What baby proofing precautions, if any, have you taken regarding the railings? We are moving into a house with a two-story foyer, and I'm a little nervous that one of my little monkeys might try to climb over the railing.....
-
We will likely just block access to hallway by adding baby gates to LO's room and maybe our room. Besides the open two story part we are concerned about LO just getting stuck in the railing spindles.
-
@PinkElephant: thank you for adding to my list of worries...
I'm not worried that my 3 year old will try to climb them. More worried that the baby could get her head stuck or something. So far she isn't around the railings unsupervised for a second, because we also don't have the top of the stairs gate up yet. The 3 year old is allowed up there and the only issue has been throwing toys over the railing.
-
@Foodnerd81: I distinctly remember bungee jumping Barbie dolls from the catwalk that overlooked our family room when I was in elementary school.
But that's good your three year old doesn't climb. I hope at 2.5 and 4.5, that they'll accept "NO" and move on....and that the baby will just be so used to it by the time she is on the move that it won't be a novelty. But we'll see.....
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Door gates is what I was thinking we might do at night....they have access to a bathroom between their rooms...but I'd want them to be able to get to ME, so IDK...
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: @Foodnerd81: You guys both think that getting stuck in the spindles is a real possibility? I think I've always kind of dismissed that as something that happens on shows like Full House...but maybe media imitates reality and it's more common than I thought?! One more for MY worry list now!
-
@PinkElephant: no I don't think she can get stuck. I've looked a lot at her head and the spindles and I really don't think she could. BUT that episode did come in handy! We have these cheap IKEA chairs that have holes in the seats and the 3 yo managed to stick her fingers in the holes and get stuck. She was freaking out. Luckily I channeled DJ Tanner and grabbed some oil and rubbed it on her fingers.
-
I haven't taken any protection on our railings. We don't have a two story foyer, but a railing in the upstairs hallway over the stair.
Our railings are less than four inches apart and not designed on a way that would allow climbing.
What you really need to worry about is laddering (horizontal railings) or things getting pushed against the railing that could get them up higher.
Unless your house is super old it's really unlikely that your railings are unsafe.
-
@PinkElephant: I didn't think it was a real possibility until my dad joked that it happened to one of us growing up. That was all the confirmation DH needed that the hallway will be off limits.
-
@oliviaoblivia: I don't think my railings are actually unsafe...I just think my 2.5 year old is nuts
@Foodnerd81: ah yes, the fascination with sticking things in places they don't really fit.....my 2.5 year old DID shove a piece of macaroni up her nose about a month ago, so you never know
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I don't blame you! So do you have a monitor, or just expect that LO would yell for you if need be?
-
We have a loft overlooking the great room. I went around and shook each spindle to make sure they were all solid. Then I moved all furniture (including anything she can move herself like chairs) completely out of the hall/loft. Also we make it a point to never leave her alone in the loft for more than literally 20 seconds. She likes to grab onto the top of the railing and try to climb, bc she's insane and wants to scare the crap out of me. So yea. All the precautions-- but also mostly just tons of supervision.
-
We moved into a house with a 2 story entry (railings looking into the foyer) when I was pregnant and LO1 was 18 months. We actually hired a babyproofing company because I was so freaked out by the about of things to babyproof.
They advised us our wooden spindles were great - close together and the shape isn't easy for a toddler to use to climb. We also keep anything LO could climb on far, far away from the railing.
We have had a single issue (and LOs are now 4.5 and 2.5).
-
Hahaha!
I can distinctly recall dangling my little sister over the railing in our two-storey foyer! I was probably 12 or so, and she was probably 7, so we were both old enough to know better
My parents never did anything special. At least one of us fell down the stairs, probably all of us. But nobody ever got stuck in the spindles or jumped over, and we could be wild.
We did bungee jump toys over too, and used the vacuflo hose to run marbles down over the railing. That did make my mom mad because there were French doors directly across form where we were running the marbles out.
-
@Mae: yeah, pulling up by the top railing is exactly how both girls would do it. They both have great upper body and core strength; I'm pretty positive they could do it. I think you are right we just might have to have rules about being upstairs unsupervised.
@Bluebonnet: this is good to hear!
@JennyD: you two sound like my older girls! They've definitely fallen down the stairs in our current house (very steep and narrow old brownstone stairs), so that part concerns me less. It's the issue of going over the railing. and OMG the central vacuum hose - I hadn't even thought of all the ways they can play with that!
-
We have a 2 story foyer as well as a landing overlooking the living room. So far the only issues with our 2-year-old is stopping her from throwing stuff over. But I can definitely see a 7-year-old trying to jump off the landing to a couch.
-
@PinkElephant: We moved in to a new house over the summer with a two story foyer and catwalk. On our final inspection I noticed the several of the wooden spindles were broken and were too far apart - like our little one could have fallen through - cue major panic! Our solution - was that we replaced the staircase with wrought iron (unclimable!) spindles and raised the banister a few inches so it would take a lot of determination and probably a ladder for LO to get over it now!
When we were house hunting, we saw a house that actually built an internal wall over the catwalk and banister for safety - they put some windows in for light and it was super safe for sure, but it looked terrible so I wouldn't recommend it as a solution unless as a last resort. -
@Miss Ariel: I should have a bet with DH on how long it takes before mine figure out that they can throw stuff - right now it's just hanging on the bannister.
@Aimed121: ugh that's scary! We had one loose spindle (wood) on the steps to the basement, but the wrought iron ones upstairs are all fine. I think they seem more climb-able than wood though, because they have a scroll pattern. I definitely don't plan on building a wall (sorry Trump....hehehe ok I couldn't resist that one, sorry!)
-
@PinkElephant: we've been in this house for about six weeks and it probably took about a month.
-
@Miss Ariel: Note to self: no Christmas gifts that can't survive a 10-20 foot fall........
-
@PinkElephant: we have a phone app monitor, but LO's room is right across the hall so we hear him anyways.
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
17 comments