Baby proofing DD1's toys

Hi everyone,

Just after some advice on baby proofing my older DD's toys, some of them are just so horrendously unsafe to let a baby near and I would like to have some sort of plan well in advance of DD2 being on the move.

I was going to put a safety gate at the door to DD1's room, but am also after some way that she can play with her stuff out in our family room. I swore I would never put my kids in one, but I'm now thinking that maybe a playpen for DD1 may be the go? One that little fingers can't reach through - I have seen some mesh type ones that I thought might be OK. At least she can climb in and out and won't be stuck in there like DD2 would be and it would isolate the toys from her.

What has everyone else done? Any other ideas would be great :)

playpen's are great, means you can do a few things too, don't feel guilty so long as she's not in the for ages you're just providing a safe environment for her. Other than that the only thing I can think of is to expain to your eldest that her little sister can't have her older toys as they could hurt her etc....I haven't crossed this bridge yet so will be very interested what other mums recommend. Good luck :)

My DD loves her playpen. She has a couch in there and I rotate the toys. She isn't in there all the time and if she asks to get out I get her out. It is great for when I'm busy with housework.

We had some trouble when we went on holidays earlier in the year and didn't have it. She got so upset when we moved her away from things or took things away from her. Her playpen is her space where she can do what she wants and she loves the combination of independent play and security.

So I'm not opposed to playpens in geneneral, but I think particularly with an older child it is ok to restrict where they can play with certain toys for safety reasons. We have outside toys and bath toys, so I don't think it would be a problem to have "playpen" toys. As Softy said it is about providing a safe environment.

I don't see anything wrong with playpens! Open plan houses are so difficult to baby proof (and they seem to be the norm these days) so a playpen is just safer in some cases. My DD has one and I get in there with her! She loves it, it is her spot and It is just about creating a safe environment. She has had it since she started getting on the move and I just made sure it was big enough for her to crawl and roll around in.

Just wanted to add that a playpen that sort of comes apart is great....we had a wiggles one that clicked together so when DD outgrew the 'square' shape we unclipped it in one spot, made one wall of the lounge area clear and made a semi-circle shape using the wall so her area was bigger to play in. Also meant we could climb in and lie down to play with her :) Worked well till she figured out she could push on it and it would come away from the wall so she could escape!!