To playpen or to not playpen: that is the question

[babyhedgehog]

Hi,

Now that my six month old is rolling over and flipping about like a salmon in a stream, my Mum advised that I get a playpen for those moments that I need a breather/need to wash up/shower/have a coffee. Problem is, I've been reading some negative stuff online about 'jail' and 'locking them up'.

Are playpens really that bad? On one blog that was very anti-playpen, they said they just take their baby with them or put them in a bumbo when they need to do jobs around the house. I defy anyone that can hoover and hold a baby, and surely putting the baby in a seat where they can't move isn't preferable to putting them in a safe enviroment for a bit where they are able to play with their toys?

I've seen a really nice chicco one with a side that you can unzip so I thought it would make a nice den or 'reading nest' for my little girl when she's a toddler.

Does anyone know of any research that suggests playpens are bad or is the anti-playpen movement just another way to make Mum's feel bad?

This is my first post Mumsnetters so sorry if I'm not up to speed with any board etiquette.

Thanks :)

Wouldn't have been without ours. It was quite big and great for putting one twin in while I did something with the other one, changed a nappy or whatever.

With a few special toys or activities it's more of a treat than a prison. Who are these people who think up these ideas?

Loved mine. It's no more of a 'jail' than a cot is!

Clearly you don't put your child in it when you wake up and leave them in it until you go to bed.

I liked the bumbo too though. Don't pay full price though, they grow out of them so quick they are often pennies on eBay.

Oh and when showering, I used to drag the high chair into the bathroom and strap him in with some toys.

I bought one the Christmas ds was 11 months old to put our tree in, so he couldn't pull it over on himself. It actually looked very nice as a tree pen. But when I went to put it all away ds wanted to get in the pen and sit and play in it (he is normally a freedom loving child). So we kept it out for a few months and it was super useful for when I needed to answer the door quickly/cook something when he was at the grabby stage/take the kitchen bin outside (I had the pen right by the glass doors so could see him while I was standing by the bin). I also had travel cot full of appropriate toys in our bedroom while he was 8m to about 18m which he played in as a sort of play pen while I was in the shower. (He's two now and roams around but we have done a lot of toddler proofing/learned to shower fast!)

both of mine screamed as I picked them up and walked towards it and continued to do so till release. If they stand for it then a no brainer if you ask me

I started using a travel cot as a playpen when my LO started crawling about 6 weeks ago. He's never used it as a cot as he was using a pop up cot, but now he's probably too mobile for the pop up cot I can't imagine how he's going to take to sleeping in the travel cot now that he associates it with play. Any tips? I tried to put him down for a nap in it last week, having taken all the toys out but he just looked confused and stood up and wandered around the edge.

Do it! I left it too long and neither of mine would countenance staying in it when there were cupboards full of Tupperware to pull out and throw all over the kitchen floor...

The whole thing about "playpen=jail" seems to come from a very privileged place to me of having your children so spaced out and/or having sufficient help that there is always an available pair of hands for each child that is still young enough not to be aware of danger. I have twin toddlers and my day is an exercise in shifting them from one "prison" to another - high chair for breakfast, then strap into the buggy, go to the toddler group with the lock on the door, come back and back in the high chair, and with great relief immobilise them in their sleeping bags and put them in their cots for the afternoon nap! I am so grateful for gated play areas in parks, double child seat trolleys, car seats, gated soft play cafes...

We had a playpen for DS1.

I found it very useful to have a safe space to pop him in for a few minutes when I needed to do stuff in another room.

Obviously if you were to leave a baby / toddler in a playpen all day long it would be very jail-like, but leaving them in a playpen for 5 - 10 mins with toys is fine. Personally, I'd consider leaving a baby in a bumbo while I did housework to be more restrictive than a playpen.