those with 2 stories/stairs in house...

shari_rngleson · May 2010

is your toddler climbing the stairs yet? how old was LO when they started? my dd has had no interest until yesterday -she put her foot up on the first stair.

is it time to teach her how to climb? or do i say "NO"....too soon?

any tips appreciated.

johnsoar · May 2010

My DS can climb the stairs (9 months) but I wouldn't "let" him. Just let your DC climb but follow behind. I think they get it pretty quickly. I worry more about DD falling down the stairs.

Echowysp · May 2010

I'd say he started before he could walk, so before 10 months. He's a pro at it now. He doesn't take them facing forward, but he's started showing interest in trying.

betsnup · May 2010

Do you meaning hands and knees climbing or actually walking? Because D isn't walking up the stairs yet, but he climbs.

The first time D climbed up a couple stairs was literally the same day he first pulled himself up - he was 9 months old. By the time he was 11 months, he had completely figured out that he needed to turn around to crawl down. He's been doing it on his own pretty much ever since. He's had 3 minor tumbles, all 2 stairs or less (we have 8, then a landing, then 5 more), and he's never been hurt from those tumbles.

MrsJMB · May 2010

She started climbing them at 10ish months. We're either with her or we put the gates up so she can't climb. She has yet to figure out how to get down.

alli2672 · May 2010

lol...I think that this is the one area where boys are usually ahead. My DS was climbing up and down the stairs as soon as he could scoot himself over to them (maybe 8-9 months). I showed him how to go down on his belly, and I never let him go up or down alone. We had the stairs gated, and I would walk in front (or behind) him when we were going up or down.

We took the gates off the stairs around 14 months when it had been 2-3 months since he had fallen.

ChubbyCheekiesMom · May 2010

We just put a gate on our stairs last week (DS is 19 months) but he has been climbing the stairs since around 8 months. He knows how to go up and the proper way to go down. He is never left unattended on the stairs, and in my own personal opinion if you have stairs she should know how to go up and down safely instead of not allowing her at all. I would also get gates if she is showing interest and spends a lot of time in the room that has the stairs.

MamiJam · May 2010

We have LOTS of stairs in our place so teaching DS to go down "feet first" was imperative. He's been going up/down stairs for months now, probably started around 11 months. It was a lot easier than I thought. We started with getting off the sofa and our bed, turned him feet first and kept repeating it. When he'd crawl to the edge and get too close, weh tell him "feet first" and flip him around. Once he got the hang of the sofa and bed we went to the stairs and he didn't need much guidance because he knew he had to turn around and back up. We always go down before him/backwards just in case but he is pretty fast now. BTW, we don't have any gates up yet. So far he doesn't really go near the stairs unless we're near them.

shari_rngleson · May 2010

janineb:
are you saying your 16month old has never attempted to crawl up or down the stairs?
honestly, that seems bizarre to me. K has been crawling up/down the stairs since she started crawling, almost a year ago. but whatevs.
We worked with her as soon as she tried to go, so she would go down backwards, like scooching. She thinks its a freakin' carnival ride. She actually giggles and zooms down.
If you mean actually walking up/down the stairs, she has shown an interest in that since she started walking, but we ask her to go down backwards still. I think she is ready now to start practicing walking holding a rail/our hands. Since our DCP isn't ready to work on it with her, we are holding off a bit longer so as to keep things consistent.
we always have the gates up when we are home so she can't try to zoom up them when our backs are turned.
ETA: you should definitely show her the safe way to go up/down and keep gates up. I wouldn't leave it to chance that she may decide to explore on her own.

yes, she has shown no interest until yesterday. and she attempted to climb on her feet (not crawl)...

so not sure if i should teach her how to crawl up or walk up!

hippotree · May 2010

LOL - he walks up the stairs, and walks down... without holding onto anything. He's been climbing them since about 6 months, and walking up and down since about 18 months. At about 22 months he started letting go of the railing when he came down the stairs, and I started freaking out. He is pretty good at it, though - hasn't fallen yet (::knock on wood::)

carlab44 · May 2010

DS has been climbing the stairs since probably 10 months. We don't let him do it alone, but since then we'll let him climb with one of us right behind him. Now we walk and hold one of his hands while he walks up them. If we try carrying him upstairs he gets very upset (he wants to do it himself).

We have a gate at the bottom, though, to ensure he can't do it when we're not right there.

I'd definitely teach her how to climb them.

JoannaJes · May 2010

DS started climbing the stairs around 8 months. I always encourage him to climb up the stairs himself when we are going upstairs. Otherwise, it's gated off, because then ALL he would do is climb the stairs. And he's not the greatest at getting back down.

SweetPeanis · May 2010

We have 2 level split so we have two sets of stairs. Once DD started to crawl we worked on teaching her how to crawl up the stairs. And then shortly after that we taughter her how to go down on her belly. She started walking at 9 1/2 months and continued to go down on her belly and recently she's been able to hold onto the railing (she's a tall girl for 15 months) so she actually walks down the stairs. No holding onto our hands or anything.

I'm shocked that your toddler has NOT shown an interest in the stairs sooner!

lite-bright · May 2010

DD climbed up and down the stairs long before she could walk -- I'd say starting around a year. She figured out climbing up herself, and once she did that, DH took like half an hour and taught her how to go down safely, and she caught on right away. After that, we supervised for awhile, and once we were sure she had it down, we stopped gating and let her go up and down as she pleased. But our stairs are carpeted, and have a landing and a turn, so it's impossible for her to fall down the whole flight.

But DD1 is a cautious kid, so it worked for us. My niece is fearless and would walk over the edge of stairs without blinking, so it took a lot longer before BIL/SIL trusted her on the stairs by herself.

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