Christmas Tree and My 10 Month old....sigh.....

Baby gate would be good. Also a small tree that you can sit on a table just for this year would be good, too. I say don't put gifts under the tree this year... or next year for that matter... until it is time to open them. You could put the tree in the computer room, as you said. Just remember he won't remember this Christmas anyway. So unless you plan to throw a big party, it shouldn't be a big deal.

Thankfully, when my dds were little, they left the tree alone. But I have heard of people putting a baby gate around the tree to keep the babies away.

Elevate it onto a table top if you can. (or buy a smaller tree that fits on a table top) You have more room under it for presents! I have a friend who puts a wire gate around hers (like a dog pen) to keep both babies and pets away from the tree. You could decorate the wire gate with ribbon and garland?

Or only put unbreakable ornaments on the bottom couple feet and expect them to be taken off and looked at - attach with ribbon instead of metal hangers. or tie them on so tight they can not come off easily. Some folks do kid friendly ornaments only, I take the approach and hang my special hand blown glass ornaments that I collect towards the top of the tree where little hands can't reach and put the cheap ornaments on the bottom.

Can you put a baby gate on the opening to the living room?

we taught our daughter (she was 11 months her first christmas) to point at the tree and which ornaments she wanted us to do. (we have a ton of hallmark keepsake ones that make noise, so she wants to push the buttons). We've never had a problem. We didnt put any breakable ornaments at her level, and any time she tried to touch it, we redirected her. After a few days, she just looked and she never touched. We had more of a problem with my 11 year old brother that year than the 11 month old!

I would just get one of the those plastic baby gates that has, like, 8 sides and you can fold into whatever configuration you need, then put it around the tree.

Our son was 13 months one Christmas and last Christmas our daughter was 14 months old, so we have been there. I didn't have a baby gate that would work and to me that seemed like a big expense for one month. And I really wanted our tree to stay in the living room. I simply stuck with plastic ornaments and non breakables. If my kiddos got into it, I didn't have to worry about them getting hurt or ruining anything. (Oddly enough, the plastic, cheapy ornaments get more complements than my glass ones.) The ornaments tend to migrate as well. The ones on the bottom get moved up just to keep the baby out of it and save your sanity. Then one day we noticed the bottom half of our tree was naked. So periodically we had to re-trim our tree. It was a little hassle, but nothing outrageous to have our tree with in reach of our wee ones.

I have twin boys, so I feel your pain! Mine were 14 months last Christmas. We set up our tree as usual, but we borrowed a baby gate to put around it. We used the kind that creates a "fence" around the tree. Then, we could move it or take it down as needed, and we still opened gifts in the living room.

The best advice I received as a new mother was not to change the way we live which included to have your child live in your space. Put the tree up and let him learn boundaries when it comes to the tree, I am sure he will do great. Good luck!

Ha, we are in the same situation to the T. We just put our tree up this evening and we left off the two bottom rows of branches. Then we didn't put any ornaments any lower than where she could reach. Needless to say we don't have near as many ornaments on so it took no time to put it up. We do use the kid friendly ornament hangers and not those metal ones.

We thought about the table idea, but I didn't feel like we had a sturdy enough table. She will pull up on anything and everything, and the last thing I want is for her to pull up knock over the table and tree on to herself. I would have done the table idea if I felt like we had one sturdy enough, and small enough not to take over our living room.

I will not be putting any gifts under the tree until two seconds before we open them. I'll just lay them on our guest bed so my son can still see them and guess what's inside.

I'm sure no mater what I do and how much I try to prevent it she will find herself in the tree sometime between now and when it's gone. It's not like she will be the first child to ever find herself in the tree. What did our parents do before baby gates, and when most trees where real trees. Good luck and Merry Christmas.

They make gates for those ;)

Someone has probably already mentioned this but I'll chime in anyways. When my little one was between 1 and 2 and getting into everything, we chose to have a tabletop tree that year. It was a live cut one (we've since moved on to artificial for environmental reasons) so we could still have the "smell of christmas" throughout most of our house but sat on a nice round inexpensive table that also held gifts. We had the round table next to our piano which also housed xmas gifts that wouldn't fit on the round table.
Hope that helps!
J.

You can leave the bottom empty of decorations but my fear would be he would knock it over or on top of him self. I like the baby gate idea and I have also heard of setting the tree inside a pack & play. Or put it in your computer room like you thought. I know it's not your ideal spot but it if just for this one year.

We put our tree on top of a table.

I decorated everything up high and didn't do a tree that year. OR it's a great time to teach them rules and 'no'?? We usually travel during the holidays, so it wasn't a big deal not to have a tree that year. Or just find some kid safe decorations, quilted ortanments...

I put my tree on a low table and then put a gate around it. I also taught them to not touch the tree.

