Stairgates - Which one ? Recommendations please

[wickedstepmother]

Well, the time has come to buy a set of stairgates. Personally I hate the things and find they make the stairs dangerous for adults and older children who can otherwise navigate them without a problem, but my soon-to-be 10 month old DD is becoming more and more mobile (crawling but not walking).

I also have 2 stepsons of 11 and 10 so the gate would need to be practical for them. I like the idea of the pull back roller blind style ones as there is no awkward bar to stub your feet on, but I wonder if they are going to stay taut when DD uses them to pull herself up or steady herself. Does any one have this type of gate for a baby of DD's age ?

Are you really sure you want one?

I too think they are very dangerous (for adults & older children) and I was determined not to have one - we did have a playroom that we used a stair gate on to keep DS in that room but then we 'showed' him how to use stairs safely and, touch wood, he's never had an accident (Now aged 2). Of course, that's not the advice the experts will give you but I should think with just one little one, depending on your house layout and assuming the stepsons are 'sensible'you may not need one.

the slam shut behind tyou one - argos or index

I too would like to 'educate' DD when it comes to using the stairs but she is far too young to learn at the mo and is capable enough to do herself a mischief on them. Surely I should protect her in the interim months ?

We do have a roller blind type one, as it is the only one we could find wide enough to fit our stairs. It is not particularly easy to operate with one hand (despite their claims) but does do a good job of keeping dd on the right side. It has gone a bit saggy at the top, but this is probably due to me climbing over it, rather than opening and shutting it again!!

Hi wickedstepmother, we didn't need one when ds was small as we were in a flat then but I have various friends with small children and lots of stairs who have never bothered and they haven't had any accidents. One of them runs a B&B so that was partly the reason for no gates but her girls are now 7 & 6 and have never fallen. The other 2 (gate-less) friends that spring to mind have various children aged 5, 4, 2, 3 and 6mos. I don't think I'm going to bother this time round either (now in a house with stairs) although I may eat my words in 2 years time...

we have a Lindam one which opens out completely (i.e. no tiny little door to squeeze through with a nice 'tripbar' at the bottom - whoever designed those?!! How do you ever teach a baby how to negotiate stairs when one of those is in the way??) We don't have one at the bottom at all - just supervised ds whenever he made for the stairs - but find it useful to have one at the top, mainly to confine him to the top floor when we don't want him going downstairs without us! We also taught him to go up and down on his own right from the start, and I have confidence that he is pretty safe (but usually still like to be watching just in case!)

I've not bothered this time around and dd is now 14 months and happily whizzing up and down. You just have to make sure you are keeping an eye out for them when they are near the stairs. You tend to anyway at that age don't you,especially with boisterous/dangerous older siblings!

The quicker they do it the quicker they learn!!

We have the roller blind one and I'm really pleased with it.

It (so far!) is still taut and means DS (10 months) can go whizzing up and down the landing while I am running his bath.

The thing I really like about it though is that once he is in bed we can leave it open and so we are not bothered by it going up and down the stairs. Great for when we've had guests to stay.

That reminds me - my ds is definitely developing dh's anal tendencies and absolutely insists on closing the gate behind him when he's coming down stairs....

Tee hee. Glad I'm not the only one with an anal dh, so to speak - there should be a blushing smiley on here !

Well, we have two sets of incredibly steep stairs and so far DS has shown no inclination to behave sensibly on them, so we have not one but 3 stairgates. We have the Lindam easy fit ones from Argos - you just squeeze the handle to handle - and they are pressure fit, so you don't need a screwdriver to put them in place/take them down. They do have a bar at the bottom (unavoidable with pressurefit), but I haven't found it a problem, and DS negotiates it OK. DS loves to slam the gate shut/hang on it/try and climb it, and it has been fine. Also used a Bettacare which requires a lifting action - also fine but not quite as easy to open. Avoid the Mamas and Papas one as it requires you to push a button and then lift handle - quite awkward when holding a baby in one arm. Plus when it is open it is quite unstable.

I have the roller blind type ones and they're fine with ds (a hefty 15 month old) who still prefers to lean on things to get up. He bashes them when he wants to go up or down stairs and they're not showing any signs of distress. They're easy to use once you get the knack and are relitively unobtrusive when stowed away - only complaint is I wish that came in some other material than white plastic!

We had the Lindam one with the little inset gate and bar at bottom and no problems. DS learned to crawl through it and down the stair backwards with our supervision. Did once miss and set off crawling down the landing without noticing. I tried to leave the inner gate open for while to get DS used to the smaller gap before getting rid of it but he was also anal and insisted on closing it.

I didn't have one at the bottom but was worried about the top because it is opposite DS's bedroom door.

What about the BabyDan gate fromtoys are us,, it has no bar and opens the whole width of the stairs, you DO have to drill holes though.

Drilling holes isn't that much of a prob as the people who had the house before us also had a stairgate that required holes but it was the type with a really narrow doorway and a 'trip bar'. Just using it when we were viewing the house was a complete nightmare.

We have the BabyDan one at the top of the stairs. Comes in nice wood, and is the extending one so it fits a wider gap. You can choose to install them so they open both ways - so at night we open it over the stairs and it is against the wall and completely out of the way. You have to drill but DH said the instructions were really good!

We also have the roller blind one downstairs with two sets of catches so it can go across either the living room doorway or the basement stairs that are at right angles to it (open plan house with lots of stairs!). Its quite fiddly to open and shut and I wouldn't have it across stairs that I use a lot. Normally it just shuts off the lower stairs and occasionally I move it to barricade dd in the living room (giant playpen!). So it is quite versatile.