Playpens?

[mim1]

Are they a good idea or not? Josh has just started rolling a lot and I turn my back and he's on the other side of his big play rug. We've been away for a couple of weeks in a small place so I've pretty much been in the room with him when he's playing. But, now we're home and I want to be able to leave the room when he's playing so I can put the washing on, etc, etc. I would always be within earshot and only out of the room for a few minutes at a time, but that suddenly seems like a long time.

Are playpens useful? Do they just end up rolling to the edge and getting upset cause they can't roll any further?:

Do you use a playpen with or without a gate?

Any thoughts welcome :)

[kimbo]

We bought a playpen for DS for the exact reasons you are thinking of getting one. DS is now crawling everywhere and sometimes I need to put him in there for a little while just so he keeps out of harms way if I need to leave the room.

I am soooooooo glad I bought it. It is a fair bit of money for how often he is in it but for us it is well worth it.

The one we got is plastic with a mat on the bottom, pretty heavy and not as big as some of the wooden ones but he has plenty of room in there and like I said he isn't in there for hours anyway. It doesn't have a gat, we just pop him in over the side.

:)

[suemp]

i didnt use one for ds1 but theres 5 ys difference between my 2 so ds1 has lots of little toys like lego im abit paranoid about so i got one for ds2 that is for his toys only. its a safe haven for him wen i cant fully supervise for a while. its pretty big though.
my friend..another bubhubber (:wave: di) pulls hers apart and puts it across the tv etc area. so they are quite handy things

[justme77]

I used one for my first son for this same reason. was good to put him in there while i wandered off to put the washing on or something.
i used it again with my other son, he was a newborn and the other one was 12 months. the big one liked to poke the baby so i put the baby in the playpen mainly to protect him from his brother.
pity i cant do it anymore lol.
when i have this new baby, ill do the same thing. same as what someone else said i have lego all over my house so itll be good to put the baby in it while i leave the room to make sure it doesnt chew on some lego. although, im thinking i just gotta train the boys to pick it up-well i can hope lol

oh i had a wooden one. it ended up becoming a big toy storage thing in the corner of the room once both kids were up and running. it was good to just chuck everything in it, and the house looked somewhat cleanish.

[abibelsmum]

I loved my playpen. It was a place to put DD1 in where she would be safe, she could roll around and pull herself up without getting hurt. It was also a tidy place to keep her toys.

Our playpen had a mat that attached, which made it really good as she couldn't move it or knock it over. I started putting her in the playpen before she really needed it so she would get used to it by the time she started moving around.

[flib]

I've never used one. I either take the baby with me or do things like hanging out washing when she's asleep. Our house is pretty small and I don't think I could stand having a playpen in it as well. Because it's a small house I'm never far away anyway. My friends who have used them found that their babies hated being in them and cried so much that they got rid of them.

I do have the problem of older children and toys with little pieces. I've packed up some of my son's lego into a cupboard and it's his responsibility to keep it all together (he's 7). Stella spends most on her time on a rug with only her toys. I'll just keep moving things up and away as she becomes more mobile.

One of my aunties had one and she used to put things in it that she didn't want her littlies to get at like the ironing board or the TV!

Best wishes

[littlepickle]

We bought a playpen for similar reasons. I ust wanted somewhere safe I could put dd if I needed to cook tea (I move the playpen to somewhere she can see me thats safe) Its been so useful for times when you just need to keep them out of trouble for a few minutes. It is a lot of money considering they dont spend a lot of time in them. We have a Kiddy Cots one with a padded mat underneath, it is quite big but easy to move around. I dont currently use a gate as well, but I will probably buy a wide gate for the kitchen at some point

[MummyCharmzy]

We bought a playpen for our dd's to keep them save from one another. DD1 never really liked it but as a newborn we would put dd2 in her rocker in there so dd1 couldnt attack her if we had to leave for a second. Now dd2 is 12 months old and loves it, its quite large, has mesh see through sides so she can see whats going on and a padded playmat which is great as shes not long been cruising furniture so still tumbles a bit hehe

The one we have is called a VeeBee by Valco. Its brilliant, doesnt have a gate but dont see why it would need one :)

[HanCh]

We didnt have one for DD1 and I never thought I would ever need/want to put my children in a playpen, but we have one for DD2 and I am so glad we have it. Our house is completely tiled (except for bedrooms) so I didnt want her crawling around on the cold floors (the playpen is on a rug) plus our house is an open plan living house, which means our kitchen, dining and lounge room is one big room, so if we let her crawl around she pretty much has access to the whole house. We dont put her in there ALL the time, but like other people have said, it is good to have when you want to leave them to play when you need to get a few things done :thumbsup:

[FourAngelKisses]

I've never used one. I either take the baby with me or do things like hanging out washing when she's asleep. Our house is pretty small and I don't think I could stand having a playpen in it as well. Because it's a small house I'm never far away anyway. My friends who have used them found that their babies hated being in them and cried so much that they got rid of them.

I do have the problem of older children and toys with little pieces. I've packed up some of my son's lego into a cupboard and it's his responsibility to keep it all together (he's 7). Stella spends most on her time on a rug with only her toys. I'll just keep moving things up and away as she becomes more mobile.

One of my aunties had one and she used to put things in it that she didn't want her littlies to get at like the ironing board or the TV!

Best wishes


I am so glad that someone else said they never used one, I was starting to think I was weird for not having had one, lol.


I just put my kids in the pram/bouncer and took them with me, or put them in the cot with a few toys if I had to have a shower.

[poshBecks]

I have one. I bought it for when I was doing hair. To keep little miss out of the mess. She didn't like it at all.
I still think they are great though. I just bought a wooden one second hand for $20 :thumbsup: .

My DS has used it more though. I sometimes pop him & his toys in there so his sister cant annoy him :laughing:

[mum2bubba]

I think they're good for when you have to race off to answer the phone or do the odd chore but its not good to keep them in there for ages because they will become bored and frusterated.

[IAdoreYou]

We have ours protecting our Dvd's now :thumbsup: everytime I would plonk Brooke in it, she would just walk all around the sides and then want "out" ..
OH, it's also good when pulled apart to put up againt the oven, learning on a oven mit to keep brooke away from the hot oven. I guess we won't be purchasing another one again :) it didn't work for us ..

[our little treasures]

We got one for ds and actually found it more useful for DD's arts ad craft corner. That way her brother couldn't get into that area and choke on things or make a mess!!

[SassyMummy]

TBH, I think it's been one of my worst purchases.

Before she was crawling, it wasn't needed... when and after she was crawling, she would get really angry in there after about a minute... she hated it.

I just blocked off doorways/hallways etc with barriers/gates instead. SO MUCH EASIER and no whinging from DD.

You asked whether you should get one... and my answer would be: NO!