Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Should I worry about toddler falling over stairs hand bannister

33 replies

ForRubyMoose · 30/05/2025 19:19

On my landing in my house I have terrace Victorian house with spindles and a hand banister at the top of the stairs.

Should I be worried the toddler will try to climb over the hand bannister and fall down the stairs?

Not my house in the picture but hard to describe.

Should I worry about toddler falling over stairs hand bannister
OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Funnyduck60 · 30/05/2025 23:19

Make sure to never leave anything they could climb on and put a well fitted stair gate on. Look at legal requirements for height and distance between spindles just to make sure its compliant as its an old house. Also a toddler shouldn't be left unsupervised for long anyway. I have a galleried landing and never had a problem with DC climbing up it.

HarrietSchulenberg · 30/05/2025 23:05

I've raised three boys to adulthood in a house with syairs exactly like these. We had a stairgate at the top and bottom. We also told them very early on that climbing would be very dangerous and told them they would have to go to hospital for a very long time if they climbed and fell, which was a great deterrent. Unfortunately, as teenagers they all "forgot" this and all were caught clambering at various times. Threats of removing cherished items put a stop to that.

Marble10 · 30/05/2025 22:54

My youngest DC is 6 now and the second he starts to stir or even breathing changes, I hear him. I wish I could turn my mum radar off, but it’s never been a fear he would get up without me hearing him. The joys of having children -nnever sleeping properly again!

Birch101 · 30/05/2025 21:09

We have that and not an issue obviously don't have anything they can climb up - chair, bookcase, next to it

And position safety gate appropriately

MargaretThursday · 30/05/2025 20:57

Depends on the dc as to whether it's a risk.

Ds was climbing out of his cot aged 7 months wearing a sleeping bag. However he never tried to climb the banisters, although they were horizontal not vertical so easy to climb. He climbed with a purpose.
Dd2 was much more tricky because she climbed because it was there. I had an old duvet cover that I fastened over the banisters with a safety pin to make it harder until she was old enough to have some common sense (I think she has some now - she's 21, so maybe I should take it down now😁 )
Dd1 never climbed anything. Heck, it took her a month after moving to a bed to realise she could climb out rather than calling for us.

Original poster
ForRubyMoose · 30/05/2025 20:05

SantaToSSD · 30/05/2025 19:58

My eldest would climb out of his cot, could climb over the stairgate and would even open drawers in my bedside table to create a ladder to climb onto my bed. But he never attempted to climb over the banisters.

Thank you

OP posts:
SantaToSSD · 30/05/2025 19:58

My eldest would climb out of his cot, could climb over the stairgate and would even open drawers in my bedside table to create a ladder to climb onto my bed. But he never attempted to climb over the banisters.

Original poster
ForRubyMoose · 30/05/2025 19:45

pimplebum · 30/05/2025 19:43

How would a toddler climb over banister??
stairgate top and bottom is enough

Same way they climb over stairs gates

OP posts:
pimplebum · 30/05/2025 19:44

Why not put stair gate on his bedroom door or a lock so he can’t get out ?
stable door?

NuffSaidSam · 30/05/2025 19:44

pimplebum · 30/05/2025 19:43

How would a toddler climb over banister??
stairgate top and bottom is enough

Some toddlers are really quite remarkable climbers!

pimplebum · 30/05/2025 19:43

How would a toddler climb over banister??
stairgate top and bottom is enough

Original poster
ForRubyMoose · 30/05/2025 19:43

Spirallingdownwards · 30/05/2025 19:42

We had this but as soon as he could he climbed the stair gate and then "dropped" on to the stairs. So that had to be taken down. He never tried to climb the actual bannisters.

Thank you. Sleeping and him falling down the stairs is a real issue of mine

OP posts:
Spirallingdownwards · 30/05/2025 19:42

We had this but as soon as he could he climbed the stair gate and then "dropped" on to the stairs. So that had to be taken down. He never tried to climb the actual bannisters.

Original poster
ForRubyMoose · 30/05/2025 19:40

BertieBotts · 30/05/2025 19:36

Well, I'd move the chair Grin

But no, this is a very common style of bannister and it's never been an issue for toddlers in any house I'm aware of.

I would be moving imaginary items

OP posts:
Original poster
ForRubyMoose · 30/05/2025 19:40

BertieBotts · 30/05/2025 19:39

If he is your shadow when awake, he is very unlikely to try to get down the stairs.

He would come into your room, or more likely, stay in bed and cry for you to come to him (that is what my kids always do!)

That's what I'm hoping.

OP posts:
Original poster
ForRubyMoose · 30/05/2025 19:39

BertieBotts · 30/05/2025 19:37

If you are worried about it I'd put a stairgate on his bedroom door rather than at the top of the stairs. We did have this kind of bannister when DS1 was little though and a stairgate on the stairs and it was fine.

I have that but I also think he will climb.ober at one point

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 30/05/2025 19:39

If he is your shadow when awake, he is very unlikely to try to get down the stairs.

He would come into your room, or more likely, stay in bed and cry for you to come to him (that is what my kids always do!)

Tiswa · 30/05/2025 19:38

Yes this is perfectly normal

ublike the house I grew up in which had floor to ceiling poles with enough space it in that you could swing round them - which we did a lot and they started to get loose

quite how no one was injured

BertieBotts · 30/05/2025 19:37

If you are worried about it I'd put a stairgate on his bedroom door rather than at the top of the stairs. We did have this kind of bannister when DS1 was little though and a stairgate on the stairs and it was fine.

BertieBotts · 30/05/2025 19:36

Well, I'd move the chair Grin

But no, this is a very common style of bannister and it's never been an issue for toddlers in any house I'm aware of.

Original poster
ForRubyMoose · 30/05/2025 19:34

NuffSaidSam · 30/05/2025 19:29

If you've got a chair there like in the picture then move it.

With nothing to stand on nearby it's safe unless you've got a climber, in which case it could potentially be unsafe.

Lol lol lol of course I don't have a chair

OP posts:
Original poster
ForRubyMoose · 30/05/2025 19:33

It's more when I'm asleep and he wakes up.

When he's awake he's my shadow

OP posts:
4kids3pets · 30/05/2025 19:31

We have those kind of stairs and a gate at the top that's it and we have 3 toddlers, they will potter about upstairs while I do jobs etc

treesareforlifenotjustforchristmas · 30/05/2025 19:31

2/6 of my kids are climbers (the youngest 2) We have ours raised to the ceilings and very sturdy. The other 4 kids have never attempted

KarmenPQZ · 30/05/2025 19:29

I think it comes down to if your child is a notorious climber (some kids really do climb everything and anything) whilst some (mine) showed no interest in it.

and also are you leaving your child for any time out of eyeshot / ear shot?

Swipe left for the next trending thread