So, your little one (LO) started exploring the world? Do you follow your LO around as he/she crawls so they don’t end up doing something dangerous? Yeah, you need some serious baby proofing in your home. We are talking the whole ordeal, corner protectors for that nice coffee table, childproof drawer locks, baby doors and gates, the list is huge.
If you wanna read more about other safety related issues check our post on baby sleep safety and baby food. In this article we are going to focus exclusively on baby proofing your home with baby gates and baby doors.
Contrary to what most people think, baby gates and doors are not just for stairways.
For example, we wanted to keep your LO out of a large section of the living room. So we were forced to isolate this area with a quite large gate.
So, even if your house doesn’t have more than one story, you may still consider installing some baby doors around the house. The examples are plenty and we are going to cover a few in this blog post.
Baby Gates For Staircases
Staircases are perhaps the most freighting part of the house when it comes to babies who just started to crawl or walk. One minute your LO is by your side, and that second of distraction is enough for her to be crawling all the way to the edge of the stairway down.
By the same token, it is equally important to safeguard the down part of the stairway. Babies are super curious and they will try to crawl up no matter what, which can be just as dangerous.
Let’s begin with the top stairs. You want to be more careful picking the gates for top stairs than for the bottom. So, all the recommendations we make for top stair baby gates work just as well for the bottom side.
That being said, make sure you are getting the right configuration for your type of stairs. The main ones we are going to cover here are the cases of:
- stairs with no banister, wall to wall type;
- stairs with banister on at least one of the sides.
Baby Gates For Stairs With Banisters
So, we begin with the slightly more complicated case.
For the purposes of this article, we will consider a banister to be the posts on a stairway. Some configurations include two or sometimes one banister on the top side of the stairway.
The biggest complication here is when there is not flat surface on your banister. In this case, many of the traditional drilling sets of baby doors and gates won’t work on round posts. Also, having to drill your banister does not sound like a very good option.
But wait. No need for panic. The market is well served with plenty of options for these types of stairways.
Since you are not going to be able to drill it in, you need to find a solution for round banisters like in the picture above.
Basically this is what you do: You buy a regular wall-to-wall baby gate and buy an universal mounting kit that allows you to attach it to any gate on the market.
Our recommendation for an universal mounting kit is:
>>> Summer Infant Banister to Banister Universal Mounting Kit (Shop on Amazon.com) <<<
Baby Gates For Stairs Without Banisters
This is case is pretty standard. All you need is to drill on both walls and you’re good to go. What you need to check for is basically mount quality, sturdiness, reliability, etc.
Our top recommendation for this case is Stairway Gate from Cardinal. It fits stairways from 27”-42.5”, and you can even get some extension pieces that will take it all the way to 64”.
Note that you can open and close this gate as a normal baby door. There is no separated door part as some other options do. Click the link bellow to check it on Amazon.com.
>>> Stairway Gate from Cardinal <<<
Baby Gates For Inground Pool and Pool area
For those of you who are lucky to have a big and nice swimming pool in your house, this is an important one.
It turns out that swimming pools are statistically dangerous for families with small children.
Of course, it may be a hassle to child proof your whole pool area, but no one wants to be part of that tragic statistics, right? So, what you need to do is to install a pool fence around your pool area.
There are some variables you should consider here. Let’s go through some of them:
- Materials: You are going to have to choose between wood, plastic and iron. This choice is not merely aesthetic, but you should also think of the sturdiness of the fence and whether you have both pets and small children;
- Do you want a permanent fence or a removable one?
- What about the height of the pool fence?
Once you consider all these questions, you are ready to pick up your winner.
Our recommendation is the Giantex Swimming Pool Fence. The foot tube is made of aluminium and the net is made of textilene fabric. The fence is 4ft tall so it is safe and efficient to keep children and pets from the pool.
>>>Check it out on Amazon.com<<<
Baby Gates For Fireplace
For those of you who enjoy a nice and cozy fireplace on the winters and now have a small baby in the house, you should consider baby proofing it as soon as possible.
It is pretty straightforward, and you only need to surround the fireplace area with a secure fence, preferably with a lockable, swinging walk-through door.
Our top pick for this one is the versatile North States 3-in-1 Metal Superyard. It is 144 inches long, made of metal and with a walk-through gate secured by a double lock system.
Baby Gates and Doors For Large Openings
Let’s say you want to have a fence between rooms but the opening between rooms is jut too wide?
In this case you need to consider the sheer size of it. There are options on the market that contemplate sizes as big as 198 inches!
Check the many options from North Star, the largest one you can find on Amazon is 198” and should do the job for most cases. As we mentioned before, the baby gates are made of metal, doubly locked and all have a walk-through door for easy access.
>>>Check the 198” North Star Baby Gate and Playard<<<
Baby gates for windows
Those who live in apartments know. The risk of your child falling through the window is indeed frightening but it can be easily avoided.
Get some piece of mind child proofing your windows with some security bars. It takes only a few minutes and it will save you a lot of worry.
The installation is pretty straight forward and there is nothing super complicated about baby proofing your apartment’s windows.
Our top pick is the window gate by Fairy Baby. It sturdy, easy to install and does the job right. You can choose between three different sizes, 31.8”-36.6”, 36.2”-61.41″, and 61.41″-86.61″. Click on the picture bellow to check it out on Amazon.
There you go. Our list is complete. We covered some of the main security issues when you consider baby proofing your home in various scenarios.
Just bear in mind that safety comes first. The initial effort will be worth it and save you ours of worrying about the safety of your little one and may in the end of the day save your loved ones precious life.
