Keeping toddler safe

[WhoAmi39]

I'm a single parent and I'm struggling to do anything while my 18month old is awake. Even getting dressed is hard.... Any advice?? Should I use a play pen etc.. My living room is very small so I couldn't keep it up all the time.

We have a play pen in the living room and stair gates on most doors. I contain 15 month DS wherever is most appropriate. eg when I'm cooking the gates are closed so he's stuck in the hall and can play and see me. When I need to shower he's in the playpen with ITNG on the tv. When I'm tidying all the gates are open and he has free rein.

My play pen is a god send, We have a lindam one that folds down and can be used outside too. Cooking, showering, getting dressed, hovering and DIY are all now possible.

My dd is the same age, we've got a stair gate on the living room so I can leave her in there but not for too long because she can climb on the coffee table, if I need to have a bath I usually wait til she is asleep or pop her in her cot. If I'm washing up or cooking then I bring her high chair into the kitchen and she sits in there because I can't put a stair gate at the bottom of the stairs so I cant let her play in the hall/ dining room. If I'm getting dressed then I just let her play in the bedroom with me with the door shut.

Thanks for the replies. Please just shootmenow what make is your play pen and where is the best place to get one?

Try gumtree - I used a travel cot which works too but might be a bit small. Check amazon for reviews of any you see for sale.

I would shower/bathe when she is napping or let her get in with me. Getting dressed... Have some toys that only stay in your room or give her/him tasks like go get me your teapot/monkey book/put the cushions on the bed....

Distraction and redirection are your friends....

Mine is by MyGate, but I'm not in the UK and I don't think you can get that make there. It's pretty much the same as the Lindam or BabyDan ones. Huge hexagonal one which folds up, can be made smaller if needed or used as a fence to partition off part of the room.

This might be really stupid advice, and to be fair my son was only just walking at 18 months so not that much trouble. But our house is totally toddler proof. He could climb onto the dinning table obv but he has never done that and I think he knows he's not allowed to.

It means I can be in another room to make a cuppa or get dressed and I'm confident he'll be alright. (It's a flat which is quite open plan so you can hear everywhere).

That said I love the idea of special bedroom toys.

K

Stair gate on ds bedroom door - put a few toys in etc and I can shower. Sticking him in his cot or high chair for a moment!
Gave up on cot around 18 months though whilst showering as he climbed out and appeared in the bathroom!

I would just move him into the rooms with you.

Keep a small basket of toys/ books in each room so if you want to get dressed, bring him into bedroom and shut door and let him play with small basket of toys in there, same in bathroom where he can play with bath toys

I go against the playpen idea, just because at 18 months both mine could climb out of their cots in seconds so I would assume a playpen would be the same, so you would think safe but he's actually out.

Try and make each room safe also so it's easier to just let him roam.

Oh and we didn't have any stair gates but mine also climbed over a friends stair gate by 18 months also!