Baby gates for stairs – which are the best?
As a parent, it is most important to know that baby gates are what limits your child’s access to those areas of the house which might be dangerous. What should be protected in the first place are stairs. To ensure the best protection in their top part, you must know that some baby gates cannot be used. Here are some hints which might be of use to you.
There are different kinds of baby gates in stores. The three which are most commonly used are hardware-mounted, pressure-mounted and retractable gates. They all differ in the way they are mounted and the places in the house they serve best.
It is commonly agreed that pressure-mounted gates should not be installed to block the top part of the stairs. The reason is that they simply do not provide the highest protection. They can, however, be installed without any tools nor experience, which is of great convenience, but there is always a chance that your child will be able to push through the gate. This kind of gates is best to use between two opposing walls in order to cut off the way into another room. But they are not sufficiently stable in the case of stairs.
Hardware-mounted gates are what is usually said to work here the best. They are mounted with screws to walls and banisters, and they provide the safest and the most effective way of preventing your child from getting access to the stairs. It is true that they are more problematic in installing and use than the previous kind of gate, however, in ensuring maximum security, no other baby gate is as effective.
The third kind of baby gates which might be considered as an alternative, is the retractable baby gate. This kind of gate is getting more and more popularity, but still, there is a doubt concerning the question, if it should be used to protect the top part of the stairs. The problem here is that they are made of polyester mesh, which is safe for your child as it is soft, but at the same time it can become dangerous. It is possible that the material will not hold, for example, a heavier child running towards it. What is important is to find out exactly how resistant the material in the safety gate is. After you make sure that it will be endurable enough, considering the weight of your child, retractable baby gate may function even better as baby gates for stairs than the hardware-mounted ones.
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