CPT: babies and stairs

[lucylou]

Curious where everyone is at on this.

[lucylou]

Oh no. I've been drinking and idk how to fix it. It's supposed to say "like taking down the baby gate."

[aaemommy]

Haha!

But yes, he does quite well with stairs. He's always going up and down them. The only time I use a baby gate at the stairs is if I don't want him going into the other part of the house.

[greysonsmom]

He goes up and down well enough that I allow him to do so on his own. We still use the gate because I don't want him upstairs by himself.

[lucylou]

Let me also ask about how long they've been doing it?
DS is an end of monther.
We have stairs, he gets lots of practice. He's been doing it on his own forever, but he likes to F around and try to walk down them like me or he'll get distracted and lean forward (coming down). I feel like I can't leave him unattended completely yet

[aaemommy]

We don't actually have stairs in our house but the babysitter does and so do my IL's. So I'm not sure how long he's been going up/ down unassisted because I'm not there with him when he uses them every day. A long time I know. Like most of this year I'm pretty sure. A also walks down them like me when he can hold onto something/ someone. He's really good about scooting or going down backwards if there's nothing to hold onto or if he has stuff in his hands. I'm sure he fell down them at the sitters once or twice and learned by natural consequence how to be safe and cautious around them.

[greysonsmom]

I've been letting him go up and down alone for two months probably. Depends on his mood sometimes he walk down normal and sometimes he comes down backwards on his hands and knees.

[mrsnorris]

We don't have stairs inside our house (well, there are a couple of places with one stair but we've never gated those). She can do stairs independently for about a month now but I wouldn't feel comfortable not being right there to catch her if she slipped. This will probably be true for several months.

[Courtniko]

She is very good with stairs. If she has something to hold on to she can step up, starting maybe 3 months ago. She used to slide down on her tummy feet first to go down (maybe 9 months old), now she generally sits on her butt and scoots down. She does practice walking down, but someone is always right there with her when she does that, and she holds a hand or the railing.
DD becomes obsessed with practicing things that she can't do, so she has always pushed the boundaries with stairs. As soon as she is good enough at something that we feel comfortable with her doing it on her own she moves on to something new.
Luckily our stairs are wide, carpeted, and have a landing half way (not that she has ever fallen, bit if she did it would be less of a fall).

[swim]

Apr 21, 2016 21:51:40 GMT -5 greysonsmom said:

He goes up and down well enough that I allow him to do so on his own. We still use the gate because I don't want him upstairs by himself.

This.

[puffandstuff]

She's been going up and down for 9-10 months. She doesn't try to walk down or up because she's got short lite legs. We've never had a baby gate.

[annapunkalunka]

She can go up no problem (mostly crawling up, but occasional walking up). Down she's gotten A LOT better recently, but I still like to hold her hand. She only will walk down, she never really figured out another method of getting down... Other than falling. Lol.

[weeklyplanner]

Our entire house, including the staircase is hardwood floors. I don't plan to remove the gate at the top of the stairs anytime soon because DS new favorite game is to run away yelling "Dit de! Dit de!" (Get me). I'm afraid when he's all hyped up he will try to run right down the stairs.

He does the large stair case crawling up or walking up just a few. He goes down on his belly, doing a backwards crawl.

Our outside deck stairs is only 4-5 steps and those seem to be a little closer together. He can walk up and down them holding the banister, but he kind of turns his body sideways and faces the banister--I guess for support?

[mimsy]

We live in a split level and she could do the stairs before she could walk.
She definitely does stairs by herself now, but never "alone". I'm always near by.
Our gate will stay up until she's like 4 probably. That's what A and I want.

[ice61313]

SHe does really well with stairs. However, girl is clumsy AF so the gate is still there.

[puffandstuff]

Apr 22, 2016 8:13:15 GMT -5 ice61313 said:

SHe does really well with stairs. However, girl is clumsy AF so the gate is still there.

I have a clumsy girl too. She can be walking normally and end up on her back. Poor thing. I'm clumsy too.

[bobloblaw]

Nope.

1. He takes after me and tends to trip over his own feet
2. He thinks he's invincible at times

We have a small flight of 3-4 stairs in our upstairs that lead to the master bedroom... he's tried to go down them without holding the wall or anyone's hand and toppled down. DNW that happening with the big set of stairs that isn't carpeted.

[lucylou]

Ok it sounds like most of us are about on the same page. I know DS can do it, he's been doing it forever. But yes, he is clumsy and gets distracted easily. I feel like I have to be right there while he's coming down. On his belly, he is fine. But he likes to come down on his butt too and the other day he leaned forward to point to his toe or something and about bit it.

But on the other hand, it's almost like he turns it into a game when I'm there with him. I thought maybe if I just left him to his own devices he would just go up or down, no messing around. I guess we'll reassess in a few months.

[minervamae]

We have stairs down to our unfinished basement. I won't let her go down without me below her. She's been known to be going down just fine on her knees and then just turn around and jump. Talk about a heart attack.

[gratefulgirl]

I will let DD2 go on her stomach with my only loosely supervising, but then today I had the gate open and she went half way down on her feet. Heart attack moment. She stopped and freaked out once I saw her and I helped her back up. I think she'll be well over 2 before I'm confident that she can do it normally on her feet (that's how old DD1 was), and by that time DD3 will be needing a gate. So I expect our gate to be up for about 3 more years. Good thing DH insisted on mounting it to the iron banister with pretty stained wood to match our floors. By the time we're done it will have been up for over 6 years.

[gahorseygal]

No baby gates in our house. We haven't gated the stairs at all since moving in back at the end of September. DD is cautious and has been really good with stairs. Plus we have a tri-level and they are half sets. No issues here but it's totally been because of her personality and dexterity. We will see with baby brother. We may have gates everywhere

[starrynight14]

Apr 21, 2016 22:59:03 GMT -5 mrsnorris said:

We don't have stairs inside our house (well, there are a couple of places with one stair but we've never gated those). She can do stairs independently for about a month now but I wouldn't feel comfortable not being right there to catch her if she slipped. This will probably be true for several months.

This. Especially because LO tries to copy DS1 and run or just play around with them.

[otepoti]

Max can climb/crawl up but has no interest in going down more than a single step.

[hham10]

Ds always goes up and down steps by himself. He often slides down stepson his belly. Quick and cute.

[Deleted]

Baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. It's staying, since the last time I forgot to close it, I turned my back for 20 seconds and she was hanging off the banister.

#SpiderBaby