Oh man...my son was 6 month sold last year and I knew I couldn't trust him with a tree. He was into everything and very curious. We just got a small tree and put it up high. We love having fun with our Christmas tree and making it a focal point, but we decided to not do that for a year. It worked out fine. Our little tree was pretty, my son didn't get into it, and this year we are putting a big tree up!

Like several people have already said, I put my tree on top of a table every year, luckily we have a high ceiling so I can do this. I also put only plastic or unbreakable ornaments at the bottom of the tree about 2 feet up, then put my more prized glass ornaments at the top. I started doing this to keep the dogs out of the tree, before we had kids, and then found it was a great solution for the kids, too!

Christmas trees can be so tempting for little ones. If you can't find a way to put a gate of some kind up, you can get a shorter tree and put it up on a table. You can still have lights and ornaments, it will just be more difficult for your baby to reach.
You can still have something that's six feet tall, just make sure the first 3 feet of it is off the floor.
You can hang garlands and lights in other places and make your house look lovely. The tree doesn't have to be the center of everything if you are worried about your child getting into it.

I hope you get some great suggestions.

Best wishes and Merry Christmas.

This sounds crazy but it worked really well. We hung ours from the ceiling for two years and last year we used a flag holder and it stuck out from the wall at an angle. That one worked for a while and then broke so we are back to the ceiling. We just put in some eye hooks and used picture wire because it was hard to see. I think one year we may have used fishing line but it has to be pretty hefty to hold the tree. Be sure to attach it at a few points. I don't notice the eye hooks in the ceiling the rest of the year but they have come in handy for other decorations and for some hanging plants.

The trick is to put the lights on by circling around the tree and actually clip them on with the clips at each socket BEFORE you hang the tree. Hang the ornaments AFTER the tree is securely hanging. It takes up less space from the room but you can't get a 10 foot tree. We had to go artificial for this as we hung it at an angle to compliment the layout of the room and could not provide water but we lit an evergreen candle and it smelled like the real thing without all the needles to clean up. You will want to find the studs or wooden beams to hang from or you will rip a hole in the ceiling. (Does not make for a Merry Christmas! Lol)

My kids are past the stage where they HAVE to pull the ornaments down but I know curiosity is a strong temptation and we have enjoyed the oddity and space it saves. Since we have it by our front window, a few neighbors with young children have come to ask how to hang their tree to keep it safe from their toddlers (I like to call them Todzilla).

Good luck!

First, I would put the tree up without decorations and let him explore it to his heart's content. Remember, attention spans at this age are minutes long, so heart's content will probably take a couple hours at most. Let him get his curiosity out.

Also, we had "safe" ornaments at child's reach. We figured Christmas was for the family so we make it accessible to all the family. During decorating, let your little one touch and hold as many of the "safe" ornaments as he wants. Teach him how to hold them.

Our son was 16 months at Christmas and it worked fine. We kept an eye on him when he was in range of the tree and helped him keep within his bounds - which was only occasionally.

Think about what Christmas memories you want to have down the road ... And remember it's only for a few weeks. Next year will be a new ballgame.

When my children were small, we would put the tree up, then anchor the tree to the wall with some picture hanging wire and eyehooks. Make sure you get into a stud or the eyehook might come out. This keeps the tree from toppling over onto a child. Also, you might get one of those playyard baby gates (it looks like an octogon) to put around the tree. Putting the tree in a corner and 'fencing' it off with the long baby gate can be really, really cute if it's done right. Also, think about having a smaller tree, like a 3 foot tree or something similar, with plastic ornaments that he can actually explore without hurting himself. And don't forget, if none of this sounds appealing, you can always teach the child NO. Ten months is not too early to learn this, but you will have to be on top of him the entire time, and be consistant.

Good luck!

When my son was a toddler, we bought a small 3 or 4ft tree and put it on a table, that way he couldn't get to it. Small artificial trees are not that expensive and you can use them in other rooms later when he is older and you can use the big tree again.

I'm a decorating nut so I have 5 trees of various sizes anyways (maybe this is what started that trend lol.)

Another idea is if you have a play yard (series of interlocking gates you can find them at Babies R Us) you can put the play yard around the tree. Play yards are a great investment as they are portable, we loved ours. We employed this trick when my dog was a puppy!

Good luck!

For this year, put a shorter tree on a small table that is tall enough that he can't reach the tree. Gifts can go around the tree and the table and look just as festive. Merry Christmas!

This is going to crack you up...but when my oldest was 10 months old and crawling (and NOT knowing better) we put the tree in his playpen. He hated the play yard at 10 months b/c he always wanted to move...so we weren't using it.
We could still look at it and he could see it but without pulling it over on him, eating the lights, etc....
We had a Christmas block party at our house and invited all the little kids and parents on the street and did not have to worry about the tree during the party. The other parents thought we were brilliant.

Our pictures of it in the photo album bring back memories.