Baby gates
Baby gates
Baby gates offer you peace of mind, knowing your infant and toddlers are safe from staircases and unsafe areas
By the YeahBaby.com editorial staff
Baby gates are one of the most effective tools in childproofing your home. Baby safety gates a most effective way to keeping babies and children away from staircases and unsafe areas. Using the correct baby gate in the proper way will keep toddlers safe, and allow leave you with the peace of mind you deserve while letting your toddler run around in your home´s safe areas.
Exercise caution when accepting hand-me-down baby gates, for they may not be as safe as today´s models. Accordian style gates were very common some years ago, and can still be found at yard sales and offered by a well intentioned friend or relative. However, the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warns the jagged edge of these gates poses a stangulation hazard for babies attempting to climb over the gates. And babies attempting to climb through the gates may become entrapped in the V-shaped openings. Expanding circular wooden enclosures offer the same risks. Also, the pressure bar in other older gates may loose it´s ability to stand firmly in a doorway, or the pressure bar cleats may not perform as today´s models.
You may want to childproof an entire room or area of your home and set it up as a playroom, using baby gates to contain your child to this area. And there is such a large choice of gates out there that you can even color coordinnate with your home! An obvious alternative to a baby gate may be to close a door and locking it with a key. And always make sure your baby gates do not keep pets away from their food, water, or other necessary items.
So when it is time for you to choose and use a baby gate, you will want to remember to:
- Choose a gate with a straight top edge, with a rigid top bar
- Make sure the pressure bar can firmly anchor into it´s doorway or stairway. Failing to do so may allow children to puch through the gate and fall down stairs.
- Choose a gate with no openings more than 1 1/2 inches wide to prevent infants from entrapping their heads.
- When baby gates, always make sure the pressure bar on the side away from your child,as they your little gymnast can use this as a toe hold to climb ofer the gate.
- Read the manufacturer´s directions before using.
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