Gate off the whole kitchen, or teach her 'no'? 11 months and pulling up on everything

mellow_river_769713 Oct 2026

My daughter is 11 months old and has started cruising along the furniture. Her favourite places are the kitchen drawers and the shoe rack. The grandparents say we should teach her 'no' now, before it becomes a habit. Half the posts I have saved say to childproof everything and say 'no' only for real danger. My partner and I keep moving things up one shelf at a time and it's not a plan. I'm not asking about safety basics, the stove side is already blocked. I'm trying to understand what other families did with the rest of the house. Did you gate off whole rooms, or keep some drawers open for them and only block the ones that matter? And did 'no' mean anything to your child at this age?

2 comments

sage_fern_56313 Oct 2026
We did a mix. Stove side and the cleaning cupboard locked, one low drawer of steel vessels left open and that was hers. She'd sit there and bang dabbas for half an hour. The 'no' started working later, maybe closer to 18 months, but having one allowed drawer made the other drawers less interesting.
teal_rain_889813 Oct 2026
Gate. At 11 months 'no' mostly teaches you to say no two hundred times a day. We gated the kitchen and left the living room as the free zone. My son is 16 now and still opens every kitchen drawer looking for snacks, so the instinct never fully goes 🤷