Aibu for thinking baby pens are necessary?

[BySereneMintSwan]

I have a baby who is very much on the move.

I'm looking at baby proofing the house and downstairs is open plan, but a step down to the kitchen and an unused wood burner fire (slate base).

I feel that play pens are quite restrictive but I don't think it's possible to baby proof the ground floor -socks, tables, chairs, radiator, toy storage etc. although downstairs is somewhat spacious for a terrace house it's also quite small.

Baby never took to the bouncer and he's 10 months.

Thoughts?

Sorry didn't know where else to post

We had a pen for our first who was very mobile, crawling at 6 months and walking at 10 months. Only used the pen for a couple of months but it was helpful at the time. She got frustrated with it quite quickly though. With our second, the living area is already pretty baby proofed , through having had a toddler teaching us many lessons about what can be left out and what can’t!

Thanks for the response.

So maybe get a cheap one and go from there?

I feel the baby will get very frustrated, very quickly.

If it helps keep him safe and helps keep you sane, why not.

My DN uses something like this for his DC. Sections off a nice area and plenty of space to get in and play with his DC.

Feel it's a bit cruel them being behind bars!

I guess they aren't in there all day.... He's going to nursery soon so will only be evenings and weekends.

I was thinking of getting rid of my living room table and making that room baby proof (I have glass doors). Easier to keep the baby contained?

Well no I don't think they're NECESSARY.

But clearly some people like them so it's up to you

I didn't have one for mine

Couldn't you section off the dangers, rather than put the baby in a pen?

Mine was really good - for the puppy 😂

We didn't have one and didn't do much baby proofing either, didn't even have a stair gate until eldest was 2.5.

BUT, we had lazy potatoes and FT nursery by the time they were crawling.

Do whatever you need to do. Some friends had great success with the type of thing @Mycatisashit posted.

Safety tots I think do a modular one.... I don't really have that much room! I was thinking this might be good to add sections etc. I just don't know where I'll keep baby etc.

Plus it's when you need to go upstairs.to the toilet.... I want to know he's safe

I don’t like play pens. But I cannot baby proof my house to allow enough to allow DC to run free. So I have a (fucking huge and ugly) play pen in the corner of the living room. It makes cleaning up the toys much easier too. 😊

I am looking forward to getting rid of it but I don’t know when that will be because DC is interested in absolutely everything. I guess when they can climb over the side. Hopefully, that won’t be for a while.

You only pop them in there for short periods. Eg when they are at a very active stage and you really need to get on with something.
I had twins and mine was a godsend. I also used it for drying clothes on of a night.

I'm not sure what the dangers are..... Eg are hot radiators dangers? I know that sounds silly but I don't recall my mum doing much about our radiators at home with my siblings.

I'm guessing I would need to cook and can't keep eyes on him on the time, so would need to do quite a bit of baby proofing?

What happens when they are older but don't understand dangers?

I can't recall any friends having anything other than door gates....

I didn't use mine for long periods but found it invaluable to be able to put them somewhere safe for a few minutes while answering the door, going to the loo etc.

I used one for mine for short periods only, as we had a hairy dog and I wanted to vacuum each morning before letting the babies crawl around. They were quite happy but the playpens were the old-fashioned wooden ones with attached floor. You can't be watching them every second and at least you know he'll be safe. Mine used to get very absorbed in their toys too.

I think the more modern plastic ones can be dismantled by any enterprising young toddler.

You'd have to start very early though, get them used to it otherwise it might feel like a prison. I'd never leave them in there for more than half an hour at a time anyway.

Sanity and safety. Go for it. Sectioning off parts of the room is just ... using a playpen.

Same reasons you don't put a baby to sleep in its own double bed 🤷🏻‍♀️ It's safer in a confined area!

I had five kids without a pen. I did install a permanent barrier around the fireplace and put gates on the stairs. Otherwise I just made sure the environment was safe for them to play in and watched them all the time.

If a pen works for you though, go for it. I'd just use it for short periods, like when you have to go to the bathroom or quickly finish up the meal prep or something. Though mine used to play or pull pots out of a cupboard when I was doing that, or come with me to the bathroom.

Errrrr the baby does go to sleep in a double bed.... I join him :/

But it's a mattress on the floor lol

It's fine for five/ten minutes here and there. Not for extended periods and not as an alternative to baby proofing.

I'd be very surprised if he's happy in there with you out of his eyeline so I'm not sure the leaving him in it while you go upstairs to the loo would work. You might end up just taking him with you which is the solution to making sure he's safe anyway!

Do you have a travel cot? I'd just use that as a temporary baby jail to keep him safe if you need to answer the door/be away for five minutes.

We just had stair gates when we needed them.
Didn't put anything else on for safety. Worked out ok

We had an extra large travel cot that we used, but not for long periods. We chucked a load of soft play type balls in and ds had a whale of a time. It's useful to have a safe, contained space when necessary but I wouldn't want to effectively ban dc from the rest of the space - it's their home too.

It's the step down that would really concern me in your situation, and I can't immediately think of how to get round that, other than not use that room.

No but you also don't want SS knocking on your door or a trip to A&E