Going Down Stairs

aeh72 · August 2013

At what age did you have your LO start practicing going down stairs? And, how did you do it? Do you have them practice scooting down on their bum, going backwards on their hands/knees, or actually walking down holding your hand and the rail? We have a very steep set of stairs between our main level and the bedrooms. DS can definitely go up, but I'm nervous about how to practice going down. Unfortunately, we don't have another set of stairs to practice on inside.

skibunny59 · August 2013

Nicb13 said:

I let DS "play" on the stairs almost every day, he loves them. I sit there with him and let him go up and down over and over. I usually hold his hand and help him down but I'd say about a month ago he figured out how to slide backwards down them on his own. So at 16 months old he started going down on his own.
I didn't have a plan in mind for this, I just let him explore and figure out what his little body could do. He figured out what worked and now he is obsessed with the stairs.

My DD loves the stairs too. We don't have stairs but my parents do and she is at their house everyday because my mom watches her while we're at work. My mom started teaching her to go up and down when she was like 10 months old. She taught her to climb up using her hands and knees and to scoot down on her bottom.

tbmadeamistake · August 2013

C just started wanting to walk up them one day, so we hold her hand and help her and she loves it. We have carpeted stairs, which she tends to ignore as we don't use them much (both our bedrooms are on the main floor). However, this weekend at my mom's she scaled their hardwood stairs no problem. She had zero idea how to get down without my hand to help, so for that reason I might start teaching her how to scooch down them on her bum (on the off chance she manages to get up the stairs without one of us around).

LEIGHLOVE09 · August 2013

13 months she started going down. I actually didn't have to teach her at all. She just knew what to do. She does it both ways, on her bum facing forward and then also backwards walking down. I personally like her to go backwards the most.

MellyK12 · August 2013

DD loves stairs too. At the park, all she wants to do is climb up and down the stairs on the slide instead of actually sliding down on the slide. She walks down backwards.

MrsJetSet · August 2013

Dd knows to slither down on her belly, but prefers to walk down. I usually hold her hand and walk down with her.

TeacherVicky · August 2013

DS started going up and down stairs quite early. When it came time to learn to go down stairs, we taught him to turn on his belly and slide down. Shortly after, he was very interested in walking down so we taught him to hold the handrail and/or posts.

KatFCo · August 2013

We've been working on him going down on his hands and knees, but recently he's become interested in holding our hands and going down regularly.

meg_2006 · August 2013

I started working on it around 16 months. We didn't start on the stairs at all, but on the couch instead. I got tired of him climbing up on the couch and then having to sit there and anticipate when/where he would run off so I could catch him. So honestly...I let him fall off once. It sounds terrible, I know, but I sat right there and spotted him so it wasn't a huge hit and he didn't land on his head or face. It was enough to scare him into thinking of a better way down. The next time he did what we had been showing him to do for months...got on his hands and knees backwards and scooted off. He immediately applied it to the stairs also.

In the past month he has taken to going down facing forwards while holding the railing. I don't like it, but he's an adventurous little guy and loves it. The more practice, the better! And I'm always standing on the next step down

aeh72 · August 2013

Thanks everyone! We started with DS last night. He was nervous at first (as was mommy - seriously, our staircase is way to steep for my liking!). We started trying to get him to go down on his bum but eventually he turned himself around and started to step down backwards (kind of the opposite of how he goes up). I think he felt more confident that way.

JENandJEH · August 2013

DS2 started around 12 months and at 17 months can go up and down by himself without any assistance. He started out scooting down on his bottom but now walks down while holding on to the railing or wall. We never gated the stairs, just always stayed with him until we were confidant in his ability. It also helps that our stairs are broken up with a landing so if he were to fall, it's only a 5 step tumble.

shannm · August 2013

I taught her as soon as she could crawl mainly because we have a small flight of three carpeted steps that I didn't want to gate off. She goes down backwards using all of her hands and feet. I taught her by literally putting her in the correct position and moving her limbs for her. She knows what "go down safely" means so when we are at other places with steps, i can direct her like that if need be. She also can go down our full staircase but only does with supervision.

MooOink · August 2013

About 8 months DS was climbing up them himself. He started getting off the beds and couches feet first at about 9 months.

We were just consistent. When he would go toward the edge of the bed we would say "Feet first" and then turn him around feet first. We did this every single time, after about a week we only had to say "feet first" and he would turn himself around, and then a couple days later we didn't have to remind him he would just get down feet first on his own.

MNmama7112 · August 2013

i would place my son at the top of the stairs and say "let's turn around." then turn him around and get him started going down on his belly, feet first. now just saying "turn around" when he's at the top of the stairs reminds him what to do and he'll go all the way down by himself. i think those little reminder phrases help kids so much

blu-eyedwife · August 2013

He started going down the stairs around the same time he started crawling. Backwards, feet first. I know they worked with him on that at daycare too because of the play/climbing equipment.

Eventually he started wanting to walk down the stairs like us, holding a hand. I can't remember when that was, probably around 16/17 months?

This past week he's been going down by himself- not wanting to hold hands. He does use the rail though and I'm right beside him.

EMOmamma · August 2013

It was before a year for both kids. With DS it was b/c I was pg and needed him to be independent, and with DD she wants to do whatever DS does so she wanted to on her own. DS was a backward crawler down and DD is a forward butt-scooter. She also wants to walk down holding a hand now.

kami1977 · August 2013

As soon as my kids started crawling we worked on going down feet first on stairs and from furniture. So hands and knees backwards. At 14 months DD can get the stairs pretty fast with hands and knees. She will now step down on the stairs if I hold her hand but does hands and knees on her own.

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Going Down Stairs

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