Hands free baby safety gate

My baby is officially mobile and we have hard wood stairs.  That is a scarey prospect for me.  If he were to take a tumble down the stairs he would acquire quite a headache and I would acquire quite a heart ache!

For the first time in 5 kids I found myself in the market for a baby gate.  We've never had stairs in our home before but we moved after baby number 5 was born and our new home has stairs that lead from the kitchen and living room up to the bedrooms and family room.  I am a busy mom and as most people say, I have my hands--and usually my arms--full!  I am quite often carrying both my 8 month old and my 2 year old so I needed a gate that easily fit into my busy lifestyle.

I researched all types of baby gates...

I realized the most important feature of my gate had to be a hands-free feature so I could open it even with my two hands and arms full.  The second feature I needed was a gate that was big enough to fit in the extra wide stair space of our home.  (Our stairs measures 40 inches wide).  After some research, I found a really great baby gate that fit this criteria... The First years Hands Free Baby Gate. Click on the link below to see detailed pictures of how the gate works with it's innovative foot pedal system.

Usually, the most important thing for me is paying as little possible for what I need to get the job done.  I knew I could buy a gate for around $20 but then I thought about all the times my older children go up and down the stairs.  I didn't want to have to be opening and closing the gate for them all the time or wondering if they remembered to put the gate back correctly.  I needed to know that they were using the stairs and still, my baby was safely confined behind a securely closed gate.

So in this case I decided to get what was right, not just what was cheap and it's been a lifesaver!  This is a very well made gate that fits snugly at the top of our stairs and keeps our little one from taking a hard, hurtful tumble.  It opens both ways and is pressure mounted to the wall so it won't leave a mark on the wall or paint after we take it off.

It is soooo super convenient to be able to walk through the gate without having to use my hands at all.  With just enough foot pressure on the foot pedal and a little nudge of the knee, I can open the gate and walk down the stairs...all while holding my baby, my 2 year old, and all the blankets, bottles and diapers I need. 

It's even easy enough for my 2 1/2 year old to open so he still has access up and down the stairs whenever he wants.  It's as easy as 1, 2, 3...Stand, apply enough pressure and the door swings open!

Of course, the way my 2 1/2 year old and my 5 year old apply pressure is different than the way the rest of us do because you do have to apply enough pressure to activate the release of the gate door.  They have to stand on the pedal and bounce a few times in order to get it open because they don't weigh enough to get it open by just applying their weight to the pedal.  So thankfully, our crawling baby can't just go over and push the pedal and have it open.  And my lighter-weighing children think it's fun to bounce on the pedal a few times in order to open the gate.

The gate door is NOT spring loaded, so it does not close automatically but I think that is a GOOD thing.  I've taught my family to leave the gate door open unless the Crawler is upstairs.  That way, we DON'T have to open the gate each time we walk through the space, making it an even more convenient tool.

The gate itself will fit in a space that is up to 34" wide.  But they do sell extension kits that you can add to either or both sides to make it fit spaces up to 44".  So we had to buy the gate and 2 extension kits which ended up costing us over $50 but it has made this baby mobility phase of my life completely easier because I don't have to worry if my son is safe when he is upstairs. 

I did see a similar product on Amazon but haven't tried it.  It has the same hands free feature.

I love the First Years Hands Free Baby Gate so much that it is one of my Top 10 All Time Favorite Essential Baby Products!  Click on the link below to see my full list.  If time and numbers makes you an expert, well, lets just say, I'm getting there!  My list is the product of 10 years and 5 babies worth of trial-and-error research.  Hope it helps you or someone you know!

http://sixbabies.com/