Connor will be mobile soon and I have no idea on where to find some good gates.

I've created a playroom for him next to the kitchen and I was thinking about getting a gate that goes all the way across. (148")

We have stairs that go up and then stairs that go down to the finished basement.

Any helpful advice would be much appreciated!
TIA

By Heaventree on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 08:23 am:

We bought Evenflo wooden baby gates at Babies R US, they were expensive but with another baby on the way we will have them for awhile. Also they were the only ones my cat fit through, however, she is a skinny little thing only 5 lbs.

I believe they also have an extention system for larger areas.

Stay away from the pressure gates especially at the top of stairs. They are ok if you are only trying to block a door way, but no good for stairs.

By Trina~moderator on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 08:29 am:

We had metal, swinging gates from Kidco and loved them! Very sturdy. Expensive but worth it. They have many options to pick from, pressure mounting, swinging, wide, etc..

KidCo Gates

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 09:22 am:

We have a metal swinging gate that's the tallest one we could find (we have 2 jack russell terriers) that are also wide. I'm not sure how wide exactly, but it can extend. It's one-handed operation and swings latched by itself which I like. It was about $60 I think, but well worth it. They have them at Babiesrus...it's called the Sure and Secure Extra Tall Gate by a company called Summer-something. HOpe this helps.

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 09:23 am:

Oh and I forgot...it doesn't screw into the wall which we personally wanted. It's a tension deal. Very strong and secure though. I didn't want to tear up my walls but I know a lot of people do the screw-in kind.

By Mrsheidi on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 01:18 pm:

Thanks, ladies. Do any of you have an upstairs banister too? I'm afraid my little guy is going to try to stick his head in between them and/or fall through them.

By Rayanne on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 04:18 pm:

I found this. My friend had this family that she babysat for and they had these. They are really neat. HTH

Banister Guards

By Missmudd on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 07:20 pm:

First of all I have to laugh at myself, I thought it was about a baby genius computer programer or something.....

I know this will sound probably weird but we took a door, sawed it in half, fliped it upside down so the cut side was next to the floor and mounted it in the doorway w/ the lock side on the big people side. It was much easier to open and close than a gate IMO and we never had to worry about it being secure or the little guys pushing too hard and falling through. This would only work in a door that you dont mind the top open all the time, we did this to the oldest's ones bedroom because we had stairs and he would get up in the middle of the night. He couldnt hook his little baby toes into the smooth surface of the door to hoist himself over and he couldnt figure out how to hook his arm over and unlock the door to get out.

By Jann on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 09:26 pm:

Places like PetCo and Petsmart are a good place for gates too. Our doorways were larger than normal size and that was the only place we could find ones wide enough. worked great and cheaper.

By Andi on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 09:48 pm:

We use the standard wood gates on our doors, you can buy them at Babies-R-Us or some pet stores. When she gets mobile we will install this gate:

http://www.kidcoinc.com/gate_dis.cfm?Gate_ID=g20

This is the gate we use with DS and it worked great. We have an extra wide stair case so we had to purchase an attachment for it but it is the best gate!