There are many kinds of baby gates on the market. The three most commonly used are hardware-mounted, pressure-mounted and retractable gates. They all differ in the way they are mounted and the places in the house they are best for.

What is commonly agreed on, is that pressure-mounted gates should not be installed to block the top part of the stairs. The reason is that they simply do not provide maximum safety. They can be mounted without any tools nor skills, which is of great convenience, but there is always a risk that your child will manage to push through the gate. This kind of gates is best to use between two opposing walls in order to block the way into another room. However in the case of stairs are simply not stable enough.

Hardware-mounted gates are what is often recommended as the best choice. They are installed with screws to walls and banisters and they offer the safest and the most stable way of preventing your child from getting access to the stairs. It is true that they are less convenient in mounting and use than the previous option, however in the matter of maximum safety, no other baby gate is as effective.

The third kind of baby gates which might be considered as an option, is the retractable baby gate. This kind of gate is becoming more and more popular, but still, there is a confusion around the question, if it should be used to protect the top part of the stairs. The problem here is that they are made of polyester mesh, which is safe for your child as it is soft, but at the same time as can become dangerous. There is a chance that the material will not hold, for example, a bigger child running towards it. What is important is to check exactly how resistant the material in the safety gate is. Once you make sure that it will be safe, considering the weight of your child, retractable baby gates may function even better as baby gates for stairs than the hardware-mounted ones.