If you have hardwood floors and a baby gate prison

aluminium

Is your baby gate play area plastic or metal? What do you do to make sure the baby gate doesn't slide across and scratch your hardwood floors? Do you have foam mats underneath to protect in a fall, or do you just let your LO play directly on the floor? Anything else you feel is important to consider before making a purchase?

ames71

I have ours (plastic) placed on the living room rug. It came with these rubber deals that can be stuck on the points that hit the floor to protect wood floors and to prevent it from sliding. 

susan1017

We have gates to our stairs and blocking the TV components but otherwise DS has the run of the house. His toys are in the family room on the rug where he spends most of his time but he does crawl on the HW and tile in the kitchen. He also has a playpen that I use when cooking or I have to run up or down stairs. I would never contain him for most of his playtime.

jlthompson19

We have pressure mounted gates with a swing door.  We actually installed them over a year ago to keep the dogs out of the kitchen while I cook, but it'll work well when DD does more than scoot.

 

katcarls

We have the North States plastic superyard and it came with little foam things to stick on the bottom.  We use it on carpet but if it were hardwood, I would put a rug or foam tiles down for LO to play on.  It would protect your floors, the baby, and maybe make it move around less.  If you don't want LO to push it around when they get bigger you could put some Command hooks on the wall and attach the gate to the hooks.  I bought the extension to make it bigger so DS would have more room to move around.  Amazon usually has the best price so check there before buying.

I certainly don't leave him in there all day like a PP suggested but it's nice having a place to contain him safely while I go to the bathroom or workout.  I also open it up and use it to keep him in the living room and out of the kitchen.  We take it to my Il's house too so he has a safe place to play.  They haven't done anything to baby proof and their big dog is constantly in his face and knocking him over.