What is a safety gate?

Safety gates can be used to protect your child once he or she becomes mobile. Gates can be positioned at the top and/or bottom of staircases and across door openings to limit your child’s exploration to a known safe area. In some cases extending gates can be used between walls and across rooms to act as internal room dividers. Some can also be used as window bars.

Do I need one?

While your baby is tiny and basically immobile you will have no need for a gate but once he/she begins to crawl or walk they can become essential depending on the layout of your home. The most critical use for a safety gate is across the top of the stairs to help ensure your child does not inadvertently tumble downstairs. As your child becomes more adventurous you may also want to consider a gate at the foot of the stairs to prevent him climbing up unsupervised. Gates can also help you convert a room of your house into a baby-safe giant playpen and help you keep your child away from hazardous areas of your home. Gates are recommended as suitable for containing children up to the age of 24 months – but remember children develop at different rates and some will fathom the locking mechanism more quickly than others.

What to look for

There are broadly three types of safety gates:

• Walk-through gates with an integral door.
• Swing open gates with a hinge that attaches to the wall.
• Barrier-style gates that can be easily removed for access.

Gates are made from metal, wood, plastic or fabric and there are pros and cons for each type. Coated metal may chip over time, wood may mark, plastic gates are often less attractive but wipe clean well.

Gates attach to the wall either with securing wall cups or pressure locks and some require drilling into the wall or banister. Consider assembly and installing carefully to ensure your chosen gate can be correctly fitted to the space your have in mind.

Locks and handles may be positioned across the top cross bar of the gate or down the side. Locks should be easy for an adult to open and secure but effectively child-proof.

Those with a floor level cross bar can cause a tripping hazard, but simple-to-fit step plates are available to help alleviate this problem.

Whatever your choice, it should conform to British Standard 4125.

View test results in brief:

• BabyDan Danamic safety gate
• Mothercare self extending gate
• Bettacare child safe opening gate
• Tomy soft safety barrier
• Lindam alarm gate
• Safety 1st pressure mounted gate