The Benefits of Using Safety Gates for Babies and Toddlers
Your baby is crawling and your toddler is walking and you have stairs in your home without doors to close. This definitely is a safety issue so parents begin to use safety gates for their little ones. One of the benefits is safety and this is a good way to start setting boundaries for your children. They have to learn that some areas are off limits so this is a good way to start teaching them. Safety gates are easy to install and easy to take down when your children are sleeping at night. They also are not hazardous to small children. The gates are strong and firm and stay in place if they are used properly and your children don’t pinch their little fingers in the gates either.
A fall from the top of a staircase can lead to serious injuries and even death when it comes to small children. Every hard injury a child experiences will affect him for the rest of his life. A fall out of bed or a slip on the ice can start a child a lifetime of neck and back problems so it’s important to be safe with gates. Not all gates are made the same so it’s important to look for a sturdy gate. There are typically two types of gates you will find at the store. The first type of gate uses hardware to mount the gate. This type of gate is secured to the frame on the inside of your walls. This is a good gate to use at the top of stairways. The reason is that they are bolted to the frame of the inside of the wall and provide extra stability for your child. This gate won’t budge and this will help parents feel secure that their little ones won’t roll down the stairs.
The next type of gate uses pressure to mount the gate. This type of gate has rubber that works when parents wedge the gate between the walls if they want to keep their kids out of a certain room but still keep their eyes on them. This gate is not good for stairs but if you want the kids to keep their toys in the toy room or you have some dangerous areas in your home, this is the gate you want for a one-story dwelling.
Kids are pretty adept so make sure if they are good climbers, you keep an eye on chairs that they can push towards a gate that is blocking the stairs or you could have a fatal accident. Kids are very curious and when parents say no, they are even more curious. If you have problems like this the buy two gates that you can mount, one for the top of the stairs and one for the bottom of the stairs. This will help in case of a tumbling accident so your child doesn’t end up smacking his head on the cement floor of a basement or a wooden floor. Make sure you check everything because kids can figure out many different ways to get over a gate so remove any dangerous stools, step stools, and chairs out of the way.
Start planning early and start putting up your gates by the time your child is six months old. This is about the time they start rolling around and crawling.
Don’t take the gates down before you know that your child can master all their dexterous abilities. You are the parents so it’s your job to test their skills periodically and see how they walk up and down stairs as they get older. Children are pretty good at walking by the age of three years old but each child is different so make sure you are absolutely positive that your child can go up and down the stairs cautiously and without running. Each child is different so let them take their time before you remove any gates.
Every day five children under age seven are in the ER of hospitals in the United States because of a baby gate injury. Children are tough and can easily push through the gates if they aren’t mounted correctly. Toddlers can pull the gates down and older children can be clumsy and fall when climbing or jumping over the gates. Always make sure the gates are closed and stay away from the old fashioned accordion wooden gates. These have all been recalled. The reason is the style has a gap at the top and the sides and have trapped and can strangle children. Always check for recalls on any product you buy that is being used for child safety.
Some parents use these gates around their fireplaces, you can buy window gates too to prevent falls through a screen or out of the window. Some parents use gates to keep their child from coming into their room at night but that’s completely up to you. Some children are fearful and sleep in a toddler bed by age 2. They might need some reassurance to know that someone is in the house, so it’s up to the parents if they use the gate to prevent their child from finding them asleep at night.
All parents should constantly monitor their small children both day and night to make sure accidents don’t happen and to keep their children feeling safe and secure. Safety gates are a great way to keep kids safe from various hazards in your household and in your yard as well. The last thing a parent wants is to be rushing their child to the emergency room to take care of an injury that could have been prevented. This is why it’s very important to make sure the gates you choose are properly put together and safely installed. In addition, make sure that your child can’t climb over the gate or push it down. Check for hazards in the area near the gate because children are good at figuring out ways to get up, down and around things that are off limits. This is your child’s life and these gates are very critical for their safety.
