OMG - DS 22 months has learnt to climb over stairgates and has not fear of falling - what to I do now.

[ajm200]

We've spent the last few months teaching DS to climb down the stairs backwards on this hands and knees but if we don't keep reminding him he tries to walk or even jump down. He dives of the sofa head first and has no fear of injury.

Now he's learnt to climb over the stairgates. I'm terrified that he'll fall down the stairs next.

Put him up for a nap, heard a loud thump, thought he'd fallen out of the bed. Waddled to the bottom of the stairs and spotted him halfway over the gate on the top stair. The earlier thump was him climbing over the gate in his bedroom door.

What do I do now? I'm typing this on the landing waiting for his next escape attempt. I was hoping to get some cleaning and ironing done during his nap but I'm scared to go downstairs now.

shut his bedroom door so if he gets out of bed again he can't get out of the room until your upstairs to let him out?

Some options:

1 - Quickly order those stairgates that stretch across (Kiddyguard by Lascal) as you can't climb over those.
2 - Find some way of securing his bedroom door so he can't open it.
3 - Take the stairgates off as he's obviously more likely to fall down the stairs if he's climbing over it, then you'll have to be on your guard to help him come down the stairs (definitely need to do option 2 if you do this)

Yikes!

Thanks for the suggestions. He is tall for his age and can open all the doors including the front door.

I'm heavily pregnant so dashing upstairs to help him downstairs if he gets out of bed is not really a option. I can get to him but it takes minutes rather than seconds. Plus I'll be BFing a LO in a few weeks so will be even slower.

I'll have to look at getting some way of securing his bedroom door, other than me hanging onto the other side of the door handle.

maybe he isn't sleepy? how about putting him in front of cbeebies on the sofa - he might nod off...

if he can climb over the stairgate he's probably perfectly ok to go up and down stairs in any case!

top lock on the front door and cupboard locks.

or buy dog gates instead. they are much higher. that's what we have.

fwiw - stair gate climbing much more dangerous than bottom shuffling down stairs. where there's a will there's a way and all that.

Dd1 was like this at a similar age,she also climbed out of her cot. I just took the stairgates away and made sure she knew how to negotiate the stairs. I never put her upstairs for naps though .

Can you put one gate on top of the other (pressure gate) on his door??

I took him up as he nodded off in front of cbeebies. :O

I wouldn't mind bottom shuffling or even crawling downstairs. Our stairs are steep and he insists on trying to walk down like an adult even though he can't keep hold of the bannister. He also jumps down. Last time it was only the bottom 4 thank goodness so only ended up with an egg size lump on his head, nothing broken.

Just put him to bed in my bed and he's gone straight to sleep so was just playing up. I'm off to take the ironing board into his room so that I can be on hand when he wakes up.

I'll set a challenge for DH to secure the door somehow tonight. Just worry how he'll react to being locked in. Might look for a hook and eye that can allow his door to open a bit but not enough for him to get out.

You need Flame- Her DS (2.6) can get over 2 stair gates- one positioned above the other!!!!!

lose the stairgate, its more a danger than a help at this stage. Whats so bad about a nearly 2 year old walking down stairs?

If you need to keep him in his room lock or otherwise secure the door.

We've removed the stairgates the same day that he climbed over them.

The main concern with him walking down stairs is that the stairs are very steep and he can't quite reach to hold the bannister as he steps down plus he keeps trying to jump from various heights

I know he'll learn but in the meantime I worry.

remove the stairgates. its a no brainer. if they are not doing the job of keeping him safe, then they are not much use as a stair ornament are they?

Argos sell stairgates that are taller than usual, I think they are meant for dogs.

As I've already said, they were removed the same day that he climbed over them.

Trouble is he's such a boy with a love of climbing and no fear. He's missed his footing several times over the last couple of days but each time DH or I have been there to grab him, I guess he'll get the hang of it soon and he'll only jump and hurt himself once.

I found teaching mine to turn round and go down stairs on their tummy worked well (feet first obviously!)

Dilbertina. He can do that and has done since 15 months, he's just choosing not to..

The joys of parenting 2 year olds..

Lots of independence vs limited sense.

Could you tie a rope to the banister as a hand hold for him? So that it hangs under the banister (like on a ship, iykwim) At least that way he is less likely to slip down the stairs.

And when your baby is born then let him nod off infront of Cbeebies if need be.

He's had the last daytime two naps on the sofa and I'd already had the same idea about putting a rope bannister in.

We are going to look into the practicalities of that or of lowering the main bannister a a couple of inches at the weekend. We'd still be able to use it. Might have to get busy with tools as DIY isn't DHs strong point.

Thanks for all of the ideas everyone.