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 !!

DS learnt when supervised, he followed me up at 6 months and learnt to go down backwards at 9. I still used a stairgate from 5 to 9 months so I could relax when he was crawling around upstairs and I had housework to do.

They don't have to be toddling to learn stairs, but need supervision until they learn. We did need a stairgate or I could have had a five month old try to crawl down forwards!

Between 2 and 3, I think. The one on the kitchen door came off when we had a new washing machine that wouldn’t fit through the door. The one on the stairs was nearer to 3yo when I was happy that DC could find the bathroom at night without wandering around

We taught DS2 to use the stairs safely as soon as he learned to crawl. That first weekend he was crawling we stayed at home for most of it and just kept going up and down the stairs. He had a great time and at the end of two days I was confident he knew what he was doing. Never had a stair gate or an accident.

When DS was about 16 months and decided he would try to climb the outside of the stairs. I figured it was safer for him to climb the actual stairs.

I would leave the top one open and he was capable of climbing the stairs on his own. I didn't leave him alone at that age ovously. We would only shut the top one when we where upstairs. That one stayed for years as we where in a really small house and the landing was tiny. I also worried about them sleep walking or just falling down the stairs if they got up for the bathroom.

3 children. Also no stair gates.

My son is 2 and we still have them top and bottom stairs.

But our stairs are in the living room so we can't shut it off. If we had an actual hallway and could close the door we may have removed it around now - we also had to get them earlier than friends for the same reason x

We removed them once they could go up and down the stairs. About 12 months ish.

My kids were both walking by one, so I considered them to still be babies. Not too unusual. 🙄

An almost two year old should know how to navigate stairs.

About 4 months ago once I was certain I was no longer at risk of falling down the stairs when going to the loo in the middle of the night! To be fair I have been having treatment for cancer and it made me very ill.

We have a 2 year old grandson and will be putting up a stair gate for his next visit. We haven't bothered yet because he can't get to the stairs at our house and can't get out of his travelcot, but probably next time he visits. We will take it down once it is no longer a barrier for him and he is consistently safe going up and down stairs.

DS is 4.5 and our top one is firmly in place. Stops him going downstairs when he should be going to bed. (It doesn't keep him in bed, but at least it limits the roaming to one floor).

Youngest is 3 and we’ve just removed top and bottom stair gates as it seemed like they were more bother than they were safeguarding any longer. Kids kept playing with them and I almost got caught on one when I was in a hurry. It just felt like time they were gone.

I got rid of my top one when Dd was about 6 months. The only time she ever fell down the stairs was when I was carrying her and tripped on the stair gate at the top. So I got rid of it after that.

I just taught her how to come down stairs on her bum safely.

mine are 19 and 13

never used gates or baby proofed anything

kids just had adult supervision at all times

Never had them. Once moving, they’ve always been under supervision and learnt not to go up / down stairs alone

Top of stairs... we couldn't find one to fit. However it wasn't a problem as the stairs were the opposite end to the girls bedroom, our bedroom and the bathroom.

Bottom of stairs... we moved when youngest was 2.5yo. It was a natural end point.

Never used them either. They were never left on their own except at bedtime and then they had doors shut so couldn't get out and they weren't the type of DC to try and get out once in bed, as I would always go in to them if there was a problem.

Never had one at the bottom, agree that they need to learn to go up and down safely as soon as possible.

Put one at the top when DC1 was about 3 and moving to a bed and DC2 was getting mobile at the same time. We'll take it down soon, DC2 is 3.5 and has never come out of her room at night. We haven't closed it during the day for months, could well be a year.

We started leaving it open just before he turned 2 (the gate give on the hallway, not the stairs themselves) but he has never really tried to go on the stairs on his own.so it wasn't that much a safety issue.
Now he is just over 2 and he is confident going down so we leave it open and he is allowed to go up and down as he wishes, we just make sure he doesn't stop/play on the stairs.

Have to say he was a late walker and isn't very agile. We probably would have let him go on the stairs on his own sooner if it wasn't for that.

Ah ok. Mine both open and close doors. Even my almost 2 year old can open all the doors.. so there's no stopping him really.

He started walking before he was 1. He's pretty agile etc but I'm not sure I would leave him to go down the stairs unsupervised yet. And if I'm busy cooking or cleaning, I just have no other way to make sure he's not messing around on the stairs. I don't have a playpen or any other way to confine him.

Hope he'll get bored of the stairs soon, so I don't have to run up and down every two minutes.

I agree, that's why we keep the gate and leave it open for now. Most of the time he is fine, but occasionally he starts messing about wanting to go up and down all the time, or I'm busy and can't pay enough attention so it's good to have the option to close it.

I only had a stair gate on bedroom door when ds transferred to a bed from cot (16 months)

Got rid of it at 2yo when he appeared in my bedroom at 4am and I asked how he got to me (I would go if he called)

He proudly announced "stairs" (he had a speech delay) and showed me the stairs he'd perfectly made with toy boxes - complete with largest at the bottom.

Did ummm and ahhh about putting it at the top of stairs instead but decided that would be more dangerous 🫣😂

My eldest is 5 and we'd still have the top stair gate for him even if we didn't have a 2 year old! Our landing is very small and his bedroom is almost opposite so wouldn't want to risk an accidental fall during a night time wee or when he very occasionally sleep walks.

DD2 is 22 months and has been walking up and down the stairs for about 5 months. We've never had stair gates for her, though we did use to close the door of the room we were in when she was first toddling (11-16m). Yhrn she learned to open them and we gave up trying to contain her. She walks up and down the stairs on her own now, we have 4 flights in our house so she's had lots of practice! I let her explore the house on her own while I get in with stuff.