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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

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

37 replies

beela · 14/08/2012 14:58

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?

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PermanentlyOnEdge · 16/08/2012 10:39

My youngest will be three soon. We still have the gate at the top of the stairs, mainly as they are steep and it is used to help them up the last two steps, and also to keep them upstairs when showering etc. We took it down recently, and then put it back up as we were too worried about her falling. Our stairs are horribly steep and there is a glass panel at the bottom, so we are being extra careful.

Original poster

beela · 16/08/2012 12:35

Thank you for the responses, it's helpful to see what other people do :)

OP posts:

ceebeegeebies · 16/08/2012 12:43

I can't remember when we took the bottom one down but it seems like it was a LONG time ago so I would guess it would have been when DS2 was about 2.

However, we still have the top stair gate up even though DS1 is 6 and DS2 is nearly 4 because they have to run/walk past the stairs to come into the bedroom and I prefer to have the reassurance that they won't fall down the stairs when they are half asleep (although to be fair to DS2 he never comes into our room in the night - bless him DS1, otoh, is a totally different story ).

We only shut it at night time and DS1 can open it anyway - it is just for peace of mind

ZuleikaD · 16/08/2012 15:38

When they were about 15m and going up and down safely.

frustratedmum2 · 16/08/2012 15:54

My dd is 4 and we have still got one at the top of the stairs because they are high wooden stairs onto a tile floor and she tends to get excited and run about the upstairs landing at speed, i dread the thought of her falling down them and cracking her head open on the tile floor so we fitted a fully opening wooden gate which matches the bannister. Just for the peace of mind - she can open it herself which is not a problem as she is going slowly then.

jubilee10 · 16/08/2012 15:59

We took the bottom one off when ds3 was 4. The top one is still on and we use it at night. Ds is 6.

confusedperson · 16/08/2012 20:23

When DS2 was about 18 months, as he started making effort climbing over it. He is now 21 month and doing fine on the stairs (touch wood).

Iggly · 16/08/2012 21:47

DS first climbed the stairs at 7 months (crawled up) so up went a gate. At 13 months he fell down another set of stairs in our flat so had to block those off too. He's very good on the stairs (he's 2.10) but they're still up as I like to be on the same floor as him. Now dd is crawling and displaying the same climbing tendencies, the gate will stay until she's a toddler

AngelDog · 17/08/2012 08:30

At least by 18 months. DS taught himself to get down safely from an early age though, and is a cautious child so was unlikely to hurt himself.

He's fallen right the way down the stairs 3 times - but only when being closely supervised by an adult (DH).

duchesse · 17/08/2012 08:36

Never had them at all. DH teaches our children to come up and down stairs from as soon as they can crawl (about 6-7 months) so never been an issue. We did have one stairgate at the top of the stairs in our first house with DS as it was a very long steep flight and the stairs were between his room and ours- we were worried he might fall down them in the night feeling his way to our room.

matana · 17/08/2012 09:02

DS is 21 months and very adventurous and active. Ours are still up. He fell down them (all the way from top to bottom) several weeks ago. Luckily he bounced, but it's made me a bit fretful about taking them away. Yes, i know they didn't prevent him from falling downstairs, but that was my fault for getting momentarily distracted!

Fantail · 17/08/2012 11:24

DD 18 months and we have never had any. We have two sets of stairs and then two stairs in between the dining/kitchen and the lounge. All 3 sets are strange shapes distances, so we would have had to go for custom made. We used to block the steepest set with a chair and then at the top is our bedroom door, but that was mainly for containment.

DD has had a couple of small tumbles, but nothing (thankfully) serious and is really good on them now. Having said that, she now demands being carried down as she can walk up, but not down and doesn't want to crawl any more as is slower (lazy sodd!)

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