After having a variety of baby gates that would constantly fall apart or collapse from how even my walls are..we finally broke down and bought a more versatile one..that baby dream gate made out of mesh and retracts itself.. I love it! With our 14 steps going down..I would constantly freak when Maky would head towards them with the flimsy gates we had installed at every entry point. Now just have the one gate up and not only does she have more free reign of the house..I can breathe easier.

http://www.dream-baby.com/Scripts/openExtra.asp?extra=5


So worth the money..plus I can take it outside when she's older to put on the back deck..whenever that gets built!

oooh glad its good, this is what we are getting upstairs this month (well similar http://www.babysecurity.co.uk/products/2003/Lascal-KiddyGuard-Retractable-Safety-Gate-30%252d130cm-.html)

It's almost identical! She's leaned against it already and it's very safe..bolted to the walls instead of just using pressure switches like the old style. If she fell down our stairs..I can't even begin to think how it would end..they are that steep. Takes a bit to get use to the switch and release...but after a few tries..you can defo do everything one handed.

Ours are wooden...not nice to fall down! We have a pressure fit on the top, cant put anything fixed there as its the original stair posts - and cant put anything normal on the walls as its not square (old house!)
As it is it wriggles loose so she isn't allowed upstairs unsupervised - but when they are in a bed they can escape lol

So this is perfect and I said as soon as she is in a bed and can get out we need something better

I also HATE the gate at the top of the stairs, I fell over it (going up thank goodness) and thought I had broken my toe..its a lovely shade of black now!