When did you take your stair gates away ?

[ahnostairs]

I've just removed the bottom one because it was always becoming loose anyway and my almost two year old was always opening it and then playing with the gate - opening and closing it.
I am keeping the one at the top indefinitely.

But the bottom one being gone is so nice for us. But the boy keeps climbing up to the top of the stairs and I'm worried he'll fall.

When did you let your child go up and down the stairs alone ? He can go up fine, although I do prefer to still be behind him and I just don't think he's ready to go down on his own either.

My DD is 4 and we had removed the bottom gate around a similar age but she wasn't as interested in going upstairs alone.

Stress !!

Mine, my GC and most toddlers I know were taught to bum or tummy shuffle down, so just before 2.

4 kids Never used them

Not even at the top ?

So you just let them go up and down the stairs alone or you confined them somehow ? Otherwise how could you get anything done ?

Just turned 2 year old (and older sibling) tempted to take top one away soon. He can walk up and down safely now.

DD is almost 2 and we haven’t had stair gates for months and months. She’s still in a cot though so can’t wander around upstairs by herself. I do tend to carry her down myself but she’s perfectly capable. Missing having a stair gate on the living room archway (no door!) as she’s impossible to contain now (had to come down for diy reasons and can’t go back up now).

DD could crawl under the stair gate we had at the top of the stairs (DH attached it above the skirting board rather than on - it was one of the retractable ones). So wasn’t much use 😂 sister put a pressure stair gate at the top of her stairs (they have a bar all the way along the bottom so massive trip hazard) which I almost tripped over and fell down the stairs, so so so dangerous! So basically I just think supervision is the safest option 😄

Not used them this time round on the stairs as it doesn't allow for gates to be fitted without causing damage. There is one on dc bedroom though. Previously had 1 at the top until about 2.5. Not going to lie it's a pain in the arse stopping them from constantly racing to the top before I can reach them. Hoping they learn the safe way down pronto.

As soon as they could safely get up and down the stairs. They were definitely gone before 2.

Mine are 12 and 13 and we still have a babygate…

because the dog is a pain in the arse.

With my eldest we moved house at 21 months and didn't put them up at the new house. He was fine and very careful on the stairs.

Youngest is 18 months and we have a gate on the bottom but due to the design of our stairs it's just not possible to fit one at the top, so if I need him contained upstairs I put him in his cot or in his brothers room with toys and close the door tight.

HV told me that they don't recommend them after age 2 due to them being a climbing/trip hazard.

We moved house when dd was about 20 months old. We meant to put the stair gates on straight away it just never happened with all the unpacking etc. After a few days we decided it wasn’t worth doing.

Never used them - house design meant there was a door

He's not been in a cot since he was just over 1 !! So he can get out of bed and walk around upstairs!! The one upstairs is staying. Indefinitely.

We are considering having one made to match the actual stairs. Just to prevent accidents if they sleep walk. I did.

The downstairs one was SO annoying and uncomfortable ! Because basically the banister doesn't go to the bottom step. So you have to attach the stair gate to the 2nd of 3rd step. It was not perfectly safe anyway because of that. So he'd be sitting on the 3rd step swinging open the stair gate. It kept coming lose. That's why we took it off today.

Hope he gets bored of the stairs at some point !

I know MIL will lose it when she sees it, as she'll think it's super unsafe

Never used them in my house. Ex’s terrace had really steep stairs so had one at the top. Took that away at 2yo when he learned to bump it open by running at it with his shoulder. falling down that way seemed more likely than them not being there.

Keeping mine for now. Baby and toddler. I still notice that my toddler gets distracted going up so is more likely to fall up than down I think. I'm keeping them until I never witness/catch a near miss anymore... currently a couple of times a week.

We put a stair gate on his bedroom door instead of at the top of the stairs, when our eldest moved to a bed! That worked great for us personally!

Around 2

When my youngest lifted it off the wall hooks. He never climbed over like his older siblings though.

We never used them , design of our stairs would have meant the bottom one would have had to be put 6 stairs up . It was far more sensible to teach ours how to climb up and bump back down on their bottoms rather than them getting stuck part way up , or worse getting all the way to the top and not knowing how to get back down .

No never had them at all not at the top or on bedrooms, just supervision and teaching them how to use the stairs correctly. Never had any accidents.

9 months when he learnt to safely go down backwards. We only had one at the top as he would only follow someone up, not go on his own.

About 2 when I found DS2 astride the top of the one at the top of the stairs and realised he’d do more damage falling from there than down the stairs. DS1 never ever climbed anything so about 3 with him.

When my then 3 year old was showing Granny how to open it 😀!

Never used them. Babies need to be taught how to safely navigate stairs.

Babies ? Really ? Ok..

the older siblings kept leaving it open