual frame to slide out and stop the door from moving. Both are good solutions for how to baby proof pocket doors or sliding screen doors, but if drilling into the doorframe is not possible for you, you can also find adhesive side blocking locks, which simply adhere to the non-sliding panel and stand perpendicular from it in the locked position to stop the sliding door from moving. When unlocked the blocking lock lies flat against the non-sliding panel.

What’s the Best Way to Baby Proof Cupboard & Cabinet Doors?

So we’ve talked a lot about how to child proof the doors in your home, but what about all the cabinets and cupboards that so tempt enquiring minds and their little fingers?

There is a small window when a baby is born in which there seems to be no great urgency to baby proof cabinet and cupboard doors. They can’t sit up on their own yet, they can’t move around independently and they can’t reach up to open anything. This is often followed by a period of panic-laden baby proofing, as they’re suddenly able to do all of these things at once! Let’s take a look in this final section at how to baby proof cabinet doors so those very baby-UN-friendly items inside stay locked away.

It’s not just what’s inside of course that little ones need to be protected from. Cupboard doors can trap fingers and make exciting loud bangs when they’re repeatedly slammed. Fortunately there are lots of locks available that you can use to keep your house safe. And quiet(ish).

The first type of lock you might consider is a magnetic one. Magnetic locks come with keys, and are really easy to use. They’re very secure so great for also baby proofing fireplace doors, and the key means they’re handy for baby proofing cabinet doors without knobs. However they usually require some drilling into your cabinets so might not be ideal for renters.

For a simpler, less invasive and cheaper alternative, you could consider adhesive mount locks. They’re very easy to install (and remove when no longer needed), but they may not have the performance of more firmly mounted solutions, so make sure you’re happy with the security before you buy.

A super simple solution for baby proofing doors with two adjacent knobs (such as sliding closet doors) is a pull cord lock. This is simply wound around the two doorknobs so neither door can be opened without the cord being loosened.

If your dilemma is how to baby proof closet doors rather than childproof them, then spring release locks could be a good option for you. They fix onto the interior of the door in question and lock it door to an interior strut. You push your fingers inside a slightly opened door to release the spring. Great for babies, but pretty easy to suss out for older children.

To baby proof other doors, such as pantry doors, you could consider using a sliding lock positioned high enough so as to be out of reach.

Keeping your little ones safe will be your top priority as a parent and we hope we’ve been able to reassure you that baby proofing, or childproofing the doors and cabinets around your home needn’t be a big or expensive job. Just remember that our children are ingenious learning machines and problem solvers, so if you try a solution and it doesn’t work, don’t give up! Your child might be able to vault a stair gate, but they might not be able to solve the mystery of the door handle lock!