Question about the Ikea Hemnes dresser

[chicago]

H is putting the dresser together as we speak.  We have the 8 drawer that we will also use as her changing table. 

So the fun Ikea instructions have no text, only pictures.  One looks like it wants us to screw some sort of anti-topple bracket thing into the wall.  I can see doing this for a tall dresser maybe, but the 8 drawer is lower and wide.  

If you have the 8 drawer, did you screw it into the wall?  Is this necessary?  I'd really rather not do this, particularly since we are renting, but the dresser seems heavy and sturdy enough on its own.  I own a four drawer Malm and tipping has never been an issue. 

[blushing]

We screw all our chest of drawers to the wall, even when we are renting. That is because we learnt the hard way. When DS was 2.5 years old, he was playing in his bedroom when I heard this loud crashing noise followed by a blood curdling scream. He had tried to climb up the chest of drawers to the top and pulled the entire thing over onto himself. Luckily he was just slightly injured, but a week later there was an article in a magazine about twins that did the exact same thing and were killed. So now it is one of the first things we do.

[chicago]

Oh my gosh, blushing, that must have been terrifying! I'm glad he was ok. I never even considered this...we are in this rental for 15 months so I'm guessing she won't be trying to climb, but I definitely think we will need to take this into account when we move into our next place. Lots to think about.

[blushing]

Feb 9, 2014 19:18:42 GMT -5 chicago said:

Oh my gosh, blushing, that must have been terrifying! I'm glad he was ok. I never even considered this...we are in this rental for 15 months so I'm guessing she won't be trying to climb, but I definitely think we will need to take this into account when we move into our next place. Lots to think about.

We never considered it either until it happened. Thats the problem with parenting, it's a learning on the job sort of job. My friend learnt the hard way about the cord's on blinds and how they can strangle your child. Luckily she caught her kid (and he was only about 13 months old then) before it got to too serious, but she still needed to call 999 (our 911) because he changed colour.

In DS's first 3 years we were in ER 5 times. Once for blooding stools, twice to have his head glued back together (once he jumped off a windowsill into a coffee table while DH, my mom and I were all in the room, and once he fell at preschool), once because he choked on a jelly tot and it never came back out and once because he went into my SIL's bedroom and swallowed reed diffuser liquid. That was the scariest. He was blue lighted to the children's ICU unit. Luckily again he was fine. And we are borderline helicopter parents.

[mannah]

Okay and now I'm officially freaked out and sweating.

glad everyone was ok in all those times! I never thought about the window blind cords.

[blushing]

Feb 9, 2014 19:46:06 GMT -5 mannah said:

Okay and now I'm officially freaked out and sweating.

glad everyone was ok in all those times! I never thought about the window blind cords.

Don't be scared. They don't come out being able to do those things. As they learn so do you. You will meet, and probably know some kids that have never been to ER. You can do whatever you like to protect them, but you still need to let them learn and that includes them gettting hurt so that they know their limits.

[thatgirl2478]

We didn't - but then our 3yr old DD has never been a daredevil. Heck, she hasn't even attempted climbing out of her crib yet! But we also didn't put outlet covers on because she never had any interest in them. We did the barest level of child proofing - basically we put latches on the cabinets with chemicals in them.

Again, every kid is different, but you need to do what you feel comfortable with.

[laurenpetro]

I have that dresser and I'm nearly positive even I couldn't topple that thing by climbing it.

That said, lash it if it makes you feel better.

[VillainV]

I wouldn't worry about doing it for a newborn, so it really depends on how long you're going to be in the house and whether the baby will be climbing by then. Really though, the consequences of NOT doing it could be pretty dire (serious injury or death), so I'm okay with some holes in the wall.

Having said that, we're moving when baby is about 4 months old, so we don't really plan to do any baby-proofing in this house. But the next house we will.

[shelbyann]

We have the low Malm dresser and will anchor it to the wall at some point when she starts pulling up on things. I don't think the damage is too terrible from those wall strap anchors...not any worse than hanging a heavy picture. I wouldn't think most landlords would ding you for that as long as you patch it up.

[changedname]

I have it on my to do list just to get it over and done with. Every now and again someone will post that horrific story on MMM about that little girl who was squashed to death by her dresser.

I also have an Ikea Billy bookshelf that I want to put connect to the wall.

[ringstrue]

Most dresser come with this screw attachement now.

You should really consider all the dressers and high pieces of furniture for issues like this. Both our dressers in our room would hit the bed at the half-way mark (yay small houses! lol) so that's the only reason we haven't done ours.

[mrsnole]

We have this dresser and didn't attach it to the wall.