This week's review :
Evenflo Extra-Wide Baby Soft Gate
By Debbie Vasen
When our first child began to roll around with vigor, we knew it was time to think about the ways we needed to safely contain her. With the nursery at the top of the stairs, our first priority was to protect her from the steep stairwell hazard. Unfortunately, the bottom of the stairs was a rather tricky setup, with one wall flat and the other side with a banister and railing. This created a completely uneven surface that made it difficult to attach a standard style gate. One trip to the baby store steered us to the only gate that was available at the time for this type of arrangement, the Evenflo Extra-Wide Baby Soft Gate.
We did not actually buy this gate for its intended purpose as an extra wide opening safety gate, but instead we required its ability to blockade uneven openings. With separate steel tubes that hold the gate together allowing you to individually adjust the size of the top and bottom separately, this gate is ideal for doorways that have baseboards or other uneven surfaces. It is also one of the only gates specially designed for wide openings with an adjustable width of 38 to 60 inches. Fashioned as a pressure mounted gate, there is no extra hardware for mounting. While this can make installation easy, it also means that this safety gate should not be used at the top of the stairs or other areas where serious safety is a concern.
The gate’s construction is strongly held by steel tubes, but also soft with a mesh panel inset. At the pressure points there are rubber caps to protect the wall surface. The pressure on the walls never caused a problem for us until we placed it on the painted walls of our hallway; where it did cause some of the paint to peel off. To avoid this, cautiously remove the gate by turning and loosening the ends before lifting and moving the gate.
Ultimately, this product is more of a barrier than an actual “gate.” The knobs to adjust the size are stiff and difficult to turn. Plus, the gate does not open and close. In order to move through the area you must climb over the safety gate, which in itself can create an additional hazard. Ideally, this gate is best for locations where you can simply leave it up all the time.
Baby Product Weekly
