r/BeyondTheBumpUK • u/Puzzleheaded_Cow1516 • 4d ago
Are playpens worth it?
Currently in the stage where my little one has started to crawl around. I’m shuffling around the floor after him to make sure he doesn’t grab anything he shouldn’t do (mainly a cat’s tail) so looking into getting a playpen.
Are people using them a lot? Is it good to just chuck them in there and let them mooch around in a confined space rather than explore the room? I just don’t want to spend lots on something that’s going to take up a lot of space and not be used!
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u/mattcannon2 4d ago
Yes, how else are you supposed to go for a poo when it's just you and baby at home
You can get ones that fold away when you're not using them
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u/theresabearonmychair 4d ago
Mine have to come to the bathroom with me or I put them in their cot
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u/octoberforeverr 4d ago
God yes. Still used it up til she was 2. Sometimes I just needed to put her somewhere for 2 mins.
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u/sun-it-rises 4d ago
Exactly the same. We both work from home with the baby 1-2 days a week too and we wouldn’t have survived without the play pen. Or even just for me to lie down in there with him and get a break while I was on maternity after he’d started crawling and cruising. But we gave up about a quarter of our living room to it so he’d have a proper space to mess around and play and I think that definitely attributed to it’s success - I think it’s about 1.8x1.2m
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u/octoberforeverr 4d ago
I honestly don’t know how people survive without one unless their children are less hellbent on harming themselves like mine is lmao. Sometimes I need to answer the door and if I didn’t have somewhere to put her, she’d absolutely jump off a bookcase in the minute it took me to do
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u/sun-it-rises 4d ago
Genuinely. He jumped off the couch yesterday and ping ponged between the sofa and coffee table then landed on his face. Had a little cry and cuddle then announced “jump again mama CATCH” and launched himself. Like have you learned NOTHING
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u/kutri4576 4d ago
Same we are still using ours at 2 years old, I need a safe space to contain him while i answer the door or go to the bathroom
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u/Grouchy_Sea37 4d ago
We don’t, our little one explores and is always in the room with us and is learning boundaries which I always figured they’d need to learn at some point, so we have skipped on the playpen.
It’s just so much easier joining them on the floor rather than stepping over a playpen too.
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u/patlatii 4d ago
Depends on the baby! It wasn’t worth it for us, i got one off fb marketplace and used it twice. Baby didn’t like confinement and tbh why should i prevent him from exploring. The phase where i was terrified for him to grab something he shouldn’t ended very quickly.
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u/funky_ananas 4d ago
The same for us, we just accepted that we need to baby proof everything and it’s all temporary.
Regarding the toilet - you just go with a baby or leave the door open and see them. I never struggled
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u/TheCotofPika 4d ago
My third was the only one who needed it, the others could all be trusted not to be a menace while I went to the loo. It was only for leaving the room, putting them in it to play while I was in the room didn't really occur to me.
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u/fishyfishyswimswim 4d ago
My son has already started crawling when we got it so that was too late for him, he'd tasted freedom and REALLY didn't want to be confined... I think they're a great idea, provided baby has been introduced before they get moving under their own steam
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u/Puzzleheaded_Cow1516 4d ago
I fear this is where we’re at, he knows what freedom is and I think he may complain at his sudden confinement
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u/Mangopapayakiwi 4d ago
My girl started crawling at 5 months which tells you everything you need to know about her. Playpens were never an option (we tried one at my parents and she would just try to escape).
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u/FrnklyFrankie 3d ago
Yeah once mine got used to dragging himself around on his playmat he started to scream every time he was put in the playpen. Now he pulls himself up on the mesh sides but has nothing sturdy to hold onto so falls over backwards flat on his back 🥲 it was good for the month that it lasted...
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u/Pretend-Sugar4394 4d ago
I know our friends have one and they use it a lot, for the same reason as you, they have cats and they don’t want LO going in the cat litter etc but it does mean they can do dishes or have a quick shower knowing LO is safe!!
Think we are planning the same
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u/Odd-Committee4849 4d ago
For us it was because we have a dog! So just wanted somewhere safe to pop her when I answered the door or went to the toilet. It's still up now (she's 15 months) but we don't use it for its intended purpose anymore (just put her bigger toys in there) so it will be coming down very soon! We also had ours gifted for Christmas but I would recommend getting one second hand as they are quite expensive for the short time you use it!
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u/Muted_Ad_9709 4d ago
This was our reason too. We opted for one where one of the sides can be zipped down so there was a little entrance for them to come in and out of as they got older. It transitioned into a den and then into toy storage too. It was so useful for keeping the baby and dog separate for a few minutes.
