When my son started crawling round we decided it was definitely time to ensure that our house was baby proof and a safe environment for him. One of the major purchases we needed to make was stair gates for the top and bottom of our stairs. Stair gates are used to prevent baby accessing (and climbing) the stairs and thus prevent accidents. At the same time, they can be opened to allow ease of passage for adults.

After browsing the internet, we opted for some Lindam Easy Fit Stair Gates, priced at £14.99 in the sale - which seemed a very reasonable price to pay (they currently price at around £18 online).

THE GATE

The gate is made of metal and has a white finish to it. The frame is quite a thick rectangular shape and the gate is filled with vertical circular metal poles. The hinge of the gate is coated in plastic. The gate is a pressure mounted gate, which means it is held to the stairway (or doorframe) by extending it into the wall/frame until it fits exactly and is held securely. The gate can be opened in both directions i.e. turns through 180°.

The gate opens using a plastic handle which you can squeeze and lift. This is pushed back down again to lock the gate in place. There is also a plastic fitting at the bottom of the gate that can be rotated downwards to hold the gate shut securely from the bottom. The gate can be used to fit openings from 75cm to 81cm.

FITTING THE GATE

The gate is packaged in a convenient, thin cardboard bow. You need to fit the plastic parts of the gate yourself (just a case of banging them into the ends of the gate). On each end of the gate, at the top and bottom, there is a screw like fitting than is used to pressure mount the gate. By turning this as you would a screw, this can be extended and shortened according to your needs. This must be extended right up to the wall until it can be extended no more to ensure that the gate is held safely and securely. At the end of the metal 'screw' there is a white plastic disc that sits flush on the wall - serving to give good grip to the gate and also protect your wall from damage.

The gate seemed pretty simple to fit and all was going well until we realised our stairway had a width of 85cm and thus the gate could not be fitted. This was entirely our fault as we had not read the measurements on the product and had, rather naively, assumed that stair gates were much of a muchness - that they would fit all gaps and that stairways widths were pretty standard. This meant that, before we could fit the gate, we had to purchase extensions from Lindam. We purchased a 7cm extension for £9.99 - meaning that the stair gate wasn't quite the bargain that we had thought! The extension was simple to fit - you just attach it to the end of the gate and it's effectively just widening it by one vertical bar and the space between them.

Tightening the screw fittings to the wall was fairly simple, but a little tricky once it started becoming a tight fit - more to do with hand positioning when so close to the wall than anything else. Also, if your stairway or doorway isn't quite perfect, getting this flush can be quite a frustrating experience (nothing to do with the stairgate, more shoddy workmanship on your house's behalf!). I would say, overall, this is quite an easy, simple stair gate to fit - just make sure that you measure your gap before purchasing.

USING THE GATE

Once fitted, the gate does feel tight and safe and secure. It can be pulled on quite hard and not move - reassuring as baby quite likes to use these to practice 'pulling up' on. Having a gate that opens both ways is handy at the top of the stairs (if you have room to open it both ways) but obviously pretty useless at the bottom of a flight of stairs!

The lock system is quite simple to use once you get the hang of it. The buttons on the handle need to be compressed and the handle then pulled up, in one motion. This was tricky to do at first, particularly if carrying baby at the same time but once I had done it a few times, and worked on my technique, I was soon able to do this easily with one hand. The locking latch at the bottom of the stair gate can be flicked with a foot if necessary. I find that this does offer additional security to the gate but the gate is held pretty securely with just the top lock. Therefore, depending on my usage (how long I will leave it shut for, if baby is nearby, which gate it is etc) I do not always lock the bottom as well as it can be inconvenient to unlock this if carrying baby.

Getting used to the gate being there is another issue. After a week or so, it was second nature but, for the first few days I suffered a few stubbed toes and foot injuries as the metal lies along the stair just where you tread.

The gate swings open easily but without momentum, so you are unlikely to encounter any problems or have any accidents. It is also lightweight so you can open easily with one hand. We have not had any problems with squeaking or creaky hinges so you can use this confidently when baby is napping etc.

OVERALL OPINION

The gate is safe and secure and helps keep baby safe. It is easy to fit and easy to use. Once shut, it can only be opened by an adult. The only downside that we had was that the gate itself was too narrow for our needs and we had to purchase extensions which vastly added to the cost.