By Emma 
Baby gates work as a protective – designed to prevent the toddlers and babies from gaining access around the home in areas where they might not be safe. This includes areas such as kitchens and stairways. These are usually made of wood, plastic or metal, and built-in a way that they can be contracted or expanded to fit in the range of the width of the doorway.
Baby gates play a critical role in protecting your baby. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that baby gates are essential when it comes to home safety.
When you have small babies at home, it is quite natural that you will be worried from time to time- afraid that they might fall from the stairs, crawl up and tumble back down. This is where Baby gates become helpful to confine toddlers and babies, and protecting them.
Reason for buying a baby gate
Baby gates have the primary purpose of protecting and confining your baby. However, below are some of the most essential and crucial reasons for buying a baby gate.
- Kids are always curious – It is like every kid to get into everything to know and test everything. However, this might be a danger to them because they might get into dangerous items in the house, such as fire items and knives. You need to confine them with a baby gate.
Babies need a safe place to play. A baby gate ensures that the kids are confined in a safe place that is adequate enough for them to play without being prone to any dangers around the house. This is a play yard that is totally baby proofed and filled with harmless toys for them to play with.
- At times, the kids have a tendency of sleepwalking – If this happens, they might stumble into dangerous items around the house or fall down the stairs, among other risks that no one may want to imagine. A baby gate confines them in the baby-proofed area for safety in case this happens.
- They are falling down the stairs – Most of the kids at the stage of crawling or just learning how to walk usually have a problem with stairs. Nobody would want to imagine their kid stumbling and falling down the stairs, some of which are very stip. Protect and confine your kid with the best baby gate that you can get.
- Keep your kids away from the pets – Kids and pets may not always mix and get along in the right way. Most of the time, your kid may get hurt or set your pooch in peril. Therefore, having a baby gate is crucial in separating them and ensuring safety for both of them. If the pets are large, then you will need the best baby gates that are taller and stronger.
- Kids tend to be attracted to the outdoors – It is common for most of the kids to want to go outside at any chance that they can get. You leave them for a minute, and they are already finding their way out. In this case, you can even have an outdoor baby gate to confine them from getting outside.
The outdoor baby gate usually has a unique design, where it is designed to withstand all elements and confines the kid to play and wander around the baby-proofed porch without going outside.
Which is the best baby gate for you?
There are a variety of baby gates designed and built from various materials for specific purposes depending on the particular home set up and the stage or nature of your kid. Understanding these factors is the key to getting the best baby gate for your kid.
Among the variety of baby gates, below are some of the best baby gates that you can get.
Baby gate for top stairs – Just the name goes, they confine your kid from coming down from the top of the stairs. In most cases, the best baby gates for top stairs are usually hardware mounted to achieve maximum safety and designed with a four-point mount and control for the door swing.
The door swing can be set to swing one way or both. However, the doors usually have a door stopper to prevent the door from swinging out over the stairs. Often, the model of the baby gate for top stairs does not have an over rail because it can be a tripping hazard.
The same design of the baby gate for top stairs also applies to the baby gates for the bottom of the stairs. Therefore, baby gates for bottom stairs are also hardware mounted with a four-point mount, a controlled door swing without an over-rail. This is the basic design for baby gates designed for stairs
Freestanding baby gate – As opposed to the hardware mounted baby gates, freestanding baby gates are not mounted anywhere. They are sturdy by themselves, flexible, portable, and handy for the purpose of moving them around. However, freestanding baby gates do not, and are not recommended for use in the case of stairs.
This is because they are always getting stronger and clever; they can move the freestanding baby gate around.
Retractable baby gates – These are baby gates that are designed with a unique feature of a roll-out mesh. It is a good option because they are usually safe in most of the places and have the advanced functionality of being retractable. Besides the retractable baby gates that are made out of a mesh material, others can be made out of wood or plastic.
Tall baby gates – They have an added feature of height. This is important, especially when your baby starts to get big enough to the point that they can climb over the short baby gates. We also talked about pets. If you have large pets in your home, tall baby gates are the best baby gates to get.
Other types of baby gates are the step over baby gates, which are only useful when your baby is too small in such a way that they cannot climb over the gate.
Besides the hardware mounted baby gates, there are also pressure mounted baby gates that have a tension fit between walls, which have an outward pressure for keeping them in place.
Conclusion
Baby gates surely give peace of mind. If your set up is a staircase set up, get a baby gate for stairs; it could be a baby gate for the top or bottom of stairs. If you need a portable and flexible one, get a freestanding baby gate, but do not use it in the stairs.
Retractable baby gates are also good for rolling them out and keeping them away to use only when needed. If your kid is growing big, or have big pets in your house, get a taller baby gate.
After all, protecting your little loved ones is your first priority as they mean the world to you.
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