House safety of 2 year old

[Lily7050]

My 2 year old DS is quite small, short and skinny.
We live in a terraced house with a steep staircase between ground and first floor. When DS stands at the top of the stair with his back towards the stairs my heart sinks.
I know all gates are recommended for up to age of 2 but I thought folding gates like these ones www.johnlewis.com/babydan-guard-me-folding-safety-gate/p969110#product
might still work for an older child.
I would like to install these gates at the top and bottom of the staircase to prevent DS falling downstairs or climbing up without adult supervision. I am think of keeping the gates until DS is big enough to climb stairs easily. At the moment the stairs are to high for his short legs.
My DP think I am worrying too much and DS is old enough to climb up and down stairs on his own.

Do people keep gates at the top and bottom of stairs after their children turn two or I am being overcautious?

I also would like to potty train DS soon so he might need to go to bathroom on his own at night or early morning. His bedroom is on the first floor next to the bathroom.
Bannister supports in the landing in front of DS bedroom are quite weak. One of the supports is actually missing creating a large gap (picture attached) where DS can easily fit and fall downstairs.
I cannot decide what to do about the bannister supports to make them safe for DS.
Should I install the gates at the door of DS's bedroom instead of top of the stairs? Then he won't be wondering on his own around landing next to bannister supports and will have to call us to take him to bathroom every time.

Fix the bannister first

Irrelevant of the stairgates (about which I know nothing), you urgently need to get that last spindle firmly replaced in that bannister, OP. A child could so easily fall through that gap.

Yes, the bannister looks very dangerous to me. I'd also fix that first. I have 2 DS, a 2 year old and a 4 year old and don't have staircases. The 2yr old scrambles up and down.

Not staircases, staircases! We have stairs

First priority is to fix the bannister. If theres ho real prospect of him climbing over the gate, I'd personally just keep a regular stairgate up. I'm not sure the folding ones would be sturdy enough tbh.

And the likelihood is that if he needs the loo at night he will come and get you, not take himself ..
I mean my 4yo still comes and gets us because shes thirsty even though there is a cup of water beside her her (and shes more than capable of refilling it if necessary).

I'd be really worried about that missing spindle, needs fixing asap. If the others are weak and might fall out if a child ran in to them or leaned on them then get a carpenter in who can replace the whole section.

We didn't have stair gates for any of our 3 but we did teach them how to go up/down safely from a very early age. The middle one was only 7 months when I caught her on the 3rd step! If you're worried he can't walk down at 2, either he can bum shuffle on his bottom, or come down on his tummy feet first.

I have those gates at top and bottom they are really gd. We close at night as with about 4yr old venturing downstairs.

Also security as well as no one seems
To know how to open them 😂

That bannister needs fixing. We still have a stair gate at the top of the stairs as they boys (and DH) can still run around a lot and as the stairs are at the end of the landing it just provides a stopper so they don't go falling down them.
I am now thinking if getting rid but DS2 has just turned 3. No problems having a stair gate if they are not confident going down themselves.

Thank you all for quick responses!
We still have builders working in our house so I will ask them to fix the bannister.
DS is confident walking up and down stairs but because he is still short and stairs are quite high for his short legs I do not like him using the stairs on his own.
@billiebeeme: thank you for reassurance re. the folding gates. I will ask the builders to install them because downstairs one side will have to be fixed on the brick wall.
Re. loo at night in order to get me DS will have to walk passed the bannister section on the photo and the top of the stairs. That's why I thought about getting the gates at the door of DS's bedroom.

Thank you @Bakingwithmyboys! Yes, I am worried about accidental fall while playing.

Where does he mostly play? If you're always with him then don't bother. Stairgates are a faff.

I have stairs that it's impossible to attach a stairgate and 20mo is fine and confident on them.

Absolutely fix the banister. We've never had a stairgate on our stairs as it's too difficult to fit but not had a problem - you just have to supervise them until their big enough.

Re potty training, he could still be in night nappies for ages yet so I wouldn't worry too much, or he could be like my DS and never wee in the night (we've had two wet beds in a year, both of which happened in the first two nights after his sister arrived). We kept a potty in his room so if he did need a wee (especially first thing) he could use that.

We have one at the top, not the bottom. She's quite sensible on the stairs but we use the top one mainly to avoid her just tripping when walking past or something (or containing her when she's running around in the nude after her bath ) She chooses to go down on her bum if one of us isn't immediately with her or she wants to carry something downstairs.

Get the bannister fixed as a priority.
DD has been confident going up and down stairs alone since 18 months, but we still have one of those babydan folding safety gates at the top of the stairs so that if she wanders through to our room in the night she doesn't fall downstairs in the dark. They're really good.

We have stair gates at top and bottom of the stairs and one for his bedroom. Ds is 3.

Also when I was a child (about 4 or 5 I think) I fell through a gap similar to the one you've got with the missing spindle and it was a nasty fall which I still remember now so these things really do happen!

Thank you Hercisback, Wagglerock, Tataru, WillaWeathrspoon and firstimemama.

Also I wonder if people have wardrobes in bedrooms of 2 year old children?
I guess a wardrobe has to be fixed to the wall and locked so a child does not pull out cloths when playing in his room.

Why hasn't your partner fixed the banister

Of course we have wardrobes and other furniture in toddlers rooms.
Fix them to the wall and teach your child not to pull everything off the rails.
You are his best “safety device”. You need to teach him to keep safe.

My ds is 3.5 we have a stair gate at the top, bottom and one on his bedroom door too.. Both upstairs ones get closer at night - bedroom one stops him wandering around as I'd find him in my bed every night otherwise as he likes to play before going to sleep.. He rarely wakes for the toilet during the night so that's not an issue
We don't always close the downstairs one but it's still handy if he's in a funny mood or being grumpy or we have the upstairs windows open etc.
We have his wardrobe and chest of drawers secured to the walls.
There's no right and wrong time to remove stair gates I don't think unless he's a climber and would try to climb it at top of stairs as that would be more dangerous than him walking down the stairs.

My DC is 3 & we will keep the staircases at the top & bottom until he goes to school next September.

@chocolateoranges33

Unless there's a huge drip feed of additional needs then you need to develop your child's confidence on stairs, not leave stairgates up until they go to school.

We have that stair gate on the bottom of the stairs. Didn't put one at the top as they were never upstairs on their own until they could manage stairs safely.

Now stair gate is great for visiting dogs 😆

My DS is nearly 3. We have gates at the top and bottom of the stairs still, and I put a gate on his bedroom door so he can't run around at night. He has a built in wardrobe and the low chest of drawers is attached to the wall.

No idea when we'll be happy removing the gates. We still accompany him up and down each time, although he's much more confident now.

My sister removed stairgates when my nephew turned 2 on the advice of a health visitor who said they were dangerous at that age as they were more likely to try to climb over than fall down. A few days later my nephew fell down backwards, whilst being supervised a few feet away - his dad couldn’t quite grab him in time. Thankfully he was fine!! But my sister regretted following that advice for sure, her son had never shown any interest in climbing it.

Definitely get the banister fixed as priority number 1!

We are about to move ours to a bed, I’m also wondering what to do about the wardrobe. I think we have some of those IKEA things to attach it to the wall so we will probably use those. I’m not to worried about her playing with her clothes, the novelty will wear off!!