If you are a parent of a small baby or a toddler then you must have to stay alert all the time to keep your young ones safe from any sort of injury.
The most common baby injuries are due to the negligence of parents and for not installing baby gates at strategic places, resulting in toddlers falling down from the stairs or entering the garage or any place that could be dangerous for them.
In this regard, it is the prime duty of parents to install safety equipment at home especially in those areas that can be dangerous for your little one like the top or bottom of the stairs, in the door of the kitchen or bathroom. Baby safety gates are the most effective solution to prevent home accidents.
Some active babies and toddlers are very smart to overcome safety barriers. We know young toddlers are very active and always try to discover new places at home, but being a caring parent you must keep an eye on your child’s activity to keep them safe from any kind of hazard.
In this article, we will be discussing the important things you should know about baby gates for the security of your babies and the optimum height of these gates to ensure complete safety.
Table of Contents
What is Baby Gates?
As your baby grows they start crawling around and could reach the places where they can meet any accident. To prevent such situations, baby product manufacturers came up with a secure solution -Baby Gates- to limit the room for young toddlers. These gates are specifically designed for kids under 2 years of age or three feet tall, You can set up the baby gates at the top or bottom of the staircase depending on your baby’s location, to save them from tipping over the stairs.
The baby gates are equipped with a study frame and durable airy mesh. This transparent mesh allows the parents to keep check what their babies are doing even from a distance.
Types of Baby Gates
There are two types of baby gates that can meet different requirements of parents and their babies. One type of baby gates, Hardware Mounted Baby Gates are fixed in the wall and provide high security for your baby because these immovable gates are impossible for little hands to take down.
While on the other hand, the second type of the baby gate is the portable one. These portable baby gates – Pressure Mounted Baby Gates – can be set up and taken down anytime with ease. The only downside of this type of baby gate is that they can be taken down by active toddlers. Some smart kids find a way out to escape these gates by pulling up the mesh or simply climbing over it.
Can Baby Gates Use for Pets?
Yes, since the nature of requirements are the same for both babies and pets. So baby gates work perfectly fine to limit the area for your pets too. But just like kids, pets are also smart enough to learn the way out and tackle down the portable safety gates easily.
How High Should the Baby Gates or Pet Gates?
It depends upon the height and age of your toddler or the breed of your pets. Usually, people customize their Hardware mounted baby gates according to their baby’s requirements but some people don’t spend too much on the fixed gates because they are for short-period use unless you’re planning to have more little ones, and go for Pressure Mounted Baby gates that can be set up wherever you want and remove them when not in use.
When choosing the portable baby gates from the market, the parents need to check the height first because not all pressure mounted gates work for all babies and pets. These gates are specifically designed for certain age groups but some manufactures are making gates that can grow with your little one. The main thing that varies in these retractable baby gates is their height that can stop the little feets to pass through it.
What is the Optimum Height for Retractable Baby Gates?
Generally, the safety gates should be high enough to prevent your kids or pets from climbing over it. The retractable safety gates for toddlers come in height ranging from 29-inches to 36-inches, which is considered as the extra tall gate height for bigger toddlers and the pet gates come in the height ranging from 20-inches to 36 inches. In some cases, manufacturers provide the extension option to increase the gate height upto 16-inches.
For instance, if your baby crawls then get the safety gate that is 3 feet tall than his height or if your young one has already started walking then keep the height of the gate 3 times to his height.
The baby safety gates must be 22-inches tall and the bottom of the safety wall should not be much higher from the floor otherwise they will be totally ineffective to stop your toddler. The maximum distance of the safety gate wall from the floor should be 3-inches but not more than that.
Optimum Bar Spacing for the Retractable Safety Gates
Just like height, bar spacing between the baby safety gates is very important. Some weak or smaller toddlers can get their head stuck in between the gate bars while trying to escape through it or some smaller breed dogs can squeeze through the spaces in the safety gate and make it ineffective to use.
For these reasons, ensure the bar spacing of the baby gate is smaller and safer to install them around your little ones or your small puppies or dogs.
Usually, the gates come with a bar spacing of 2.5 inches but for complete safety get the baby gate with 1 to 1.5-inch bar spacing or the one with an adjustable design that can extend or concise the bar spacing.
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