Baby Safety..pls Guide..

If you are in the US, please look into child proofing the whole house. This can be done in stages of the child's mobility. Like if your child is crawling- I would do the basic child proof where wouold plug all the electric outlets/ lock all the reachable cupboards and buy baby gates to make sure your child stays in one room (especially when you are cooking) this is different than playpen.
Tuck in all the wires around the house/ out away the coins/ out away small items.

I have baby gates in my kitchen and in the living room connecting to hallway and other rooms. As I spend a lot of time with my DS in the living room. The baby gate works good when I am cooking. I also have a high chair, where I place my son and feed him or he sits in the high chair with few toys. Don't have to worry about him while I am cooking.

I am a member of mommy group on FB in my locality and I wouldn't invest on first hand baby gates or certain non safety toys. So I would recommend you do the same. Join a mommy group and lookout for used babygates.

Hope this helps.

 

You can use playpen. It's very handy and sanity saver. We used to stay in a townhouse which had 3 floors. We did put gates on each floor. Lock all floor level cabinetry. Guard gas knobs, put corner guards on furniture edges.
Keep all toilet doors locked. Main doors locked. Windows sealed.