Going down the stairs

[eltsihT]

Ds2 9mo has started climbing the stairs. Obviously I need to start and shut the stair gates behind me. But I also want to teach him to come down them safely.

Ds1 was 14mo when we moved to a house with stairs and I taught him to come down on his bottom. So I have no idea where to start with a 9mo

Any suggestions welcome

I taught DD to crawl down backwards (in the same position she goes up) - that's pretty safe.

The only difficulty was explaining to her that was how to do it. I would put her at the top of the stairs on all fours facing away from them, and she would crawl forwards not backwards!

Luckily we have a single step elsewhere, so I was able to let her play freely round that, and she pretty soon worked out for herself that crawling backwards down it was easier than crawling forwards. Not sure what I'd have done otherwise.

We couldn't fit a stairgate so I spent several weeks sat on the stairs while DS taught himself to go up when he was about nine months - and then a few more weeks reaching himself to go down. He just started doing it and to be honest, I think it's better now than having a stairgate. He's very proficient at going up and down.

Right shimmying down the stairs sounds like tomorrow's activity.

My dc learned how to crawl up the stairs themselves and I showed them how to crawl backwards downstairs by physically moving their arms and legs to the right places. After a few goes they got it and could do it unaided.

I'd taught my twins 'feet first' to get down off the sofa from 7 months old (by yanking them round into the right position and then helping them find the floor using their feet), which they finally got around 10 months. I said 'feet first' every time they did it and it was then fairly easy to apply 'feet first' to lots of other situations. Stairs took about a day of very repetitive calling out 'feet first' and physically getting them into the right position myself, and then they got it and they now come down the stairs on their own (under supervision, obviously) after every nap. It's a lifesaver with twins!

My girl twin takes it to insane levels though, and gets into the feet first position for every possible change of level, even going from grass to pavement, bless her!

feet first for climbing off beds/sofa here too - and like feesh, dd did it for climbing down kerbs or tiny height changes for a while too!

Crawling backwards definitely. If it's dry enough, spend an hour or so at the park practising on the slide. Say "Feet first" and direct them to go down backwards. Slide means if they slip and fall down they will probably find it fun and won't get hurt. Plus it's motivation to keep doing it because it's fun!

I found when I kept saying "feet first" DS started to associate the saying with the position so if I saw him trying to get down from something I'd remind him "feet first" and he'd turn around.

Oh! I'd forgotten the way they do it for every tiny level change

We did this with our twins - they learned to climb up and then within a week or so, to climb back down just doing the same thing backwards. We did the downstairs backwards climb a couple of times ourselves till one of them got the idea and then the other one copied it off of her. Once they got the hang of it they would just plank and slide the whole way down the stairs which frightened the crap out of my mother!

DD learnt to climb the stairs around 14/15 months and has just this week (17 months) learnt to come down on her bum. I never really taught her but she is that kid of child!

The slide is a great idea but it's way to rainy (we live on the west coast of Scotland)

I am trying to do the feet first thing with him but i know it's just practice - ds1(2.10) is having a ball playing in the stairs and encouraging his little bro

Actually think I might brave soft play tomorrow with both boys and crawl about after ds2 see if he can get the idea.

Feet first here too. We live in a townhouse with five flights of stairs between ground floor and our bedroom. DS got the hang of it pretty quickly!

(House was purchased before we knew DS was on the way. He was a surprise).