Bought a playpen for the baby

[Babyzoo]

What's your view on playpens? We've bought one for our youngest, never seemed to need one for eldest.

Youngest is 13 months and can't keep out of trouble. We've baby proofed as much as possible but for example, one of our sofas means he keeps climbing up onto the arm and onto the window sill. There's nowhere else we can move it as we have two sofas and the layout of the room means one has to be near a window. Another example is he climbs onto the sofa and gambols around so it's not safe to leave him in the sitting room.

He won't tolerate going in his highchair while I cook and he's even trying to climb out of that. He's got a chair but he can climb out of that too and hates it anyway.

Some people think playpens are cruel but can't think of another way.

I'm getting one when the next dc is here, to keep the older kid from sitting on the baby when I need to do stuff, don't think it's cruel?

I don't understand the cruel thing,as others have said, it comes up with reins too (comments about them "not being a dog." and so forth!)
I'd rather have a child safely locked away than one in risk of harm! We will be living with my parents for the first year and our living space is upstairs so I will absolutely be buying a playpen for once baby is crawling so that I can bring them downstairs with me to cook!

We are already looking into those fence style things that section off rooms too but that is as much because of our caged pets as it is because of the child, we want our rats to be safe from baby (when they are a toddler really) and our baby to be safe from having their fingers nipped!

I've even managed to wall paper an entire room without DD eating the paste or climbing out of a window... Magic eh? grin

Kids have very different temperaments. Ds's little cousin wouldn't need a playpen - she's a cautious little soul, and quite happy to toddle along and orbit a parent. She wouldn't eat paste.
Our ds is a ball of strength and energy - he will climb *anything^ , pick up anything, everything straight in the mouth, darting off hither and thither. It's actually interesting to watch the two of them because while both understand no and are nice, well behaved kids, their personalities are so , so different. He would have been diligently covering the floor with paste to 'help'

incidentally, you can be watching them and even then stuff happens. A friend had her friends toddler pull the tv down on the baby - the baby died. The parents were right there watching but couldn't catch it.

Telling you flush your head was uncalled for. But your comment did come across as quite judgemental. Most of the time we use the playpen I'm in there with him or right outside. It's so I can get things done without constantly bending and picking him up, which isn't safe for me because of my back. I don't see anything wrong with that - I've effectively walled off a few sqm of the room so he can play safely. It's not a tiny cage,

My DS had a playpen - see no problem with them at all, it contained his toys so the living room wasn't a constant mess ......... some people like them, some don't - so long as your child is not in a play pen 24/7 I don't see the problem.

Also for ds I had a jumparoo style thing that I used to stick him in to cook etc which is the same sort of thing surely, are those bad too

The thing about pens being cruel is nonsense, such an exaggeration. Who has time to 'watch their child' obsessively? What about going to the toilet, hanging up some washing, doing cooking? I'm pretty sure this is a new theory along with reins being cruel.

Pirate I was smug with DC1 and DC2 and made the common mistake of thinking it was as you say, simple.
DC3 however at nineteen months managed to open a brand new tub of sudocrem and cover himself and three month old DC4 in it in the time it took me to have a wee and put the kettle on.
I left it too late for a playpen with him though, he initially charged at the sides and tipped it then learned how to climb out, or in if I left DC4 in. I had to resort to safety gates made for large dogs to secure him.

Hang on, why can't you hoover with a child "roaming free"? I can totally see their usefulness for cooking, gardening etc but hoovering? Babies are a bit big to accidentally hoover, aren't they?

Mind you DS was terrified of the hoover until he was about four so I think I probably did it when he was asleep.

We are getting one soon as we have two flights of stairs to contend with & I don't want to be in a position where DD or DNephew are mobile in opposite directions although we will have a stair gate at the top of the flight going down. I don't particularly want to be in a position where I have to take both of them with me when I have to use the toilet. Although, I suppose that I could plonk them both in the bathtub. Unless they turn the taps on...

Hang on, why can't you hoover with a child "roaming free"?

My DC went through a phase of being fascinated by the vacuum cleaner. They would try and sit on the front of it when it was on, deliberately jump right in front of it as if they wanted their toes sucked up, and I accidentally knocked them over once or twice when they were trailing so closely behind me that I bumped them when I was pulling the vacuum backwards (having not heard them over the noise of the vacuum). And i caught DS2 chewing the vacuum's cable once when DH was vacuuming in the same room as DS2.

Ah okay. Then it is definitely because DS was scared of it! He wouldn't have got that close.

Good idea. Whilst you nip to the loo, cook, answer the door etc you know he is safe. Or you can use a travel cot.
I sometime put lots of plastic ball pool balls in ours for a bit of ball pool time, obviously not left him alone when the balls are in.
Nothin wrong with them for limited periods. Much safer than letting him roam unsupervised whilst ypu try and make some toast or a cuppa!

