Toddlers and stairs

catrionanic

Hi all,

Just wondering what age most toddlers can competently manage to go up and down stairs unassisted?

My wee man is nowhere near there yet but just trying to plan ahead.

Thanks.

Gaz

Our youngest (2 in September) can go up no bother and can come down by himself on his belly but we are leaving the gates in place for awhile yet.
His older brother was 2 and a half-ish before we removed the gates.

farmchoice

the longer you leave up the stair gates the later it will be, the sooner you take them down the quicker he will learn.

they will start going down on their bellies then their back , then face first, an way but the correct way, which is also the most dangerous way.

we could never get a stair gate to correctly fit our stairs so all ours were competently going up and down by the time they were 2

seamus

We moved house when the eldest was 2.5, so we were a little concerned about her being unfamiliar with the layout of the house that she might hurt herself on the stairs. So we had a gate on her bedroom door (so she couldn't wander out at night), and another one at the bottom of the stairs, so she couldn't go upstairs without us knowing.

Realistically at that stage she was going up and down stairs unaided, just not unsupervised. Even supervised she fell down the stairs 3 or 4 times She knew how to slide down on her bum, but usually chose to walk instead.

We had the one on the stairs gone within a month or two, it was just a pain, and the one on the door gone by her 3rd birthday.

shesty

Soon as they can crawl/cruise they will give it a shot, in a crawling motion.
We just put a gate at the top of ours as it's quite steep and has a steep turn right at the top.Meant I could let them run around upstairs with me and not worry about them going over the edge of it.
I found it was better to teach them how to go up and down safely (ie go down crawling backwards or sitting and bumping from step to step,definitely not walking forwards) early, rather than use gates to prevent them going at all.
I believe I read somewhere that developmentally their muscles aren't developed enough until they are three or so to properly walk up and down the stairs unaided, like an adult.Which is about right with what I have seen with my pair.

mirrorwall14

We took the bottom gate off a long time ago but the top one only came off this month (3 years and 4 months). Not because he can’t come down the stairs, he’s been well able for a long time but because he has been in a toddler bed and his own room and he’s not steady on his feet at night. Stairs are beside the bathroom.

fits

One of my twins is flying up and down. He can come down already by stepping holding a handrail. He is 16 months. But always supervised we have stairhayes at top and bottom.

catrionanic

fits wrote: »

One of my twins is flying up and down. He can come down already by stepping holding a handrail. He is 16 months. But always supervised we have stairhayes at top and bottom.

That’s amazing. Do you think he will need supervision for much longer?

I’m mainly asking because our stairs are in our living room and are very narrow and have a glass balustrade - so I can’t get a stair gate for them. So we have to barricade them with the pram/playpen/bags/various apparatus which the wee man can still often get around. So the result is we can never really leave him in the living room unattended when we go to the kitchen or bathroom.

He can fly up them on his hands and knees no bother. He’s come down them supervised once or twice, but there’s a narrow bend in the stairs where the steps are very thin and I don’t trust him not to take a tumble.

mirrorwall14

catrionanic wrote: »

That’s amazing. Do you think he will need supervision for much longer?

I’m mainly asking because our stairs are in our living room and are very narrow and have a glass balustrade - so I can’t get a stair gate for them. So we have to barricade them with the pram/playpen/bags/various apparatus which the wee man can still often get around. So the result is we can never really leave him in the living room unattended when we go to the kitchen or bathroom.

He can fly up them on his hands and knees no bother. He’s come down them supervised once or twice, but there’s a narrow bend in the stairs where the steps are very thin and I don’t trust him not to take a tumble.

Initially we taught him bum and slide step by step. Then once tall enough we taught him by literally stopping carrying him down. One hand on the banister, one in mine. Me in front so that if he stumbled. I still walk down ahead of him. And he knows he is banned from coming down the stairs without an adult. And to be fair has never tried

fits

catrionanic wrote: »

That’s amazing. Do you think he will need supervision formuch Longer.

Yes. I wouldn’t trust him on his own yet simply because he gets distracted and forgets what he is doing at times.

Yep I definitely have both ends of the bell curve here regarding motor skills.

rainbow kirby

My 2 year old (2 three weeks ago) is absolutely fine going up and down the stairs in our apartment building. Probably from about 21 months onwards he was pretty steady on the stairs. He only walked at 17 months.

jester77

My littlest one will be 2 next month, she has been going up and down unassisted for a few months without issue. Gate only gets closed at night so they don't go down and get up to mischief in the mornings.