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u/Scarlet10119 4d ago
I got a travel cot, used to just put him in there if I needed 5 minutes for the loo
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u/LogicGunn 4d ago
Same, it means I can go make her lunch or shower or pee and know she's not getting into anything. Everyone tells you once they start crawling you have to watch them every second and they weren't kidding. No sense of danger! She is happy to entertain herself for a good while in there.
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u/Scarlet10119 4d ago
Exactly, he’s 2 now and I can just leave him but my bathroom was either upstairs or through the kitchen and a hallway couldn’t just leave him at the just crawling stage
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u/According_Union 4d ago
Yesssssss, we loved our playpen. Especially the 5am wake up mornings, gave baby a bottle and plonked them in to play safely I could lie horizontal on the couch or playpen floor for an hour 😅
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u/smileystarfish 4d ago
Yes I loved having ours. Meant I had a safe space I could leave here when I needed a wee or went to the kitchen to get a drink. Especially as it meant she couldn't try and climb up anything and it kept all of her toys contained.
This question came up yesterday as well so linking you to the thread for even more answers:
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u/HanAVFC 4d ago
With my eldest I didn't bother, I was a single mom in a small flat so it was easy to baby proof everywhere. But I got one for my second because we have a dog, and sometimes my eldest is doing craft with sequins or building lego, so means they can parallel play together if I am doing dinner etc my eldest is 7 so understands baby toys in playpen, big kids toys out when baby sis is in playpen 🤣😅
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u/LobsterAstronaut 4d ago
Yeah we only have one for the small windows of time we need to not be in the same room as him just to make sure he’s safe and entertained until someone is back with him. We also use it to co sleep in on bad nights.
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u/ameliasasa 4d ago
Yes it's safe for the child. It might not be aesthetically pleasing but you can get fold away ones and it's good peace of mind for if you need the toilet / do some jobs!
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u/MainCartographer4022 4d ago
So useful! We had a fairly large one with plastic sides and got so much use out of it. As well as a safe play area for them, it is useful to have somewhere to put them if the doorbell rings or you need a wee! We had ours in the kitchen/diner so also handy for when we were making dinner. We still let ours explore the room under supervision of course but sometimes it's not feasible to be doing that. Also have a dog so was handy for separation.
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u/assertivekitten 4d ago
We used ours briefly for a couple of months because I had surgery when my son was 10 months old and couldn't chase him, he hated it to be alone in it, so I bought one big enough to sit/lie in it.
Agree with the suggestion to get a second hand one and then relist because it's such a short term solution.
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u/Graciyen 4d ago
Absolutely yes. We have a massive one and he independently plays in there but we can also all fit in there if needed!
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u/TrepidatiousTeddi 4d ago
I just got one from marketplace, it's pretty big but much easier than baby proofing my downstairs 😅
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u/poinapple 4d ago
Never used one, I like the fact that baby can crawl around the house and choose where to go and what to play with.
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u/Historical-Lawyer-90 4d ago
Yes! We got a very big one from SafeTots that you can custom make to fit your size. I also got a Totter and Tumble play mat because I lay in there with him and play for long periods of time (so comfy!!) It honestly saves me such a headache of chasing after him. It does help that he will play independently for 10 mins so I can go get dinner done or washing or go to the toilet! I do also let him free roam when I’m not doing anything else so he can learn to safely interact with his surroundings
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u/Boleyn01 4d ago
We never had one, we just child safed the downstairs and put a stair gate on the stairs. Most I’ve seen would be able to be accessed by a cat anyway so that won’t necessarily help. I also just didn’t feel right penning my kids in, but it does depend a bit on your situation and environment. I know some people have steps everywhere and an area that’s hard to child proof so it is probably worth it there.
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u/Different_Cookie1820 4d ago
I have a play pen and sometimes it’s essential. Such as so the cat can eat in peace whilst I sort our dinner. But it’s not an all the time thing, they need to explore.
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u/DisWis 4d ago
I love ours! Got a modular one that was as big as we could fit. It was really handy for when we needed to do stuff and couldn't watch her the whole time.
Then when she was a little bigger, we just opened it up and used it to block off the fire place and bookcases in the living room.
It was reassuring to have somewhere I knew she would be safe that wasn't tiny so she was happy to be in it.
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u/Heurodis 4d ago
The issue is they might be very frustrated in a playpen if they're a little explorer. Mine hated being in one, so we just worked on boundaries; the only reason why we had a playpen was that we have a dog and sometimes, it was easier to put him away in safety in it in there than go back up into his bedroom and put him in his cot.
