What age were your DC when you got rid of the stairgates?

[beela]

DS is 22 months and fine going up and down stairs on his own - by which I mean without assistance, there is usually DH or myself nearby. I often leave the gates open for example if I am popping up to get some washing etc, and leave DS with a choice of whether to follow me or not. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't, which is fair enough. He knows that going down headfirst is not a good option.

I want to take the bottom stairgate off because I don't like it but when I suggested it DH looked at me as though I had gone crazy and said he was worried about DS falling down the stairs.

Is he being PFB, or am I being dangerously cavelier about my DS's safety?

I don't think you are cavalier, it's more about your childs abilities/limitations.

We took ours down in June after we got back from holiday cottage that didn't have them and DS is 3 in September. We left them up partly for safety but partly to stop him going upstairs and messing with things unsupervised, an playing on the stairs. After a week of having them down he fell down the stairs twice in 2 days so we put them back up for a couple of days as a reminder to him that he fell an that it wasn't safe to play on the stairs. He understands now and every now and then mentions that he fell and that Daddy put the gate back up.
In fairness though we live in a victorian house with really steep stairs. Had i have lived at my Mums who has a 1950s semi that doesn't have steep stairs i probably would have taken them down sooner.

Our stairs go round a corner, so the longest stretch is only 9 steps.

I guess it's no biggie in the scheme of things!

We took ours down a few weeks ago, DD is 21 months. She is, however, a limpet baby and never leaves my side for more than ten seconds so I am not worried she is going to go off upstairs on her own!

We have never had stairgates and DS is now 15 months old, he has been walking since he was 13 months, crawling since he was about 8/9 months.
So remove them as soon as you can, it is another thing you need to remember to open and close tjem and
so on, why to complicate things, when they are so simple.

Why do you assume stairgates are a must?

None here, ever. I did look into them in a moment of parental moisty-eyedness but fortunately our stairs are too wide for anything not custom built, and i was too mean to buy any figured they would learn faster by falling down a few stairs. They never actually fell down any stairs so I saved £2k. Go me.

i have never got rid of the one on the kitchen but took the one of his bedroom when he was 3 ish???. my son was four when our second child was born so we just kept the one on the kitchen as the kitchen leads off the living room. my oldest would be in there all the time eating otherwise.

Ours came down after I fell over the wretched thing on the way to the loo in the middle of the night (loo is downstairs). Our toddler manages the stairs beautifully anyway. She was just gone two when we took it down.

The irony - toddler kept safe from something that was never a threat while Mama bruises her bum.

We didn't have stair gates, but DS was about 18 months when I let him go up and down stairs unsupervised. He's a really cautious boy though, so it depends on how your child handles the stairs, but from what you've said I don't think you're being cavalier about it.

we took our downstairs one off the stairs at about 20months, probably would have done it sooner, but was also used to keep DD1 out of the kitchen (has gone back up for new baby)

The upstairs one has stayed on as was worried about DD1 tripping when half asleep at night (i have been known to sleepwalk so a bit worried about her doing the same)

No stairgates, DD is 14 months, climbs up and down of her own accord, although rarely climbs down without encouragement and prefers to be carried.

No stair gate here either for DS2 or DD.

Depends on the child. I removed mine when DS2 was 2.5, only to find him at to top of the stairs with his trike (which we kept in the hall of the flat) saying: "Mum look at me!" triking down the marble stairs and landing GANg on his head, whilst I was running towards him in agonisiong slow motion saying NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nightmare stuff.

My other DS was not so kamikaze.

I lived in a flat until DS was 22 months. I then moved to a house. I just had a stairgate at the top of the stairs which was moved to his bedroom at night and on the kitchen door which was left open when I was in there.

They weren't to prevent falling as such but to keep him safe - eg upstairs if I was showering, out of the kitchen if oven was on and from disappearing upstairs and getting hold of things he shouldn't. By 3 (so shortly after we moved in) I kept it on his bedroom - until he discovered you could make stairs with toy boxes and climb over it!!

Once I realised he saw it more as an obstacle to be conquered rather than something to keep him in I got rid of it and just had the one on the kitchen - that he worked out how to open!!

I don't think your being cavalier at all.

I think my youngest was almost 3 before I removed the gates.

DS is 22mo and we still have ours top and bottom, plus one on his room.

However, due to the crap layout damn you younger and cooler me of the house, we sleep on a different floor to DS and I do not want to risk him on the stairs at night until he's a lot older.

Never had them, I think that they are dangerous and teaching safety on the stairs is a better safety solution

Mine are 6 and 4 and we still have one at the top of the stairs. We use it at night, but mainly to stop me falling down the stairs if I have to get up to them in the night as I'm a bit wobbly on my feet and it stops DH worrying about me (and it's saved me a couple of times too)!

We have DD 15mo and only ever had gates on the kitchen and her bedroom. We live in a townhouse so we just don't leave her unattended in the hall- she's great at getting up stairs but she'd wreck the place in minutes!

just before 2y because dc had learned to open it. far too dangerous.

We have gates on the kitchen and DS's bedroom rather than the stairs themselves - he goes up and down the stairs fine and hasn't fallen yet (he is 2) but I would worry about taking the gate off his bedroom in case he gets up in the night and falls down them in the dark.

20 mo. We could have managed without tbh, but I found them useful for gating the kitchin off so I could cook without a clingy toddler under my feet. Not sure if I will bother at all for number 2.

I know someone who still has them up for her 5 and 7yos. Now that is precious.

Oh, and also, it would have been more dangerous to have one at the top of the stairs because my dd was a bit of a climber - she could have got over it quite easily from about 18mp.

we never had them on the stairs, i have it on the kitchen though and i will be so sad the day i have to loose that cos atleast now i can lock them out and come in for a 5 mins coffee break at the times when they are driving me crazy

but as for stairs this is the first time we ever lived in a house with stairs so never really applied with the other 2, and i noticed when we went to other peoples houses with stairs they just seemed fine with it? so i never put one up here for ds3 - he is 12 months and he crawls up the stairs when he wants but he does not know how to come down so he doesnt even try. i think when there is no stair gate they just have to learn how to manage it safely and they tend to be okay??

Never had them.

She's fallen down the stairs once, you've got to learn somehow!

Depends on the child. Ds never needed them, very cautious child but also well coordinated, looks where he is going etc. Dd is now 4, nearly 5, and still falls down the stairs because she is just a very clumsy child, never ever looks where she is going and is very easily distracted. We only use it at night so she doesn't get up and fall down without us knowing about it! After watching her fall from the very top all the way to the bottom once I'm not keen for her to do that in the middle of the night.