PLAYPENS - are they worth it?

[Holymoly321]

DS is now 8 and a half months and is starting to crawl around everywhere. Obviously I can't watch him 24/7 and am wondering if we should get a playpen so that I can at least go to the toilet without wondering if he's going to start causing mayhem in my absence! Thing is, the ones I've seen look like cages! What do other mums think? What did you do with your LO's?

I had a BabyDan for my two ds's and it was brilliant. Used to lie baby in there so that they were safe, couldn't roll or get into danger. It was also great for a time out :o. The great thing about a BabyDan is that you can by a tent cover for later on and it becomes their little den. It's a great comfort factor when your busy elsewhere.

that sounds great (about the tent) My DD wouldnt stay in a PP - she roared and roared so I just had to have eyes everywhere and put up with it.

It was great until the biggest one learnt how to undo the safety catch door and then the world was open to explore and his little ds used to crawl after him. Then he used to yell for his big brother to open the door for him

I used my BabyDan to from a fence around our stairs, and more importantly, computer...result was several months of being able to be in same room as ds but use computer in safety .
Also read of parents who sat inside palypen in order to read weekend papers in peace (whilst child roamed outside fence) ...sounds good to me!

I used the travel cot when dd was at the crawling stage ... not as big as a playpen but did the job fine. Plus it wasn't yet another thing to buy ...

I have a wooden one from John Lewis, we couldn't live without it