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 !!

Dd's 5 and 2.5, we still have gates top and bottom of the stairs. Both kids can easily go up and down no problem and the gates are open all day but I like the top gate closed when we're upstairs at night, stairs are directly opposite dd's bedroom and I have a fear of her falling down when she gets up for the toilet during the night.
The bottom one I only close when we have visitors (young nieces/nephews that come over quite often) it contains the mess to downstairs.

Not bothered with them. We taught dd to get up and down stairs safely, from the get go.

We never had them at the top of the stairs as there was a safety campaign about them when my eldest was born. It is dangerous to have them at the top as children could try to climb over them and fall further.

My DF kept ours up until he died which was when I was in my 50s.
(But then it was a solid one, at the top of the stairs and did duty as a draught excluder!)

Which is why the one we had was solid so there were no hand or foot holds.

We never had stairgates and we’re in a three-storey house.

Never had top ones - my kids are climbers and a gate at the top is just asking to be climbed.

Bottom - took off recently, youngest is 3. Probably could have taken it off before but we’ve had building work etc on and off upstairs so it’s been easier to be able to shut off access to it.

We still have ours with a five year old for the same reason. The stairs are two steps from his bedroom door so I like knowing he can't wander out and fall in the dark.

My daughter is between 2.5 and 3 years old and I don’t think it occurred to either me or my husband that we could take the stair gates down already. She’s been using the stairs herself for well over a year by now though. At this point, we’re only using the gates the odd time to keep her downstairs so I can study/work upstairs.
Our bathroom door is opposite the stairs as well, so I’m tempted to keep that one longer for if she starts getting out of her big-girl bed during the night.
I’m also inclined to leave them there for years so I don’t have to find another place for them. I don’t really notice them much anymore.

edit: should add my daughter isn’t much of a climber, so I’m not too worried about that (yet).

3 DC. Never had stairgates, never had any concerns.

Mine are all school aged now but I still have a stair gate (custom made so aesthetically as pleasing as possible) at the top of the stairs as I have a sleep walker who is prone to falls. It will probably stay forever now as having it closed makes me feel safe from burglars lol

We’ve only had one at the top of the stairs. We have very steep stairs as it’s an old Edwardian house (my poor parent have to practically climb up on all fours!). Couldn’t risk the top one as you have to pass it to go to the toilet at night and there are no lights so easy to fall down. I probably won’t take that down until we move as it makes be feel safer!!

Never had one at the bottom though, we just told them they can’t go up and down the stairs without an adult watching. Our youngest is now two so happy for them to climb up in the day if one of us are up there , I also let them go down on their own now as they do it cautiously.

Dc2 and dc3 has no gates from an earlier age as we took them off when dc1 was toilet trained and had to go upstairs to the bathroom.

We kept one near dc2 and dc3 bedroom door until 2.5 years old to keep them a bit contained at night. They were never as interested in the stairs though as dc1 had been so access from the bottom during the day wasn't an issue.

Imo, personality and agility of individual DC make a big difference on whether they are a useful safety device or a fun climbing wall near a steep drop of stairs!! Mine were not interested in climbing for example.

3 kids here and never had a stair gate.

Eldest was always quite cautious anyway.

But middle one first climbed stairs at 7 months, so yes I'd call that a baby. I didn't know she could do it but one day I found her on the 3rd step! (She walked by 10 months).

First we taught them to come down feet first on their tummy, then when a bit bigger facing forward on their bottoms.

Never used them as taught them how to do stairs safely from when they could crawl

We still have them here... dgs will be three in May, but they are only closed when it's wet and muddy and the dog has been out for a walk and I don't want her going for a kip on my bed, so I guess they are dog gates now!
They've pulled paint/plaster off the walls so I'll have to redecorate if I remove them so I may just wait for grandbaby no 2

Only had one at the top. Removed about 19-20 months when DS was reliable at going up and down stairs safely (crawling/going backwards). DC2 is 8 months and trying to avoid putting it back up at all tbh.

DS is 17 months. Theoretically he can do stairs safely, but I still don’t want him doing them unsupervised whilst I’m on the loo! We’ll be keeping them for a while yet.

We don’t have one at the top because I was worried it was a trip hazard, so he has one on his bedroom door instead.

I think safety experts recommend you don't put them at the top of the stairs. As a pp said, if they fall from trying to climb over they'd probably hurt themselves more than just falling down the stairs.

We had them on doorways instead. One on the living room, dining room and my daughter's bedroom. Until she was about 4 I kept her bedroom one closed and she would have to call to me if (inevitably when) she woke in the night then I would go to her and usually let her come in my bed. Then I started closing it until I went to bed but opening it so she could bring herself through to me. Then we got rid of it altogether at about 4.5. We got rid of the downstairs ones at about 4 I think but they were often left open anyway by then.

I've never been a fan of just letting toddlers wander around the house. Most of the time I was obviously with my daughter when she was little but if I was having a quick shower or something I did like her to be 'contained' in a room where I knew she was relatively safe. She was never one for trying to climb over them fortunately.

We have stair gates that our toddler wouldn’t be able to climb over. Luckily they also have a pretty good sense of perception so they wouldn’t try. I wish I’d put a stair gate up earlier(pre-children) as due to our death trap steep stairs I’ve nearly had an accident walking to the loo at night.

I’d hate to contain them in their room. I love those early morning or middle of the night snuggles when they’ve woken up and just want to crawl in bed with us. Often I don’t notice until the morning!!

Never used them. We didn't need them when I was a child so I couldn't see the need for me to use them.

No accidents in my childhood or my children's who are all grown up.

We never removed ours despite having 7 years between DC. They're the retractable ones and were never annoying. Besides we live in a high crime area so shut them at night as an additional obstacle against house intruders. Since they're quite high and require detailed instructions to open, it would be hard for anyone to get over them quietly. They're also useful to shut people out of upstairs when we have a party.

My DC is 2.5 and we still have them on both top and bottom. Bottom is rarely closed these days but top is always, it's more for peace of mind than anything. She's never been a climber so I'm not worried about that being an issue. They don't bother us other than being a bit ugly so I'd rather be safe than sorry. She loves playing in the spare room (soon to be a nursery), the doorway of which is literally a step away from the staircase so it makes sense to keep it to prevent a trip or a slip being disastrous.

the doorway of which is literally a step away from the staircase so it makes sense to keep it to prevent a trip or a slip being disastrous.

It really doesn't make sense, sorry. She needs to learn to be careful around the stairs and how to safely navigate them. Small children instinctively learn this very quickly and you're preventing that.

Makes sense to me. Kids can learn to be safe around stairs without risking them pitching headlong down them and breaking their necks, and parents don't always have the time to follow their kids around and prevent a bad accident. You wouldn't let your young child have free access to a dangerous road, so if you have dangerous stairs in your house (which my in-laws do, very steep, slippy carpeted stairs ending in a solid stone floor), it makes sense to protect your children from them until they're old enough to be trusted to be careful every time, which a 2yo isn't.