Play pens... useful or a waste of space?????

[rufalina]

Looking for some help here....

DS (almost 7m) is very mobile, and wont stay still, and I know he will get more active as he gets older. We used a playpen for him over Christmas at my in-laws, which he loved. He had his toys, and was really happy to scoot around in it, and it was good with lots of people round, and he was safe, and it was easy to keep an eye on him, and play with him. It was a bit like a baby jail though.....

Now we are home, and I do kind of miss having it, and asked DH if we should get one, and we are both in two minds about it. We have 2 dogs, and a pretty smallish place, so know if we get one it will take up half the lounge room. So we are not sure if we should or not. I do like DS having the freedom to roam, but I liked the safety of the pen...

So do people use them? Or is it too much of a baby jail and waste of space? Any help, personal experiences, advice, suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Lolli]

Hi,
I have a playpen in the lounge and I used to have a portacot in the kitchen. but bubs hardly ever went in ether of them (the playpen is still set up and used as toy storage space ). I don't like leaving kids in them- I think it's better to let them explore (even if, like me, you seem to spend a lot of time extractingthem from small spaces). But it is good for peace of mind- I know I have somewhere baby safe to drop bubs quickly if I need to. And sometimes you do need to- like if you need to bring the shopping in from the car, or take something out of the oven and dh is not there. (We live in a two storey place so I can't just pop him in his cot for this, it's upstairs)

The portacot was better for quick confinements, and it takes up so much less space than the play pen. But I don't think they are sposed to go in them once they can pull themselves to stand, as they might tip it.

I'd say have a playpen or portacot there for peace of mind... but don't leave them in it all the time. One of the women in my mother's group talks about what her daughter does in the 'half hour or so we let her out of her playpen every day'

[MantaRay]

We had a large one (1.5m * 1.5m) as I didn't want DS to feel "cramped". But DS1 would only ever go in it if I was in there with him. So needless to say it wasn't much use for him. But it was fantastic for DS2. It meant one of them could be in and one out (DS1 would go in by himself by then) and I knew the baby was safe. Even after DS1 learnt to climb in/out, it was still quite useful because he seemed to love being there as an older child - go figure!

[Starfish]

We use ours as a fence to keep DD OUT of any dangerous places, e.g. the kitchen, rather than keeping her IN IYKWIM.

[CrystalBoo]

We used a big hexagonal one until DD was about maybe 9 or 10m for those times when I couldn't keep an eye on her for some reason. She never minded being in it and it gave me time once she started crawling to see what things she would get in to so I could baby-proof the house. Once I was reassured all that was ok, I took one side off and left it open as a place to keep her toys that she could go in and out of as she pleased. This year, it's been pulled out again to gate off the Christmas tree from curious little hands LOL
I think, used in moderation, they can be really handy and a quick and easy safety option.
I would say 'letting them out for half an hour' is fairly extreme...

[Liz]

Our playpen is around the tv in the playroom. So I'd say it's useful! LOL. Our setup tho, is the back room (which the kitchen overlooks) is gated off, and is the kids room, it's baby proof, has the playpen around the tv, and has all their toys and books and stuff in there. I'd recommend gating off the entire room so there's more room to move. There's no way my kids would have stayed in a confined space like a playpen, but having a whole room has worked really well for us.

[Lolli]

Our playpen is around the tv in the playroom. .

Liz that is a mighty good idea... I may just have to steal it....