House with stairs for babies

[Eshaar]

Hi all,

We have been living in flat for 5 years in London. But now being new parents (7 months old baby) needed a bigger space and quiet environment so moving to a terraced house in Maidenhead.

I am still not sure whether we made the right decision. My neighbour said its going to be difficult in a house with baby.

Any tips for easy moving would be helpful? Is that difficult to raise a baby in a house? The only thing i can think of as a difficulty is the stairs. Is there anything else?

Most people raise babies in houses with stairs. you just need baby gates top and bottom.

Maybe your neighbour is sad you're moving?

What a bizarre thing to say. For a start they are only babies for short time!

Stair gates, yes. You will find yourself going up and down for stuff you have forgotten all the time ;-). Having a downstairs loo is good.

If say it's substantially easier than doing so in a flat!

We moved from a flat to a house when DS was 8m. Day 1 he learned to scramble up the stairs, he was nowhere near walking 😂
It’s totally fine. We love having a house and a garden. The stairs just haven’t been a problem at all.

This is quite an odd question, you do realise that the vast majority of people in this country have a house with stairs?!

But generally, you will need stair gates at some point. Oh and try not to wear long floaty skirts/dresses if the stairs are steep, you can trip easily when going up them and if you’re carrying a baby that’s not great.

As someone who is raising 2 young boys in a 2 bed London flat.. moving to a house will be soooo much easier. Neighbour is jealous. Buy a stair gate.

Depends on the house and the flat. Raising a child in a spacious ground floor flat with lots of outdoor space is a totally better than raising one in a tiny 2 up 2 down with a postage stamp garden. But people have and will continue to raise kids in a variety of situations. Just make sure you’re sensible about childproofing and things will be ok

Never go up or downstairs empty handed. This will save you loads of time and energy

I agree that it sounds like jealousy I can't believe anyone would think it was easier to raise children in a flat than a house.

Other than stair gates when they start to toddle and being careful not to trip on the stairs whilst carrying the baby there's no issues with having a house with stairs. Enjoy the extra space and the privacy of your own garden.

Weird. Stair gates are often more dangerous than just teaching your baby to go backwards on dismounting or going down anywhere- off the sofa. Off the bed. Down stairs. Etc.
Gates make the top of the stairs a fun place to race to and climb etc with no awareness of danger. And are often a trip hazard.

There's this magical invention called a stair gate

Oh yeah gates are so unsafe

Teach them to lower themselves down the stairs on their bums.

Find somewhere downstairs for potty training if there's no downstairs loo.

Gate on their bedroom door when they get to walking age/sides come off the cot.

@Isadora2007

Weird. Stair gates are often more dangerous than just teaching your baby to go backwards on dismounting or going down anywhere- off the sofa. Off the bed. Down stairs. Etc. Gates make the top of the stairs a fun place to race to and climb etc with no awareness of danger. And are often a trip hazard.

Stairgate are great for when your 13 mo wakes up, climbs out of his or her cot for the first time ever, and then in a panic tries to find you only to fall down the stairs and break his leg instead. That happened to my friend’s son and resulted in him being terrified of his room and stairs for a long time. A stairgate would have been far better.

While I think it's a weird thing for your neighbour to say, having a baby/toddler in a flat definitely has its positive points.

We don't need a baby monitor because we can hear the baby from the living room

My toddler sits in his high chair at the bathroom door while I'm taking a shower because the bathroom is next to the kitchen. How do people with bathrooms upstairs have showers while alone with a toddler?

I do love houses though, and weirdly enjoy stairs, and would love to have a private garden.

I dreaded the stairs when DD was born as I had always lived in bungalows and then a flat and was worried. It was completely fine though.

Not sure what your neighbour meant. More space will be great with a child.

We didn't put stairgates on till Ds1 was running around (it coincided with us putting a side on the stairs which had previously been open to the kitchen). We had to build it as a custom fit due to a slightly odd layout and did the same at the top. If I recollect it was mostly to stop Ds1 and 2 playing on the stairs rather than to prevent them going up/down.

We've since moved, expecting dc3. Not sure if we'll bother with stairgates again.

DC1 is 2.5 and we still haven't put up the stair gate.

The only problem with stairs is you have to hoover the fuckers

@MindyStClair same. We have one at the top but not at the bottom. My 2 ywar old girl just doesnt really go up, and if she does climb a few steps I dont make a big deal about it. Tbh, the one at the top is more to keep the dog from going into my room and chewing my socks lol

Get stairgates. Also have something like a play pen you can put them in safely upstairs and downstairs.

It’s fine!

We’ve had 2 babies in houses and no problems.... didn’t even have stair gates.

I was so excited to move to a house from a flat with my toddlers. It's been great however I do find myself cursing the stairs. In a flat you only go up the the stairs to get in then everything is on the same level. If I forget something upstairs I'm irrationally irate. They love the stairs and spent the first week go up and down them a ridiculous amount of time. In the grand scheme of things the house is definitely better and I'm just a weirdo! Oh the only thing other than stair gates I would recommend is have stuff upstairs and downstairs (like nappies, wipes etc) and enjoy your new digs!

The only time stairs were a problem for me was when we moved and the whole downstairs had been made open plan. So the stairs had nothing on the sides, and no way to put a stair gate at the bottom. DS2, who was about 2 at the time, was an adventurer who thought it was great fun to go to the top of the stairs and then climb over the side, hang there for a few seconds and then drop No idea how he's never broken a bone tbh! (I was renting and it was the only place i could find that would accept a single mum on benefits at short notice)

My ex moved in with us (different house) and spent most of the 2 years he was here moaning that we didn't live in a flat and why didn't we move .

We live in a three storey Victorian house and the toddler’s room is in the top floor. There are a lot of stairs but this has never posed a problem.

We don’t have stair gates at the top or bottom of the stairs, just one on her room and one on the living room door. It works for us. She knows how to go up and down stairs safely (with supervision) but we are militant about closing the gate on her room because it’s at the top of the attic stairs and they are very steep.