We have a Houdini at our home! JB who will be two in April got her big girl bed last September. The girl was making openings in the walls each time banging and sliding her baby's crib in the room, and so we gave up and bought her a twin bed – simillar to her big sister’s. Her big sister (A.K.A Gabster) had made the transition easily and we were hoping for the same experience.

JB discovered the very first night that she could get away from her bed as well as her room and stroll around the upstairs of our home. The Gabster alerted us for this when she screamed at 4 a.m. "Get this pest away from my bed".

Fine, I told The Man, you're in charge now. Find a way to hold JB safely contained between the hours of 10 p.m. and six a.m. Ideally in her bed, but at least in her own bedroom. Before you advise just shutting her door, we did. We even used one particular plastic child-proof doorknob covers. Small magician figured it out within just few days. Thankfully, The Hubby went up to the challenge and arrived home with The First Years Hands-Free Gate.

The First Years Hands-Free Gate is sleek, white and straightforward to install. It's also the 4th different style of gateway to come into our home, so i approached it with a certain amount of skepticism. Others had failed in the past - just what might make this gate distinctive?

Ooooh - no hands! How cool! No more juggling a sleeping child to open the gate. No maneuvering out of the way as the gate swings open. No need to have The Hubby make several trips to the home improvement center just to get this gate up and running.

This gate, The First Years Hands-Free Gate is pressure mounted. This means you keep the gate in the doorway wherever you want to use it and twist the ends until it is perfect and stuck! Absolutely no hammer and nails, no electric power drill – furthermore – no holes in the wall. In fact, there's a nut that twists to keep the small pressure pads in place. Luckily, provided with the gate is the wrench/lock-fit gauge thing-a-ma-bobby you need to make it all happen. The pressure pads are excellent. They keep the gate’s components from doing any scratches to your walls. Ours (the pressure pads – not the walls) are white and are constructed with some type of rubber. Potential clients must note that tightening the nuts (there are 4) will demand some upper body power. This gate works best when a passing baby is unable to even shake it, so tighten away using the thing-a-ma-bobby.

The First Years Hands-Free Gate will easily fit in any doorway that is 29" to 34" wide. Gleam 5" extension available that will make this gate fit openings up to 44" wide. The maker states that customers may have 1 extension on each side of The First Years Hands-Free Gate and it will still be secure. They do not suggest exceeding this number regarding protection factors. Fortunately we did not need an extension for JB’s small room entrance. Needless to say, the extension is sold separately and probably costs a lot so I was great with not needing one.

Ok, so you have got it in. Now just how does it do the job?? Oh this really is so awesome. The best part is even though your little kids watch you opening the gate, they will NOT be able to do it. Why you ask yourself? Well, the First Years Hands-Free Gate is controlled by a FOOT PEDAL! There is a gray 2.5 inch by 2.5 inch piece of plastic that the adult who wants to open the gate steps on with one foot and “poof” the gate will open. The pedal is on either side of the gate, therefore the “opening adult” may operate the gate from other side. This did at first create a difficulty for us because we were utilizing it in JB’s doorway and still wanted to be able to close the door to her room. The foot pedal was keeping us from being able to close the door all the way. Repositioning the gate one more inch away from the door improved this problem.

Two cool options that come with the First Years Hands-Free Gate include the fact that the gate swings open in both ways. From a mom with gates that are installed and can only swing one direction, count on me, this is mostly a plus. The 2nd is the gate generate a noticeable “click” to tell you the gate has locked. I love this, except during the night when I would like to be able to close the gate as gently as I possibly can. Never happens. And the tiny stinker swears the “click” woke her up.

The stated click also has to be rated a minus for that disturbance element. I'd prefer to manage to lock the enemy within – and never have them find out. Another negative point is that after several weeks of locking herself in her bedroom, JB Houdini still doesn't get it. Both girls often close the gate behind them when they enter the room and then complain that they are “locked in”. Duh – don’t close the gate. I don’t really mind, but at the crack of dawn when I am trying to get that last five minutes of rest, hearing “open the gate, open the gate” is totally frustrating.

Please keep in mind, just like any gate you may purchase for your home, unless the gate can be MOUNTED to the wall with hardware, DO NOT use it at the top of a staircase. Again, the only form of gate which is acceptable to be used at the top of the stairs is a gate that is PERMENENTLY Connected to the wall. This (and all other) pressure mounted gates (types that need no hardware) aren't safe to EVER use at the top of the stairs.

You might want to look at First Years Hands-Free Gate and several other great baby safety gates at First Years Hands Free Gate blog.

Determining Which First Years Hands Free Gate is the Best

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