How can I encourage my 21 month old daughter to go up and down stairs (supervised of course).

[Caroline1852]

She does not do stairs. In fact she does not do steps, even small ones. She puts her hands up (so as to say: "Carry me, my loyal servant"). If we do not notice this gesture, she gives out a small "Errrr" so as to say: "I will have my lift up this 3 inch step now, thank you, servant". We have not even got a stairgate downstairs as she would not dream of going up them (we have one at the top just in case!). Any ideas anyone?

Isn't she just not developmentally ready?

Though as mother of a manic climber/jumper I really have no idea what I'm talking about

You didn't need to put 'supervised of course' you know - my dd (now 18 months) has been doing stairs unsupervised for 3 or 4 months now!

What happens if you carry on up the stairs and leave her at the bottom?

same here cantsleep
dd2 has been doing stairs on her own since about 17 months

caroline, have you tried to jst leave her at the bottom and see wht she did

i'd have thought she'll just do it when she realises she can. my dd didn't try at all until she was maybe 14 months, now she goes up all the time, at 16 months. she hasn't figured out going down yet though.

can'tsleepwon'tsleep: I said supervised of course because she has never done it before, I would imagine most tots that do this for the first time, do it supervised. If I leave her at the bottom and go up without her (which I do frequently with bales of ironing, a baby to go up, etc) she stands at the foot of the stairs and cries.

She did not walk til 18 months so is a bit slow to things like this.

I'd be very thankful tbh and carry on lifting her! I'm a mum of a climber who would climb everest if I stuck him at the bottom of it. She'll do it when she is ready, and at least she might be old enough to have some sense by the time she does do it.

Maybe go up a few steps and wait for her to see if she will join you? Not sure, tbh, but I'm sure she'll do it in her own good time...

If she's only been walking for 3 months or so, it might be a bit much to expect from her at this stage...

Up is easier than down. I find that generally mums of climbers are not understanding of the issues of mums of non-climbers. I speak as the mum of a DS who could walk before he could even pull himself up to standing. We also never had a stairgate for DS.

I would actually physically show her, how to crawl up the stairs and move her limbs for her. With DS it seemed like his brain just wouldn't work these things out. Or alternatively leave the remote control about 6 steps up.

chopster - Thanks, I agree. I am not sure there is very much you can do to change the adventurous/unadventurous nature of your child. My two older children were both climbers and jumpers. My HV told me off a few weeks ago for carrying her up and down stairs having had a c-section only a couple of weeks before.
Sometimes I feel like I am in that riddle with the fox, the chicken and the grain needing to get to the other side of the river in the little boat that only takes two at a time. I often have to abandon the baby and take my daughter up first (she then cries at the top of the stairs) then go back down for the baby or take up the baby first (she then cries at the bottom!) and go back down for her. Perhaps Phil & Teds will start to do a stairlift version?

Agree with mumpbump, my daughter walked at 10 months but I think she was only climbing stairs at around 18 months - so an 8 month gap (though we have no stairs here in the apartment so she didn't get much practice either).

I've had both, and I def prefered my non climber. Actually thinking back I think I had to teach him by going up holding his hands and standing behind him until he got the hang of it. He was a fair bit older though.

Bozza - Thank you for your very supportive post. Good ideas.

I really struggled to get ds (a non climbing cautious type) to do stairs himself rather than being carried. We made a bit of a game of it where I make a silly noise each time he did a step for ages to encourage him to not ask to be carried. Don't think that helps you get her to do it for the first time though...

I think my DD has been reading my mn! She went up the stairs all on her own, about an hour ago. Lots of clapping at the top. Hooray.

HURRAY! Well done your dd. She has indeed been checking your posts!
Oh yes - we used to cheer madly when we got to the top - he used to still try and get us to carry him even after ages of being able to do stairs. YOu might need to keep at it with the persuasion for a while longer!

Have you tried snacks on steps higher than she can reach but in sight? Bribery can be very effective sometimes.
CAn't offer much constructive insight, boy was stair proof at 11 month after lots of "playing" on and around the stairs from 9 when he started crawling.

Chocolate buttons are wonderful things. Of course Chocolate shouldn't be used as a bribe and all that, but they are so small and a perfect incentive for little hands. One every other step?

why woudl u want to encourage a baby that young to go up and down stairs?

(i did nto let dd1 up stairs by herself till she was at over 3!)

Statistics show that every year over 1 million children in the UK under the age of 15 are involved in accidents in the home for which they require hospital treatment. Many more are treated by their GPs, parents and carers.
Accidents are the commonest cause of death in children over one year old and every year thousands suffer permanent disability or disfigurement.

The age group most at risk from

a home accident are the 0-4 years

Falls are the cause of most non-fatal accidents

The OP isn't wanting her 21m/o to run up and down unsupervised on endless flights of stairs but is maybe tired of having to carry her ( ever heavier) DD, EVERY time they move about the house.

I'd rather boy went up and down steps properly coz hes been taught how to and practised, than he never had the oppotuniy and walked straight off them. The world has steps in it.

I accept I live in a house where the risk from a stair fall is relativley low as only have 6 steps in a flight. Other peopel will live in differnet situations and have differnt risk assesments. Risk is something we all live with and all have to manage in a a way that works that works in our situation.

I'm disabled, and found it very hard to carry ds up and down stairs.

Once he got past the 'cruising on the furniture' stage (can't remember what age) I used to get him to climb the stairs, with me very close behind him of course, and to come down, at first backwards, then sliding down on his bum (me in front).

Of course we had stair gates so he never did it unsupervised.

We never had a single incident, and when he was a toddler out-and-about people often commented how careful he was on steps and staircases.

Does she ssee any other children climbing stairs?

I find if children see others do something then they want to do it. DD1 my PFB was very cautious on the stairs, DD2 just copies everything DD1 does and was climbing them at 12 months because her sister was.