The safe playpen and playing on the floor

Why a playpen is still useful

The playpen has a slightly old-fashioned image, but it does something no other piece of furniture does: it gives you a place where your child is safe at the moments when your attention has to be somewhere else. Answering the door, taking a pan off the heat or going to the toilet all become a good deal calmer. That is not a luxury but a safety measure, because many accidents at home happen precisely in those short moments when nobody is watching. At the same time the playpen is not a storage place and not a substitute for supervision, and a child that sits in it too long will protest and climb, which brings its own risks. The skill is in using it well: short periods, a stimulating but safe layout, and space to move on the floor for the rest of the day. This article covers both, what makes a playpen safe and how you set up the floor around it.

What a safe playpen meets

A playpen has to stand stable, must not tip when your child pulls up on it, and needs bars a head cannot pass between. The common requirement is a bar spacing of roughly forty-five to sixty-five millimetres: narrow enough to stop a head and wide enough to prevent an arm or leg getting trapped. With an adjustable base, check that the lock clicks home audibly on all sides, and set the base low as soon as your child can sit and pull up. Look at whether the top rail is smooth and whether there are no protruding screws, splinters or sharp edges for clothing to catch on. A playpen belongs on a level surface, not half on a rug and not against a radiator. With folding models pay extra attention to the hinge in the middle of the top rail, because it has to be fully straightened and locked before the playpen is safe. If you are unsure about the condition of a playpen, look for a product label showing the standard and the year of manufacture.

What does not belong in the playpen

• •Pillows, duvets and playpen mats with thick padding
• •Cords, chains and toys with long ribbons
• •Toys big enough to climb on
• •Small parts that fit through a toilet roll tube
• •Bags, film and anything made of thin plastic
• •Cables from baby monitors, lamps or chargers within reach

A short stop, not a parking space

A playpen works best as a pleasant, short stop rather than the default place of the day. Young babies will often lie or sit there happily for fifteen to thirty minutes, but that drops quickly once they want to crawl and explore the world. So alternate: some time in the playpen at the moments when it genuinely helps, and otherwise as much space to move as possible. Put a limited number of toys in each time and rotate them, because too many toys make the playpen chaotic and also give more to climb on. Place the playpen where your child can see and hear you, because visibility removes most of the restlessness. And never use the playpen as a punishment, because your child will then fight it at exactly the moment you need it.

Playing on the floor: the safest play space there is

For a baby the floor is the best place to practise, quite simply because there is nothing to fall off. Tummy time on a firm, flat surface builds the neck and trunk muscles your child will need to sit and crawl, and it helps prevent a flattened back of the head. Use a thin, firm play mat rather than a soft mattress or thick duvet, because a soft surface is exactly what you do not want under a baby on its tummy. Do not lay the mat on a smooth floor without an anti-slip layer, because it slides away as soon as your child starts pushing. Stay with your child while it is on its tummy, and always put it back on its back in its own bed for sleep. Look around at crawling height before you let your child loose on the floor, because only from there do you see the sockets, cables, litter tray and loose rugs you normally look straight past.

Second-hand playpens and older models

A playpen is one of the most frequently handed down baby items, and that is fine as long as you check a few things. Measure the bar spacing yourself rather than trusting that it was fine in the past, because older models are sometimes built wider. Check that all parts are present, that the base still locks properly and that no repairs have been made with loose screws or tape. Check whether the model is known for a recall; the manufacturer or the shop that sold it can often still look that up. Replace an old, worn playpen mat with a new thin one, and never use a mattress that does not fit exactly, because the gap along the edge is an entrapment risk. If the manual is missing, look it up online by brand and model number, so you know how the base lock is meant to work.

Suffocation and entrapment: the two real risks

The two things that can genuinely go seriously wrong in a playpen are suffocation and entrapment, and both are well within your control. Suffocation is linked to soft items: a pillow, a thick playpen mat, a rolled-up blanket or a soft toy a baby can sink its face into. Keep the playpen empty apart from a thin mat and some flat toys, certainly for children who cannot yet roll over by themselves. Entrapment happens through cords and ribbons around the neck, through a loop in a cable hanging over the rail, and through toys that get stuck between the bars or between mattress and edge. So remove anything with a cord longer than about twenty centimetres and keep baby monitors, lamps and chargers at least a metre away. If you see your child struggling to breathe, turning grey or blue or not responding properly, take it out of the playpen at once, assess the breathing and call your GP, the out-of-hours GP service or 112 if in doubt.

When your child climbs out

As soon as a child can haul itself over the rail the playpen is no longer a safe place, and that moment usually arrives sooner than parents expect. A fall over the rail is higher than it looks, because your child balances on top of the edge and comes down head first. Set the base to its lowest position as soon as your child can sit, and watch for the classic steps up: a large soft toy, an upturned bucket, a stack of books or a toy box. If you see your child lifting a leg over the rail or systematically pulling itself up, stop using the playpen rather than trying to make it higher. Until then, put a soft surface around the playpen so that a first attempt lands less hard. After that, move to a fenced-off, fully babyproofed play corner or a safe room with a door gate.

The space around the playpen

A safe playpen in an unsafe room gives false reassurance, because your child is only in it part of the time. So look above all at the first metre around it: a playpen against a window with a blind cord is dangerous, and the same goes for a spot next to a cabinet that is not anchored to the wall. Keep your distance from radiators, heaters and floor lamps, and do not run an extension lead under or alongside the playpen. Do not put the playpen right next to a sofa or chair your child can step off, because that works in both directions. Watch the floor around it as well, because loose rugs and slippery patches are exactly where a child falls when it has just let go. Crawl around the room on hands and knees once, and you will see the things that stay invisible from eye level.

Supervision remains the foundation

A playpen is an aid that buys you time, not a system that replaces supervision. Keep audible or visible contact, even when you are in the next room, and go and look once too often rather than once too seldom. Go through the layout of the playpen again every few weeks, because what was safe last month is not once your child can sit, stand or climb. Agree the same rules with everyone who looks after your child, because a well-meant pillow or a large soft toy from a visitor is exactly what you do not want in there. Use the room checklists in this app to work through the space around the playpen systematically rather than by feel. And adjust everything again as soon as your child learns a new skill, because every step in development shifts the boundary of what is safe.