Stair gate quandary

[LouisaJF]

DS is 21 months and is very good generally. We currently have no stair gate upstairs and if he goes to the tip of the stairs and I tell him to wait, he does.

However, DS2 is now on the way and I would like it if DS1 could wander about upstairs freely. The problem is my stupid banisters. I have these stupid spindle things that no stair gate wants to attach to, even with the extra attachments that can do such a thing (supposedly). We did a bit of a botch job to get a stair gate in place but it just made the spindles bow and was clearly unsafe.

We had a look at going wall to wall on the landing but thee doesn't appear to be a gate the right size.

Does anyone have any good suggestions? DS1 is good with the stairs but it would be nice to be able to take my eyes of him upstairs for a minute whilst attending to DS2, running baths etc and not worrying whether this will be the day he goes head first down the stairs.

How long until dc2? By 2.5 my dd was fab with the stairs and no need to worry about her. She sat when she came to the top and went down sensibly.

Only 8 weeks to go!

We had a gate across DSs bedroom door for a while as we couldn't do the top of the stairs thing either. That way if necessary for short periods I could shut him in there where he had toys to play with and was safe, but could still clearly see everything that was going on, I could hear what was going on, and he still felt part of it all.

How big is the gap at the top? I'm sure you can get them to go across double doors etc now.

The gap is 140cm. I can only find gates that are 107cm or 190cm. I've got a stupid house!

We had one that pulled across like a blind. I think it came from Jojo Maman Bebe originally. It was fairly expensive but lasted through 3 children and stayed up about 8 years. I'll see if I can find it on google...

Gate across bedroom door or perhaps ask a joiner to come and sort something custom made for you?

www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/sp+dreambaby-retractable-gate-in-baby-and-childrens-safety+d3085

You can get extendable ones, where the gate itself comes in two parts, so you stretch it to fit. The spindles may be more of a problem, any chance you could attach a block of wood to it?

I actually gave up on a stairgate when dd3 was 18 months, since she used to climb over the one at the bottom of the stairs via the radiator and could actually open the one on her room.

We went with the gate at the bedroom door solution in this house, but in a previous house there was a narrow part of the hallway so we put the gate there - meant DD had access to hallway, her room and our room, but not stairs or bathroom. Worked really well because she didn't feel enclosed and could wander a bit, but we also knew she was safe.