Shopping Tips For Stair Safety Gates
Most parents get stair safety gates when their child begins to get mobile – around six months parents should start looking as children can start crawling soon and then their environment is a huge adventure and they should, of course, be protected from any dangers.
The obvious dangers are stairs and access to unsafe rooms normally via doors. There are many different varieties of these gates available so it is important not to get overwhelmed with choice and stick to the basics of what you need. Important considerations are how easily is the gate mounted. Some come with pressure mounts which are safe, do not require any technical skills and do not leave permanent marks. The ones that need to be mounted require fixtures to be screwed into door frames or walls which leave holes in the wall once they are removed when the child is older. Of course these holes just need to be filled in and a little paint applied.
It is also important that your child won’t hurt him or herself with the vertical bars most gates come with. Babies are amazing and are always experimenting but you don’t want your baby’s head stuck in between the bars. Almost all gates make sure this won’t happen during the construction of the gate so the bars are too close together to allow that. However, toes, legs, hands and arms could be affected. Some gates do not have bars but a strong nylon mesh which, of course, prevents any such damage. Naturally there is also a color choice that has to be made as well as shopping for a gate with the correct width. Many gates come with a standard width to fit your standard doors and many are expandable.
For tricky openings like stairs, they could be quite wide and stair safety gates are really important. No-one would want their little darling to fall up or down the stairs as the injury could be considerable. Therefore please measure the width you need the gates for both the top and the bottom of the stairs – you might even need another gate if there are accessible stairs down to the basement.
Remember, babies only get quicker on their hands and knees or later on two legs. It is amazing how fast they can be, so make sure your gates are closed at all times.
Hopefully these tips will help you when you decide to purchase stair safety gates for your child.