We got a playpen for our youngest.
With reference to babies having different temperaments, we didn't need one for our eldest. The house we lived in at the time was much easier to baby proof and he just seemed to understand a lot more a lot earlier, if that makes sense.
My youngest - not so much! The house we live in now is as baby proofed as we can get it, but during the cruising and early toddling phase it was a nightmare. He climbed everything he could, and like previous posters, we were limited to how we could move furniture to stop it.
We bought one of the big Babydan ones with the hexagonal mat in the middle. He didn't like being in it much, so I never put him in it for more than a few minutes at a time, when I really needed to.
It soon became a toy repository and often my eldest would go in there to escape from the baby!
We then used it to block of part of the living room and the stairs for a while and now it's stretched out flat along our upper bannisters as they're not "child safe" and functions as an upper stair gate over night. Incredibly useful piece of kit I would not have been without.
Good idea about the Christmas tree. Wish I'd thought of it! I have a video of my toddler happily knocking the (plastic) baubles off.

I've even managed to wall paper an entire room without DD eating the paste or climbing out of a window... Magic eh? grin

Just the one kid then? Another one might cure you of the bad case of the smug you seem to have acquired....

We'd be stuffed without our lovely, lovely playpen. Two-year-old DD has no sense of danger, still puts things in her mouth and is constantly clambering and trying to launch herself off furniture. The playpen allows me to go to the loo, cook, put a load of washing on, have a shower, in the knowledge that she's safe and happy. We have playpen-only toys and she'll often ask to go in there and close the gate after herself.

My best friend's husband told her that under no circumstances were they getting a "baby gaol". As a result, she hasn't had a private pee for 2 years. I'd have told him that unless he was going to stay at home and look after the baby, he could stick his opinion.

DD has spent some time in her playpen this morning. I put her in there so I could drink a cup of tea without her climbing on me and knocking it out of my hand. I also put her in there whilst I cleaned her highchair. Both times she went in happily and played with her toys independently. As I said before, sometimes she cries as soon as she goes in so I get her straight out again or just quickly run to the loo etc. We also go out every dayvin her buggy or carrier, she has time every day where she can roam around the living room with me watching, we usually go to a park or soft play every day and always have plenty of cuddles, singing and interaction. I fail to see how it is bad parenting for her to spend some time in a fairly large play pen where she can play with toys on her own and I can cook, clean, have a cuppa or whatever, always in the same room, knowing that she is safe?

I have one.
I use it when I have to leave the climbing child alone so I can go to the toilet.

Her big brother could climb out of it when he was 2 though. Sodding monkey.

Don't leave anything in it that they could climb on!

Used a travel cot as a playpen. We lived in a 3 storey house so had to go downstairs to answer the door, get post, bring up shopping. He was never in it for longer than 15 minutes and I would always check on him.
Second baby we live in a more child friendly house so haven't used it as much but occasionally it's been helpful so I can clear up, cook, deal with older children.

I used the travel cot for the boys when cooking, they were fine as they had toys and the occasional bonus find of a discarded breadstick!

Ds1 would do his WWF style bouncing off the sides much to his hilarity.

Better than some child/knife/boiling water combo.

Ds2 used to stand on the Hoover when I used it.

dd and I cosleep so the playpen was the only safe space to put her for a few minutes as we didnt have a cot.

It also doubled as a 'chill out' room where she could have her screaming, head banging tantrums without knocking herself unconscious on our stupid tiled floors.

We had one for DS, for when I was cooking, answering the door, having a pee. We used to take it on our caravan holidays and pop him in it whilst we set up the caravan and awning. They can have their place as long as they are not overused. Better safe than sorry.

If he won't go in the highchair then I bet he's not the kind of baby that'll go in a playpen without screaming!

Neither of mine tolerated more than ten seconds in any kind of enclosed space, they barely even play in their rooms with the gate locked.

For a few weeks / months I can see how they would be useful but overall I think the most important thing is eliminating risks / dangers and trying to teach safe behaviour as far as possible. I say this with a 16 month old who I constantly have to remove from the top of the kitchen table. She can climb up there in the time it takes me to turn round and put something in the bin!

We also have a jumperoo thing (fisher price) which is fab. If I'm cooking or cleaning the kitchen I pop him in that and he bounces away chatting to me perfectly happily. I'm right by him, interacting with him ("here are the big plates, they go in this cupboard..!) certaintly not dumping him in it and neglecting him. Maximum 15-20 mins while Stuff Gets Done.
His little cousin turfed him out of it last week so she could have a go so it's clearly fun!
Op, do whatever works. All kids are different and it's not a crime to want five minutes to drink a cuppa.