Can't fit stair gates - what now ?

[rosalux]

We discovered today, after a trip to mothercare, that we cannot infect fit stair gates in our house due to the width of of the stairs and flimsy construction of the banisters among other issues. I realise that children survived the perils of stairs for years before the advent of stair gates, but I imagine there was also a fair bit of falling down and breaking various body parts, which I would like to avoid. So any suggestions on how a lack of stair gates worked for you would be most appreciated

I'd put a gate on the room your LO sleeps in, and maybe get a playpen.
Being able to put them somewhere safe while you e.g. shower is, IMHO important. How you achieve that is dependant on your house design and child's inquisitiveness!
We walk past the stairs to get sitting room to kitchen. I wouldn't be without mine, and we spent a lot of time finding one that was wide enough. I realise not everyone has 8 month olds who can climb stairs tho!

I have never used gates and DD has never fallen of the stairs. I always explained her that if she wanted to go upstairs she has to ask me and we went together. She also knew that she could not go downstairs on her own and had to wait for me.

So she always sat at the botton of the stairs and called me and the same when she was upstairs. She very quickly learnt to do stairs very well and as I said we have never had an accident yet and she is 2.7 years old. I was a SAHM at the time and I had the time to teach her.

Hope this helps

depends on your house -how easey are the doors to open and child - eg how quick to get mobile, how good physically - known loads of people who didn't have them with no problem - also you can teach quite young children to master stairs quite young which may help - with supervised practice - my DS1 was safe on them well under 2 - and my DS2 about 2.

combination of playpen, closed doors, vigilence and teaching them to do the stairs themselves. Also, mothercare are shit, look online at somewhere like amazon or kiddicare for a much bigger range. Personally I would love the rollerblind on their side style but they are £££

We made an effort to teach both DCs (now 3.1 and 1.6) to get up and down safely from as soon as they could crawl. DH (bless him) used to sit on the stairs for ages showing them both, as a result both were competent on the stairs very early. We did put a gate across the bedroom door for a bit after moving each of them out of a cot as (for the same reason we can't use gates) the top of the stairs can be deceptive and I worried about them waking up and falling down whilst trying to find us.

How lovely that some of you had such compliant children. DS would try and launch himself headfirst down the stairs given half a chance, and it took s LONG time to teach him. We're a 3 story house, so lots of stairs too. :)

We had gates on doors, rather than stairs here. Still have one on DS bedroom door as he's a sleepwalker and the stairs are right outside his room.

We have a rather flimsy banister post and had to ft the babygate parallel to the handail on the landing arther than ata right angle to it...
Also, look on kiddicare etc or google wide fit / narrow fit babygates: there is one (a bit expensive but still..) that is like a sideays rollerblind, so you'll pull it across the gap and click into place so the width isn't strictly an issue...

We had similar problem so I just used to push a large hamper in front of the stairs instead, I realise you probably don't have a handy hamper but perhaps use something else...like a pram or big bit of cardboard or something?

I'd start by thinking whether there are other places you can put "stair" gates - across a narrow hallway, or doorway? - to limit the DCs movement. We couldn't have one at the bottom of the stairs, but managed to get one across a different bit of hallway, which kept him away from the stairs.

If you still can't, then take a look at the stairs and what's at the bottom of them to reduce the damage if DC does take a tumble - if they're going to go through a table covered in glass ornaments before crashing into a marble floor, then the damage will be a lot worse than if you have a clear area and a thick carpet!

And then do what you can to train your DC not to try the stairs until they have got the hang of it - teach them good techniques while you are there to watch, and hope they will continue to use them when they do it without you.

Crawling up them works well. For going down, either crawling backwards if they don't mind not seeing where they are going. Or else sitting on one step and bumping down one at a time if they like to face forwards.

You can buy gates that fit almost anywhere

If you really can't have one on the stairs, you can put them in other doorways or in halls.

Or make sure you have short children DD couldn't reach doorhandles till well after she could do stairs, lol

If all else fails, buy a huge beanbag and leave it at the bottom of the stairs for a soft landing. Seriously!

I mean, who ever heard of kids killing themselves or breaking their necks falling down the stairs anyway? Kids are bendy boned. It's what likely to impale them at the bottom of the stairs that should be taken into consideration.

I speak as a regular faller down of the stairs myself (landlord hasn't fixed slippy carpet and the stairwell is subsiding - old house).

There's more danger falling off the climbing frame onto the concreted floor in the park.

Teach them to go up and down properly, down on their bums, up holding the rail. Kids learn, they'll adapt. And if they fall down one time, they're generally too freaked to do it again :D

we had a babydan playpen / guard thing which we put as a barrier across the bottom of the stairs rather than attached to the wall IYSWIM - the guard then turned into a hexagonal playpen if you want it to

Teach your child how to go up and down stairs on their bum or all fours.... and keep the bottom of the stairs clear of hard objects. We never had a stairgate and that's how we managed. DS managed one minor tumble but, because he was already on his backside, he only slithered down a few steps rather than anything more serious.

Thanks for all your suggestions. It's not the width that is the issue, but the shape of the banisters which makes it seemingly impossible for the gates to attach (they're not level and not straight edged), as well as the design of the loft room staircase. I like the idea of beanbags and also teaching DS how to navigate stairs safely. My friend doesn't have stair gates with her DD (now 20mths) and she's pretty mobile and inquisitive.

It does depend on the children-both of mine walked later and so didn't walk. Ear the top of stairs before they understood how to deal with them. We are watching and waiting with dd2 to see whether we will need stair gates. Dc 1 and 2 learnt to safely negotiate stairs by going up on all fours and turning round on their tummies to go down. Ds used to make us smile because he would go into his tummy while six feet from the top and slither to the top of the stairs. I think he's risk averse! But had I had an early walker with no sense of danger I'd have been different. Ds wanders off-I am hugely vigilant with leaving doors and gates open. I worried with stair gates about what would happen if we had them but forgot to shut them or tripped or they fell against them. With our particular children the greater risk seemed to be having them.

I have the gates on the doors.

Since I caught DS by his ankles pummeting down ours, I'm not risking it, and it makes me jittery that anyone would.

I was standing next to him in the bathroom, and he darted out. They are too little to take responsibility for themselves. :(

Shaped Newel posts aren't an issue. Get some planks of wood, gloss them the same colour as the banisters if you wish, and screw in place to bits you can fix to. Then attach a gate to to flat surface.

I'm with Lois tho. Those of you who just taught safety on the stairs, what age did your children start climbing stairs? My 8 month old is fairly safe, but I wouldn't be risking him getting to the stairs on his own, so will be following him closely up and down for several months yet.

Until DS was one I was just very very very vigilant and kept him away from the stairs - I think after being told no, and moved away, most children eventually get bored of trying......

By 10 months ish he had learned to climb up and down on all fours very easily. I don't remember teaching him tbh. A neighbour (a GP) has never had stairgates but she has told me that if you're teaching them to climb/come down you must get them to do it on all 4s as she has seen a number of accidents with kids who have gone down on their bottom, lost their balance and then tumbled head first.

By about 18 months DS could be trusted to go up and down on his own (we always kept a close eye) and would always do so on all fours. Like a PP's DC, he would often get onto all 4s and turn around in preparation a good 6 feet from the top of a stair case.

By 21-22 months he INSISTED on walking up and down stairs but we have taught him to 'hold tight' which he does very well, holding the banisters to make sure he is safe. He's 2 and a half now and I've been happy for him to go up and down unsupervised for quite a while.

I will put a gate on bedroom door when we take sides off cot though.