Extra Wide Baby Gate

Looking For An Extra Wide Baby Gate – These Are The Three Choices You Have

Many of us have open or semi open plan living now. This is great with small kids as you can watch them play while you cook or clean. The problem is how do you keep them away from a hot cooker if you need to answer the door or pop to the bathroom?

With open plan living there is often an archway or opening which divides up the different areas. But it is going to be much wider than your average door way, and hence wider than most safety gates.

Fortunately there are few extra wide baby gates available. Below are your three main options.

1. A roll back gate- This is a very common gate for wide openings. It is a bit like a roller blind, but on its side. The advantage is that it will stretch quite far. It also rolls back up so that when it is not in use it will not be in your way.

2. A narrow gate with extra panels attached at either side. Many manufacturers have realized that there is a demand for an extra wide baby gate, however, rather than design a new one, they have created extras for their current baby gates. These can work fine, but they are still often smaller than the roll back gate. The disadvantage of these is that they are a more permanent structure and even when baby is in bed you will still have it is place, narrowing the entrance between your living areas.

3. A bespoke safety gate. At first this may seem like the most appealing option, but there are several things that you need to consider. Firstly, it is the most expensive option. Secondly, if this is for your first child then you may not be exactly sure how and when you are going to use it. Are you only going to shut it if the oven is on? Is it going to be kept shut except when you need to get passed. If you are going to be opening and closing it all the time what sort of a catch do you want? Some gates have locks at the top and bottom, this is much more efficient at keeping out a child, but could you open it while carrying a plate of hot food?

When you have a child there are a lot of things you do for the first time. As you meet more parents you will hear how they dealt with situations and you will get lots of great ideas from them (as well as a quite a few pitfalls to avoid). So always be prepared to accept that you may not have got it right first time. If your extra wide baby gate becomes your biggest nightmare then you need to change it.

Remember, that a child safety has to work for both adults and babies. If it’s really inconvenient for you then you are more likely to get careless with it and not use it correctly when it counts.