Stairgate and internal stairs

[Merrow]

I'm trying to work out how to make DS2's room safe to leave him in. We currently co sleep on a floor bed, and the only thing in the room is a chest of drawers that is anchored very firmly to the wall so I'm not worried about that. In a normal room I'd just put a stairgate over the door and call it done, but his room has two internal stairs. He's 10 months and a very, very enthusiastic climber so I worry about him falling down the stairs and smacking himself against either the floor, wall or drawers (which are beside the stairs). When he's left in the room he'll be in a sleeping bag, but so far that has not deterred him from his mission to find the biggest point of danger and rush towards it. It does mean that the likelihood of achieving his aim is significantly less, and falling more likely. The alternative is finding some sort of gate that I can attach round the stairs, but there's not a lot of room with the mattress on the floor.

I'm trying to work out if I'm being overly anxious about the two stairs. I wouldn't have hesitated with DS1, who wouldn't have gone near the stairs until he was confident that he could climb up and down them safely, but DS2 is a kamikaze child.

I'm not sure why you would be putting a stair date on the door in a normal room? I've never done that with any of my three kids.

Anyway, he might fall down the stairs (or up them!) but the likelihood of him being seriously injured is quite low and they do learn fairly fast. I'm quite laid back so maybe different but I don't think you can worry about them falling into drawers and things. Can you do a picture of how the stairs are in the room though? It might be easier to see how a stair gate would fit. You can get different types so there might be something that would work.

One thing - if he's got a floor bed and not a cot I would ditch the sleeping bag. He's much more likely to fall flat on his face trying to run in that.

I'd put a stairgate on because if he left the room he'd have access to the main stairs and we don't have a stairgate at the top of them. We did it for DS1 when he moved from his cot and it worked well. The layout of our actual stairs mean we can't fit a stairgate easily, and DS1 needs his door and the bathroom door left open so I think from a "contained safely" point of view I do want something that ensures he's safe in the room. I've hopefully attached a photo of the stairs (and see that there's actually 3 - co sleeping has only improved my sleep slightly!). I think there's just enough room to anchor something between the stairs and the drawers if I was going to put a barrier at the bottom of the stairs.

I thought from a safe sleeping perspective he was better in a sleeping bag than his own duvet (or sharing mine), although something to think about that I hadn't considered as you're right he'd be safer climbing without it. Maybe those footless sleeping bags would be a good compromise.

I've put DDs matress (floor bed) in a large play pen I got from amazon

COMOMY Baby Playpen 200 x 180 x 66 cm, Playpen for Babies and Toddlers, Extra Large Play Pen with Activity Centre for Kids Indoor and Outdoor Use, Playard with Non-Slip Base, Breathable Mesh https://amzn.eu/d/hlTBlS0

I'd definitely fit something, especially as there is a wooden floor and unit right there.

Our house is a bit difficult in terms of layout as well, we ended up fitting 2 wooden lengths on either side of the steps and sliding an old cot side into them as a makeshift baby gate as could not find any on the market to fit what we needed. Didn't look great but it was much safer. Could you move the dresser over so it's flush with the steps then attach something to block them accessing steps?

Sorry just noticed the dresser width is short of the stairs so that wouldn't work!

Thanks @Lammveg, that's something I hadn't considered!

@Elzibells that's impressive DIY skills! Unfortunately I can't match those, but I think I've found some Safetots ones that I can configure different panels and have a right angle with, so I'm going to double check my measurements tomorrow and see if those will work.

In case anyone comes across this thread because of the same issue then the solution I found is the Safetots multi panel room divider. Not fitted it yet, but there's lots of options and I've managed to get one a pretty perfect fit for the space. My other tip would be to fit the stairgate before securing the chest of drawers to the wall...