We currently live in a one level condo, but have an offer in on a three storey house. We have an 18 month old that's pretty good at stairs but I'm curious how long people typically keep these in use. I think it might be useful just to keep her from roaming too far from us, but also wondering if it's worth having to purchase 4 gates that might only be used for a short time.
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I don't exactly remember but I know we stopped using them before we had my second. The first was 22 mos at that time. I would say if she is pretty good now, you won't use them for long and its not worth it. Of course if you plan to have another, they would get used again.
Just thought of this - one thing to take into account is whether the stairs are carpeted or hardwood. We have hardwood and it was easier to slip and of course harder if they fell. I have a friend who has carpeted stairs but it is kind of a trilevel and they never gated their two short flights of stairs.
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We are still using ours at 19 months because E is terrible at stairs! She can get up them no problem but thinks she can fly down them!
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We moved into a two story house when LO was 20 months and meant to gate the stairs but she was really good so never bothered.
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We're still using them at 2 years old over here. DS is good with the steps, but LOVES running full force down the hallway, which leads to the stairs. I could see him running right off the edge one day.
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Xander is 2 and we still use our gates. He's pretty good at stairs, but I'm just afraid of him falling down them. It's a long way down and both the stairs and the floor at the bottom are hardwood! I often feel like I might fall down them when I'm just walking by them, so I actually like having the gate for myself too!!
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DS is 2.5 and his room is the only one on the second floor. We still have a gate at the top of the stairs, even though I know he's safe to go up and down on his own. With DD here now, it doesn't really make sense to take it down just to need to put it up again when she's walking.
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M is 2.5 but she's not great with stairs and it's a long stairway down to a tile floor (ouch!). We never took the gate down and now J is here so I figure the gate will be up for a few more years.
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We moved from a 1 level apt to 3 level home 1.5 months before DS' 2nd birthday.
We didn't gate any of the stairs and so far so good. He's really good going up and down the stairs without our help and no tumbles! -
E is great at stairs at 22 months, but honestly, she would go up and down them all the time and be hard to drag away without the stairs. and then she'd meander into the basement.
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Truth? We've never used one. D is 25 months and still in his crib, so right now I don't need to worry about him going down the stairs in the middle of the night without us. Otherwise, he really doesn't go up or down without one of us with him. It's just never been a big concern for us. We returned our gates to BRU when we moved.
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We stopped using it when LO turned 2. I trust him going up and down the stairs by himself at that point. We have a gate that swings open and kept it installed since I was expecting with LO2.
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DD is 2 1/2 we still have the gate up, but need to take down. She plays with it more than it's to keep her out, she knows how to open it now. I think it's more of a danger than a protector now!
4 gates, I would probably see how she does with out them and then if you think it's necessary get them.
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I would have stopped somewhere around 18 months, but I was pregnant and delivering when L was 19 months so I just left them up in between.
Although, L is VERY cautious and doesn't have a rambunctious/wild/exploring bone in her body. -
we moved when LO was 16 months from a one floor condo to a 3 story house. I meant to gate the millions of sets of stairs, but she never even approached them without one of us. She's nearly 20 months now, and can go up and down them fine, so we didn't end up gating them at all! So a "wait-and-see" approach worked for us.
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I would wait and see how your kid does. When my daughter started walking, we taught her to turn around at the top of the stairs and slide down on her belly. She's been a pro at the stairs since then.
She's 18 months and we've never had a gate. We intended to, but didn't end up needing it. If she was a wanderer, I would probably have gotten one for the bottom just to keep her contained to the first floor, but she likes to be where we are so that hasn't been a huge issue.
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If you are planning on having other children, and don't plan on moving, get the gates. We moved when LO1 was 19 months. We didn't really "need" the gates because she did great on the stairs, but we had them installed anyway. Once LO2 came, we used the gates all the time. With two kids - you absolutely need gates (you can't keep your eyes on both kids at all times)..
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DS figured out how to appropriately go down the stairs at around 15 months, and he hasn't had a problem since, so we took the gate down then. We had to work with him for a few weeks to show him the safest way down before he got the hang of it. It was useless anyway because he would just climb over the gates of we had them up.
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DD is 2.5 and we still use them. We have tile downstairs and I don't feel comfortable taking them away until she's older.
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DD is 26 months old and we still have gates up. She goes up and down the stairs on her own all the time (really fast too!), so a lot of times we don't even have the gate locked but since it's there we're just gonna keep it since we're expecting baby 2.
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We only have 1 on the main floor going downstairs, but that's because she likes to go and play woth all of dh's guitars down there. I took off our other ones a while ago.
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I never used a gate. We have one set of stairs (walled on both sides) going up to our bedroom. Crawling/walking up is not as dangerous as down, and we are never very far away from him...
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My LO is 18 months and we've only used one gate at the top of the basement stairs (which is off the kitchen). She does not go up and down the upstairs stairs unless we are with her, so we haven't needed a second/third gate.
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