going down stairs...

[bouncinbean]

now I have a mobile baby that is showing an interest in stairs I want to teach her to do it safely but I'm not sure myself which is safer...
Bum shuffling/sliding down the stairs or turn her around so she faces up and try to get her to lower herself down to the next one.
Which way would be safer to try to teach her?

Turn her round. Bum shuffling is a bit scary for the next few months as they don't generally have long enough legs to make it down each step without leaning forward precariously and toppling.

Turn her around and let her 'crawl' down. And do it from now - we missed the boat with ours as our stairs were so insanely steep I didn't want her anywhere near them alone, and now she refuses to learnt that way! But even at gone 2 the sitting and shuffling down looks occasionally precarious.

Thanks - when I carry her down I'll turn her around and show her how to do the last few steps herself.

Tbh you might find she chooses her own way. We tried repeatedly to encourage dd to climb down the stairs backwards. She steadfastedly refused and came down on her bottom, holding onto the wall. A few times she slid down on her tummy giggling uncontrollably while I had heart failure.

Since around 20 mths or so she has walked down, holding onto the wall, and refuses to come down any other way.

Sometimes they feel more comfortable facing where they're going.

We call it bump bump and made it into a game. He's played the game with lots of people such as his grandad. At 2 3/4 he still does it!