Is it ok that DD goes down the stairs on her bottom?

[breatheslowly]

She is 17 months and holds my hands while she does it. Will she be able to move on to going down independently like that or does she need to crawl down?

There are not many 15 year olds who come down on their bottoms.

Don't worry.

DS does the same and is the same age. He's quite nervous of going down and flatly refuses to go down backwards on his knees so he bum shuffles gripping my legs or hands for dear life

Some children aren't walking at 17 months. I would not worry about a toddler going down stairs on her bottom. She is safe.

DH thinks she is at risk of toppling forwards. I suppose my question is more "will she be able to go down on her bottom independently or will she need to switch to her front to be safe independently before learning to walk down?"

i think its fine, mine have all gone through phases of doing that, i did also teach them to slide down on their tummies feet first as i felt that was a safe way to go down, they all learnt to go down standing at some point, i dont remember when! ds4 who is 3 comes down properly now but dd is 14mths and does backwards on her tummy.

Both DS and DD went down on their bottoms. They don't now :)

Of course it's OK - she's only little - she's safe coming down a step at a time like this, and will change when she's more comfortable and confident.

My little on is 20m and I always carry her down should I be teaching her how to come down them alone?

I think it's prudent to start showing her if she's on her feet anyway. She should learn the skill before she finds the stairs by herself.

a very sensible way to do it, i think!

Now that my 2.4 year old is coming down the stairs the "normal" way I find myself constantly shouting at her to "Go down on your bum!" - your LO is doing it the safe way!

DD1 does this at 4. Our stairs are extremely steep and, although she can handle stairs no problem, I tend to encourage her to come down on her bottom for my own peace of mind. Besides, she knows that it's 100x faster and more fun to come down like she's on a helper skelter!

helter ffs.

Well mine as from the word go tried to walk down! Not a great idea with toddler balance, I'd much rather he went on his bottom. I have to keep him well away from steps, he even fell face first off the bottom step trying to step off when the stairgate had to go on the second step in our old house.

My DD is 15 months and kind of comes down on her bottom with her back almost straight and 'bumps' down (supervised of course) and she hangs on to the spindles on the staircase as she comes. It's reassuring to me as it seems she at least can't tumble forwards. I've tried trying to turn her round to come down on her tummy but it seems she can only go forwards in this position and ends up going back up!

Ds has started going on his front now and goes far too fast for my liking but better than him trying to hold onto the banister as he's very unsteady cos he looks at the banister not where he's going!

I know lots of people who taught their DC to come down on their bums as the safer option. DH taught 20 month old DD to come down on her bum but she also comes down backwards and walks down holding onto rail or my hand.