Playpens

Peppery

I'm so worried about my baby moving around the house so I'm considering a playpen...but also worried about ethical considerations of a playpen!

Obviously I don't intend to plonk the child in and not interact and I've been looking a large foam one with plenty of room to crawl and sit up.

I would ideally love the baby to have freedom to roam around and investigate but I live in a very small very old house which I've tried to baby proof but still seems so dangerous. Even when standing over her she's falling and picking at unfinished plaster/floorboards/skirting boards. It's really a terrible house for a baby!

Any thoughts?

afkasurfjunkie

Peppery wrote: »

I'm so worried about my baby moving around the house so I'm considering a playpen...but also worried about ethical considerations of a playpen!

Obviously I don't intend to plonk the child in and not interact and I've been looking a large foam one with plenty of room to crawl and sit up.

I would ideally love the baby to have freedom to roam around and investigate but I live in a very small very old house which I've tried to baby proof but still seems so dangerous. Even when standing over her she's falling and picking at unfinished plaster/floorboards/skirting boards. It's really a terrible house for a baby!

Any thoughts?

We have a playpen in the corner of the sitting room. We use it for daytime naps. And somewhere to pop him safely if I’m nipping upstairs to grab something or if I’m taking out the ashes and fire guard/stove is open. He’s not in it for long but there’s a few toys in it and a few books he loves and he will happily sit in there for a bit looking through them.

scarepanda

Get one. Use it as an aid for when you can't have your child in your arms or able to keep a close eye on them. We have one, both our kids loved it within reason as it gave them a bit more freedom for when either of us were not able to keep a proper eye on them. We have a few toys that we rotate in it so the baby doesn't get bored. And when we can keep an eye on the baby they are out and about on the floor.

delly

Based on the level of detail and consideration that you put into your post OP, I would dismiss any ethical concerns about your use of a playpen. Playpens have a bad name as some parents use them as a part time babysitter, but they have a purpose, so don't give yourself a hard time if it helps you out.

Loveinapril

I just used a travel cot as a playpen for my son, like others, I popped him in with a few toys when I was doing the dishes or needed him contained for a few minutes.

shesty

Never bothered myself purely because we didn't really have playpen space and they all had to learn to live in the house.But that being said you sound like you have a few other issues with plasterboard and the like.Could you get a babydan rail and corner off part of a room for them, instead of an actual play pen?Give them more space so you wouldn't need to worry much about that aspect of things.

scarepanda

That's actually a good idea shesty. We had to up grade from a normal travel cot type playpen when the eldest got a bit bigger to one that had sections you could move about, it can be used as a room divider. She had started to climb out of the travel cot thingy, we have two dogs and it was the only place she would take the few naps she used to take so we still needed something. We put those floor mats down on the floor which fitted perfectly into the space. It also had a gate that we used to leave open and use the area as a kind of toy holder/play space in the living room when she was a lot bigger.

Op could you babyproof an area of a room and close it off with one of those room dividers that you can shape as required?

shesty

It would be absolute preference to do that, even still- the youngest is 18 mths and the older two.go.nuts at times when he tries to get into their games (poor baba) - there are times it would be handy to be able to separate them, even to give them a space for themselves besides their bedrooms.Unfortunately we can't really do it as we don't have enough downstairs space to give it the kind of space it would need with 3 kids.