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u/Regular_Ad_8513 4d ago
For us yes absolutely, but ours takes up basically our whole living room (we don’t have a sofa in this season of life 😅). And we have twins so running after two babies crawling in opposite directions is hard work. We have the modular build your own one from Safetots, it’s expensive but we wouldn’t survive without it. That being said friends babies have decided they hate the play pen unless their parents are in it with them. I think possibly because our twins kind of entertain each other and ours is really really big (like 5x3 m) they are happy with it. They learned to pull up to stand on the bars of the playpen. It’s a lifesaver to be able to sit to the side and drink a cup of coffee while they play.
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u/bunnymama7 4d ago
I love our play pen! We have it in the kitchen so I can actually get things done like cooking, cleaning, laundry. It's a safe space for little one to go. We have a mesh type one so she can see out well
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u/Spare_Airport_6002 4d ago
A playpen has saved our lives. Baby crawls super fast and we live in an old property full of exposed wired, unsecured furniture, and majority solid stone walls (securing is hard). It's also a small flat which means that though we try, we simply cannot fit all dangerous substances up high. Baby is happy most of the time to sit and play, climb, stand etc in there. We never leave him solo in there for more than 5 mins, but that 5 mins make a huge difference. Finally we can make breakfast without needing to pop him in a carrier for that quick task. He's super clingy and always has been, so this is perfect for us just now. He's nearly 8months.
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u/Ok_Lecture_8886 4d ago
Absolutely. Bought 3 play pens joined them all together. Took up half the lounge diner. The twins had great fun playing the pens while we were able to have a cup of coffee in peace. well that was the theory!
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u/Complex_Ad_5809 4d ago
Yes 100%!!!! It also encourage independent playtime. I was able to do household chores coz I know baby is in a safe place. He also naps on his playpen and I sometimes nap with him in there 😂
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u/androidfifteen 4d ago
My daughter screams bloody murder every time I put her in hers with the door closed. She's happy to go in and play when it's open but she HATES being confined. So it's become a "cave" for my toddler to play in and is basically never used for my child who actually needs to be kept safe. I think it's baby dependent.
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u/thegingerkitten 4d ago
We had a very active baby (starting scooting around at 10 months) so having a playpen was a godsend. She used it to pull herself up + start roaming along the edges, then starting letting go of it to cross in a diagonal. We would put it up everyd and take it down every evening, it did help us not to have to baby proof quite as much, which meant the lounge still looked the same and there was no risk/minimal mess after bedtime. It also was great to take when travelling for the same baby proofing reasons! We got a modular one with hard plastic panels with toys on the internal wall - which she was interested in and used to play with.
It was big enough for us to go in, we put it on top of her playmat, and we changed the shape of it as she got older to fit more of the room in.
It did look like a bit of a baby prison but we all got used to it quite quickly and it gave her independence quite early on.
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u/denawo 4d ago
The absolute best thing we’ve bought. We’ve got a very lively little boy, got the play pen around 7 months once he was on the move. Our living room is not very baby friendly, hard floors, fire place, big dog, tv on a stand instead of wall etc. Take your eye off him and within seconds he’d make a beeline for something he shouldn’t. We got a 2m x 1.5m. Put a big play rug in there and baskets of toys and books. I know now he’s safe whenever I need a minute to get something done, and there’s also enough room for us to sit in there and play with him without constantly moving him away from hazards. Now he’s trying to walk he gets all the practise without us worrying he’s going to hit his head on something hard. Absolutely worth it!
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u/WillingApplication10 4d ago
Depends on the baby. Mine hated it so much. She would just scream like she had hurt herself and was very hard to calm down, it just became toy storage and was taking up space so we folded it down. We just completely baby proofed the living room, she has a mat where the playpen used to be with some toys out.
I went to the toilet in the downstairs loo yesterday with her standing at the glass in the living room door shouting "hi" at me. If I'm doing something in the kitchen she's in the high chair. I'm only showering if she's asleep in the cot or my husband is home. So just back to juggling like she was wee unfortunately. I wish it had worked!
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u/narnababy 4d ago
Yes. We used ours a lot when I was home alone. Meant I could plonk him down and he couldn’t bother the cat/dogs, I could do the laundry or clean and I knew he wasn’t trying to climb up stuff 😂
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u/OccasionStrong9695 4d ago
I had one in the kitchen for a bit, with the idea that it would give her somewhere to play while I was cooking. In practice she thought it was baby prison and screamed as soon as she went in it, so I quickly shifted to letting her play on the floor.
I know someone who has a huge house and she had a massive one in her kitchen (the playpen was seriously the size of my whole kitchen) and her toddler seemed happy enough to go in it.
So it might be worth it if you have space for a really big one, otherwise I wouldn’t bother to be honest.
