The curious nature of children, while great for education, can be severely harmful to them sometimes. If you have a toddler at home, you’re well aware of how hard it is to keep them from playing with things they shouldn’t be touching and their everlasting tendency to jump from high places.

What can you do in this situation? You can’t exactly follow your energetic kid around all day to make sure they aren’t getting up to something dangerous again, can you? Well, what you can do is to baby proof your home as much as possible. If you have a baby at home, one of the first things you should do is to make a gated area to ensure his or her safety.

Often, parents would place these safety gates on the top or bottom of the stairs or in front of the doorways. Mostly, these gates are made for babies whose ages range from 6 months to 2 years, though you can find baby gates for slightly older kids.

For a new parent, though, it’s not easy to know what kind of baby gates they should opt for. A lot of parents end up buying ones that aren’t that sturdy or suitable for what they wanted the baby gate to protect their kid from. Instead of protecting their kids, these gates can end up hurting them. As such, let’s take a look at some of the things you should keep in mind while buying baby gates.

Measurements

First thing first, before you even think of looking at a gate, your first job is to take measurements. Where are you going to place the gate? Take measurements of the wide area. Whether it’s the top or bottom of the stairs or the doorways, check the width so that when you are looking for a baby gate, you find one that’s the right size to block your child’s path.

Borrowing

While some people borrow gates to see how it works out, we would recommend buying one that’s suitable for your house instead of using one that your friends brought with their own house structure in mind. Regardless, if you do borrow one, there are chances you can be offered accordion-type gates, which used to be popular.

While accordion-type gates are supposed to be safe, the truth is, the shape of the gate itself can prove hazardous. The opening of these gates is diamond-shaped, and the top is shaped like a wide V. There’s a good chance your child might try to place their head inside the space and end up trapped, which can lead to choking.

Certification

Certification is a must. Take a good look at the label and make sure they comply with the safety standards and have been certified as such. You should be on the lookout for words such as ASTM and JPMA.

Type Of Gate

If you’re buying a gate that’s meant to be placed at the top of the stairs, it should be hardware mounted that’s firmly connected to the door frame. It also shouldn’t come with an opening where your kid’s finger or neck can get stuck.

Freestanding gates and pressure-mounted ones are good enough for doorways and the bottom of the stairs, though a strong push from your child can have it falling over. It would be good if the gate has strong bars or a tightened mesh screen.

Space

The gap between the floor and the bottom of the gate shouldn’t be more than 1 to 2 inches, or otherwise, your child might try to squeeze in. If the gate has rods, the distance between them shouldn’t be more than 2 to 3 inches so that your child’s head won’t get trapped between them.

Other Things

The gate shouldn’t have any sharp area that could hurt your child. For wooden gates, you want to check for splinters. The gate should at least be three-quarters of your child’s height. The gates shouldn’t have openings that could be climbed over either.

Final Thoughts

Forbes considers baby gates a must to have in your home and for good reasons. If you do find the right baby gate, you can breathe much easier knowing your kid is always safe even if you aren’t around to supervise them. However, your negligence in thoroughly looking for a proper baby gate can put them in danger. So research and inspect as much as you can before you buy one.

How To Find Baby Gates That Are Safe?