Stairs help please!

[idunnodoi]

Have just moved to a new house with narrow stairs with just a tiny landing at the top. My plan was to teach nearly four year old DS to use stairs safely, but babygate off at night with a tall gate once he’s in bed to be safe (he never gets up in the night and wanders, but does come into me in the morning which would mean crossing the landing, and I fear one sleepy misstep and he could tumble…and obviously he may decide at any time to start midnight wanders!).

However, now I’ve moved in and looked at getting a stairgate, it seems it’s impossible to get anything that fits across top of stairs due to the odd layout, with a gap between edge of top step and wall (yellow line on stairs pic) plus bannister in the way. Have even spoken with and sent pics to ‘safetots’ and they were unable to recommend anything.

So my options are gating the space just before the stairs (see pic), but worry that if DS ever got it into his head to climb over, if he actually managed he could drop straight down the stairs on other side. Or, gating off his bedroom at night – don’t like the idea of this, and still possible he might climb over but at least then it’s not directly in front of stairs.

Any ideas on what the best option is here? Or any ingenious ways to gate off the space safely? Also, how easy might it be for a four year old to open a gate? We’ve come from a flat and I’ve never used gates before so am a novice

I'd get a taller one and fit it on the first step. Do you own the house OP? If so get one that screws the wall so won't have a bottom bar to trip over.

You could say that about lots of things. Seatbelts? Lots of people were fine but a lot more were injured than there are now that we are aware of risks and have things to put in place to reduce them

My parents had a stairgate back in the 70s. Just a flat one with no opening. I know because I pulled my stomach muscles climbing over when dbro just began crawling.

Isn't the stairgate is to stop the 4yo sleepily falling down the stairs at night, in which case a gap at the bottom shouldn't be an issue?
If he's a bit inclined to wander round the house at night if there's nothing to stop him, then you do need to close the gap.

I was going to say similar to maximist but suggest a block to fill in the first step to landing level and then an extra tall stair gate on the next step down

My stairs are like this. I have a gate about 3 foot away from that step along the landing.
son calls me from the gate if he wants me 😊

Could you gate the side he would walk from, with the hinge on his side so when he swings gate open it blocks the stair way?

I agree with others though, I think at 4 you would be looking to take the stair gates off. We have night lights upstairs to give enough light to show where you are going to avoid accidents.

I agree. Most logical and safest solution in this scenario.

I'm sure I stopped using baby gates when child was about 3. A 4 year old really shouldn't need it. Especially if you have a landing light.

a gate on the bedroom door is really the only practical option here.

He's 4. I'd just put a couple of night lights on the landing & teach him to be careful and not to go downstairs in the night/morning (early hours) without you.

and you could put a gate on his bedroom door, just to slow him down, to make him stop and think & not just run across.

I really cannot see a 4 year old just falling & somehow falling down the stairs crossing that landing, not with a landing light on.

Double check the carpet is all firmly in place no loose bits or sticky up edges.

@MargaretThursday mostly for when he comes into me in the morning in case he stumbles, but also in case he starts wandering at bedtime/during night - it’s a new house, we’ve only ever lived in a flat before and I don’t know if the lure of new exciting things/a downstairs could prove too tempting.

I had initially thought the same about a gap not mattering too much, but the only gate that I could find that would fit was the babydan guard me which is a folding gate and has some ‘’give’ if leaned/fallen against, making gap even bigger.

Think I am going to gate across his bedroom for now (need a solution as am currently sleeping on floor next to his bed as I’m too paranoid about him falling to sleep in my own room - can you tell he’s my PFB?) and his dad has said he can make a tall gate to go across the top step in a couple of weeks. I think this is the best solution and will have advantage of being able to put catch up high so DS can’t reach it.

@SkylightSkylight if he was used to stairs, and if these stairs weren’t so steep, I might agree. But he’s not quite four yet, never had stairs to negotiate at home before, and these are very steep, if he falls it would be nasty. I am teaching him how to be careful on them during the day.

can’t put any night lights as there are no plug sockets and I don’t think battery operated ones would last long.

Our house is very similar, with a narrow landing and banisters both sides making it impossible to fix a stair gate at the top of the stairs. We installed a retractable stair gate on the bedroom door instead and go as soon as we hear “Mummeeeee” / “Daddeeeee.” We have also taught our DS to “stick to the wall” when crossing the landing so he’s as far away from the stairs as possible.

Hi @idunnodoi thanks for posting! I can see you've had plenty of replies already but just wanted to point you in the direction of our page for the best stair gates in case it's of any use to you (or any other posters!) Let us know if you've any feedback on the page