Baby Health Line

One of the simplest ways to extend the life of your child is to fit a safety gate on stairs. Every year children die or are permanently injured after a tumble down stairs. After seeing people fall down stairs in the movies or on tv it’s easy to think a fall is no big deal. First, they’re stunt professionals, and second children are more likely to sustain an injury. A safety gate helps keep toddlers who’re at the crawling, walking, or riding on toys safe near stairs or other areas that are unsafe. Protecting little hands from fire places, heaters, or hot ovens is also an essential.

Here’s some tips for buying a safe baby gate:
Makes sure the gate mounts to a door frame with solid hardware. Stay away from flimsy fittings (remember the gate will need to stay in place for probably a couple of years or more). Make sure the fittings are snug and without gaps that would allow little fingers to probe and get stuck.

Photo by treehouse1977Make sure there are no sharp edges on any of the fittings, including if the screw heads had burred up during the installation.

Friction-fit (pressure fit) gates that mount on the door frame are unacceptable. Kids will rattle the gates, or bang into them on wheeled toys, or the materials in the gate could shrink with wear – over time the gate could move, and a child could push the gate open. The resulting fall could be fatal.

Makes sure the gate opens away from the stairs. This way if the catch fails the child’s weight against the gate will help it stay closed. If the gate swings the other way the risk of a fall is much higher.

The gate needs to be mounted two inches (50 mm) above the floor to ensure little fingers/toes don’t get stuck between the bottom of the gate and the floor. Note to parents/older people climbing up the stairs – the gap is a wonderful opportunity to ‘post’ toys and other items through. They disappear in a highly satisfactory manner – and represent a real hazard underfoot. Take care.

Photo by sean dreilingerMake sure the gap between the bars/barriers in the gate are too narrow to admit a child’s head. A maximum gap between the bars of about 2 inches (50 mm) is likely to be safe.

The bars/barriers need to be vertical, otherwise you’re providing a ladder for the child to climb up. Having a narrow gap between the bars/barriers helps reducing the chances that a child will be able to get a foot in and try to climb the gate.

You’re likely to need the gate for around a couple of years – when your child’s standing height has reached about three quarters of the height of the gate (probably around age two) it’s time to introduce the idea of training the child in stair safety. Once the idea of taking care around the stairs has been bedded in it’s time to remove the gate, although you might like to keep the gate handy for birthday and other parties. Accidents happen when kids are excited and run around – chasing games can end with nasty surprises. You could help stop that with the temporary use of the gate.