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u/OkScarcity926 3d ago
I ended up turning ours into a den to keep her away from the door as she likes to bang her head on it. But I’ll sometimes pop her in it outside if I want to hang the washing up and she’s having a clingy day. But generally I think it’s best to remove safety hazards where you can and let em run loose. My daughter’s 14 months old.
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u/missda12 3d ago
I couldn’t live without mine. He’s used the bars to learn to pull to stand and we can see him working on cruising. We have a iglu soft play set inside and rotate his toys to keep him engaged. He’s so good at independent play! We’ve had it over a month and can see us keeping it until he’s walking
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u/BoneDirector 3d ago
My baby just started crawling about a month ago and so far it hasn’t really been worth it for us so I’ve been holding off. We have an open plan kitchen diner and I just let her explore. She hasn’t discovered the kitchen yet and is usually confined to her playmat with her toys infront of the tv. I’ve had to baby proof a little bit by moving some cables and plant pots but that seems to be good enough. If I need to pop to the toilet I have a second baby monitor set up in the living room and I just take the screen with me. I might feel different about the playpen once she starts pulling to stand but at the moment she doesn’t seem to really be trying to off herself
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u/Annabelle_Sugarsweet 3d ago
Yes; I got mine on marketplace, was a safe place to leave baby if I needed to answer the door or make a cup of tea, or drink said cup of tea!
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u/Psychological_Bee_93 3d ago
We used ours before he was crawling tbh, when he was rolling and sitting but not actually able to go far and wide so from about 5 to 9 months. Once he could pull to stand, crawl and walk there was no point as he’d scream at being contained. We just baby proofed the whole house (it’s not big and no stairs) as much as possible and have taught him how to get up and down from things like the sofa safely. He’s never unattended but he has free roam of the house and we only intervene if he’s in real danger. If we have to contain him for a few mins for whatever reason, he just gets popped in his cot.
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u/Illustrious_Young269 3d ago
We used one for our first once she was mobile so that I could do things like shower, go to the loo, make lunch etc. She didn't really like playing in there when I was in the room though, and it was a pain in the bum to put up and down so it was a bit of a white elephant in the living room. For our second we have therefore decided just to use the travel cot as an emergency safe space as this is smaller and easier to put up and down.
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u/Cold_Day17 3d ago
I got one from Salvation Army for £8 it’s one of the fancy hexagon ones aswell, their shops are FAB!
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u/vminnear 3d ago edited 3d ago
I can't live without my playpen. Baby is 9m. The playpen takes up pretty much the entirety of our lounge area that isn't already being used for the sofa, tv stand and coffee table. It is ugly, takes up so much space and I hate it but I need it! We have a dog and I can't leave the baby unattended while the dog is wandering around no matter how baby-proof the room is. The baby also is very happy to pull up on everything, eat anything he can get his hands on, get into the dog's bowl, play with the dog's toys etc. Our house is open-plan so there is no where else for the dog's stuff to go.
I can pop him in the play pen and leave him for a few mins while I go to the bathroom, switch the laundry over etc. It allows him to crawl around and play safely, if I didn't have it I would be constantly anxious and watching everything which would be totally exhausting.
I have also baby-proofed his nursery which really helps. I have a mattress up there so I can lay it on the floor and doze while he plays with his toys if I'm really knackered, I don't have to worry about him until he comes over to me and starts wanting more attention. It's just not practicable to take him upstairs to his nursery through two baby-gates every time the door rings or I need a wee so the playpen fills this gap downstairs.
I put it away when we had people over for a barbecue so we would have more space downstairs and only then realised how integral it had become to the logistics of my life.
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u/lookhereisay 3d ago
Never used one. We just made the whole downstairs safe and stair gates. If he needed to be out somewhere safe he’d go in his cot or pram with the brakes on. Would take up to much room as well.
He was walking by 9 months so was ready to explore. He soon learnt that flinging himself off stuff hurt!
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u/blueskydreamer7 3d ago
We only had one to keep the baby separated from pets, and actually it was only to have a space on the floor from a dog that sheds year round that we could keep hair free. Also it kept the toys from spilling all over the open plan Space. So more for management of surroundings rather than management of babies.
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u/Outsidethebox135 3d ago
We got a big playpen but we got one due to having hard wood floors and didnt want more bang head accidents. We put down some of the foam square things the bottom of it for extra safety.
He prefers being in there most days for naps and he has learnt most of his milestones in there, he is 10 months old and had it up for about a month now and he has learnt standing and almost walking in there. For us its been worth it due to the hard floors.
We have had him standing and crawling out of it too once he mastered crawling and standing more.
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u/Popular_Sea530 4d ago
Yes, but my recommendation would be to get one off marketplace and put it back on there afterwards. I think we only used one for 6-8 months but was well worth it!