Play Pens aren't popular anymore?

[PlanetTeaTime]

I've had a few people say to me that play pens aren't in fashion anymore (people whose kids have grown up and started having their own kids)

And I just wanted to know if that's true?

My baby isn't crawling yet so it's been a non issue for us but I'm really curious as to why they aren't popular now?

@Fallagain

Lack of space and babies need space to roam around.

You put them in for 5-10 minutes, while you nip to the loo or boil the kettle; you don't leave them in it for ages. Life-saver IME. I suspect that many people who are sniffy about them are using cots/buggies/highchairs for the same thing. Personally I think a baby is much better off in a playpen.

I also agree with @schnubbins about safety when cooking.

My mum had one for us when little . We were not in it all the time . Just to keep us safe sometimes if she had to do something urgent .

And occasionally out in the garden with some toys where she could see us when cooking dinner .

Can’t say it affected me at all ?

We used a travel cot set up in the hall between the kitchen and playroom. Filled it with toys and books and DC were happy in there while I did anything child-unfriendly that I needed to.

People are sniffy about all sorts of weird things. I just let them get on with that.

I think playpens are great now and again. Shame people who think they're a cage don't think the same about awful dog 'crates'.

I had baby gates on lots of my doors so I could shut my children in or out of rooms as needed. I just didn’t need one and I didn’t want yet another thing taking up loads of space.

I have one for but we mainly use it to put round the dog while he is sleeping so toddler DS doesn't stand on him.

We had a playpen in the kitchen so I could supervise DS while cooking (the layout of the room allowed the pen to be well away from any danger of hot spills etc). He was perfectly happy to look at stacking cups/soft books/etc for half an hour while I chatted to him or had the radio on, and I wasn’t tripping over him or strapping him into a high chair for that time - we all still had to eat! In other rooms he was free-roaming.

Basically what @dreamingbohemian said.

I personally, would prefer a safe, contained baby whilst I have a shower, deal with toddler, have a poo, open the oven, etc etc.

Nobody is advocating leaving a child there all day. But for periods where other things need to be done absolutely.

Pop up here and you might even find one in the lambing shed.....or the clipping shed.....amazing how entertaining that is for baby

I had a playpen for my DC. It was really useful. My house was a general deathtrap, so it helped keep the baby safe while I was going upstairs to the loo or cooking.

One of my most favourite posts on here over the years was along the lines of "cage them when you need to get on, strap them down when they eat and put them on a leash when you go for a walk".
I'm all for it. Makes life safer and calmer.

I didn't have one but mine used to get bunged in a jumparoo when I needed to get on with stuff, I'd imagine that's just as frowned upon.

they are expensive and the are worth their weight in gold.. putting DS in it when answering the door (yes that was time for him to cause chaos), putting DD in it on her bouncy chair to keep her safe from DS when he was in his scratch phase, a giant store for a myriad of things, a challenge for either one, when they knew they had 2 mins to climb out before I was back and it was a massive game.. I am not sure how I would have coped without one!

@megletthesecond I have not seen that, but that is basically me. Perhaps not with one, but with two under two hell yes.

jumperoo was just as good!

I wished mine would play in the playpen, but they never would. I ended up using it for my puppy instead.

I used one - crawling babies who are into everything can easily hurt themselves when your back is turned answering the door/making a brew/going for a wee. Mine were never in it long, but it gave me peace of mind.

🙋‍♀️we have a baby jail.

It was so useful for us because we lived in a town house so our living room was middle floor and our stairwell was wider than I've ever seen and I couldn't find a suitable baby gate because the outer bannister was attached to these stick thin posts that wouldn't have supported a baby gate. They barely supported the bannister.

So we had baby jail up in the living room for my son, but he quickly outgrew it so now it's in a storage unit waiting for me to put it on Freecycle.

We had a huge playpen for our DC when they were little. I loved it. I used to lie down in it and snooze in the morning while my DC played safely next to me. It did take up half the living-space but was so useful as we lived in a split-level rented flat which we couldn't babyproof at the time.

I used a travel cot, means your get lots of use. You do need a safe place to leave them so you can shower, use the toilet, clean, cook - or do modern parents not do these things. My girls weren't too bad as far as pulling on wires, climbing etc but ive met kids that can't be left for 1 minute.

I mostly used ours for when I was having a shower. We have a very child unfriendly house and putting them in the play pen meant I knew they were safe while I got clean

Loved my playpen even took it camping in France

We have a huge play pen, it’s 2mx1.5m seriously massive. I don’t care if it’s trendy or not that thing is the only barrier between me and actual insanity. I couldn’t cook, pee or breast feed the baby without being able to dump my boisterous 19 month old in there with a bunch of toys

We didn't have one as we didn't really have space. If I needed a wee / shower, I just put the baby in the cot with a few safe toys (cloth books / mobile when they were tiny and unable to reach it etc.).

Single mother here. I used one for DC for downstairs and made DCs room completely baby safe - floor bed, no tall furniture etc - for upstairs.

It was my second pair of hands when I need to pee, bathe, drink a cup of tea without having it yanked over me.

We had one. It wasn’t a case of sticking kids in them all day but putting them in for brief periods with some toys they didn’t usually have access to while you went to the loo or had to do something in the kitchen and didn’t want them underfoot. Also handy for putting baby in when you have older toddlers rampaging around for ‘dance time’ or whatnot.

I do recall several occasions where I sat in it with a cuppa. Room was childproofed but it enabled me to have a cuppa without fear of kids crawling over me and a potential accident.