Baby Safety Gates discussion (merged)

lil_me

Thanks for the info on sure start my friend is looking for safety gates, I'll pass that on

We always used the Lindam gates, my sister has them from Ikea and hasn't had any problems with them.

Not house friendly as it means drilling holes but I wouldn't use the suction ones myself as I didn't think they would be safe enough.

Juicy_Tube

Thanks for your reply.

yes, would definitely advise anyone to check with Sure Start..

Why do you advise not to go with the pressure type gates? I do not really want to screw in to walls unless I really have to..

JT x

bumpybecky

we're in a town house too and currently have gates.....

at the bottom of the first set of stairs - roller blind type
at the top of the first set of stairs - roller blind type
on the kitchen door - wooden bar type
on the bathroom doorway - sheet on chipboard about 50cm high - everyone else can step over it!
bottom of stairs to top floor - another sheet of chipboard
front bedroom doorway (being used as junk room and not baby safe) - metal bar type gate
our bedroom (baby sleeps in with us) - wooden bar gate

I like the roller blind type on the stairs as we've previously had gates with a bar at the bottom (now use these elsewhere!) and I was always tripping over the bar! not what you want on the stairs :eek: the roller blind ones retract into themselves when not in use so are great when the baby isn't around - nothing to walk into!

we've got a couple of wooden boards up that the older children and adults can just step over, but stop the baby. This isn't ideal, but it works and it's a lot cheaper than more gates! also the bigger children are terrible at remembering to close the gates

eta - we had a pressure gate before - dd2 loved pushing at it. One day she pushed so hard it came put completely and she ended up using it as surfboard down the stairs :eek: we removed it after that - safer not to have it at all!

lil_me

With the suction ones, we had one in my Mam's house for when mine and my sisters children were there and it was always coming off. Fell on my foot once and that hurt. Luckily never fell on the children but used to move a lot if they were holding onto it. Also the ones that screw in tend not to have that horrid bar you trip over or stub your toe on at the bottom. I think I paid £17 for an extending one from Argos, just bought another one to stop the dog from going upstairs

troll35

We had fixed gates at the top and bottom of the stairs without rungs to trip you up. We also have a folding tomy travel gate that had rubber pads at the end of the crossbars that can be moved around as required. You turn the crossbars to lengthen or shorten it and so you can make it fit extremely snuggly in virtually any ordinary wooden framed doorway. We have never had any children manage to push it out of the doorframe and god knows they've tried!!
We tried to keep our home as open as possible and only put gates where they were truly necessary. We shut the doors to rooms that are not in use.

Gingham_Ribbon

We had one on the kitchen door and one top and bottom of the stairs.

A couple of ideas for gates that don't need to be constantly opened and closed:

My FIL put up wood at either side of the stairs and a piece of wood that slots between them. And DH suggested using 2 lengths of net curtain wire and hooks with the wire attached top and bottom to a strong piece of fabric. It would be a bit of a faff to do often, but if it was just to keep the stairs safe at night for example then it would be a cheap option.

highland

http://www.boots.com/shop/product_details.jsp?productid=1031775&classificationid=1013487&slmRefer=000
This is the gate we were loaned by our local Child Safety Charity Babydan Streamline metal extending gate which is secured by screw fixings. They sent a bloke to fix it he said they had tested loads and they were the best.
He also advised if you are fixing a stair gate upstairs, if possible fix it away from the top of stairs i.e. in hall between child's bedroom and top of stairs as lots of children drag their toy's to the gate to clamber up and get over the stair gate and it is less dangerous for them to land in the hall than tumble all the way down the stairs:eek:

Lillibet_2

I have just fitted the kiddyguard roller kind & I would NOT recommend them! They may be space saving in a small house, but they are IMPOSSIBLE to open/close one handed (and difficult 2 handed), tricky to open & guests neeed several demonstrations before they get the hang of them, and if my son doesn't figure out how to get underneath them in the near future I will be very suprised (he's halfway there already & they've only been up a week). I was really suprised as I have never heard a negative report of this kind but I really don't like them.

HTH;)

Counting_Pennies_2

Lillibet wrote:

I have just fitted the kiddyguard roller kind & I would NOT recommend them! They may be space saving in a small house, but they are IMPOSSIBLE to open/close one handed (and difficult 2 handed), tricky to open & guests neeed several demonstrations before they get the hang of them, and if my son doesn't figure out how to get underneath them in the near future I will be very suprised (he's halfway there already & they've only been up a week). I was really suprised as I have never heard a negative report of this kind but I really don't like them.

HTH;)

I found the same problem in the first few weeks, but they are now incredibly easy to operate when you get the knack of it. I would highly recommend them and I am about to buy some more!

Lillibet_2

Counting_Pennies wrote:

I found the same problem in the first few weeks, but they are now incredibly easy to operate when you get the knack of it. I would highly recommend them and I am about to buy some more!

I am willing to be converted! Any tips on how to get to grips with them one- handed with a wriggling toddler under yoru arm?:rotfl: