when will you feel comfortable taking down the baby gates?

yepyepsms · September 2013

My son is really good at the stairs and we let him practice a lot and always stand there with him, but DH and I got to talking when we will take the gates down. For those of you that have, or maybe STM's...when did you decide you were comfortable enough to take down the gates?

Cherryblossoms07 · September 2013

I don't know. We didn't put a gate on DD'S door when we moved here, she was 2 1/2. I leave DS'S (1 1/2) gate open at nap time, but lock it at bedtime. He has absolutely no problems going up and down the stairs during the day, but I am worried about nighttime when it is dark (we don't have a plug in on the stairs for a nightlight) and he is drowsy. I don't know when for certain but I don't plan on taking it down for a while yet.

DawnLilly · September 2013

In July it got 95 degrees and we spent a few days just downstairs. It's half finished and dangerous areas are barricaded. DS was 13.5 months old. I took the one by the basement stairs down after that. There is no door. He started walking at 8.5 months though and to keep him busy if it were raining or something I would put a mattress at the bottom and we would just practice and play up and down. Every few days he'll go down and check things out; realize there's nothing interesting and come back up.

JENandJEH · September 2013

We've never used gates so I would get rid of them now and just work on how to safely go up and down the stairs. DS2 is completely able to go up and down on his own and is very steady. We keep all of the bedroom and bathroom doors closed but he has free reign throughout the rest of the house. If we are all upstairs in the playroom, we do gate the playroom entrance so he's not unsupervised downstairs in the kitchen but otherwise, he can roam and play wherever he wants.

He is still in the crib and will be until he climbs out or turns 3 so I'm not so worried about him wandering at night. We all sleep with our doors shut and since he can't open doors (yet), even if he were to climb out in the middle of the night and not make a huge amount of noise, he couldn't get out of his room to go to the stairs.

aboynamedbarry · September 2013

We just took the one off our stairs off last week (she's 19 months) and the only real reason we left it up so long was to keep her from going up herself, she's been great at stairs since about 13 months. I figured she was old enough to be listening to me when I tell her not to go up since it is in my way all the time... so far it hasn't been an issue

TeacherVicky · September 2013

DS has been great at going up and down stairs for a long time now. We only have one gate and it's at the top of the stairs on our second storey, where our bedrooms are. It's really only there for when we transition DS to a bed, I want it there for if he gets up at night or early in the morning and is a little disoriented, or if he is like I was as a child: a sleepwalker.

rubyredlucy · September 2013

We live in a split-level, with the stairs right in our living room where DD spends the majority of her day. We have gates at the top of the stairs that lead to the basement, at the bottom of the stairs going up to the bedrooms, and leading into the kitchen. The only one we use 100% of the time is the one leading downstairs, because DD can be a whirlwind and would easily fall down those stairs just playing in the living room. I don't anticipate taking that gate down anytime soon.

If the stairs in our living room only went up, we could probably do without a gate at this point. We don't spend much time upstairs, and she can't climb out of the crib or open her bedroom door, yet. When she can, we'll probably put a gate at the top of those stairs JIC. We occasionally use the other two gates just to keep her in the living room, instead of chasing her all over the house all day.

dragon_chica · September 2013

A few months ago I watched helplessly as my 3 y/o DD fell down a flight of stairs in our house. On occasion we've let DD go upstairs to grab something from her room but I'm thinking when DS turns 5 (another 3 years) I'll feel more comfortable.

Leap08 · September 2013

My daughter is 21 months and does really well on the stairs. We don't have a gate at the bottom and haven't had one for a long time. We do have a gate at the top, but that's mostly to keep the girls upstairs when we're all up there. The top gate is left open when we're downstairs so my 3 year old can go up to play in her room or grab something whenever she wants. I'm not sure when we'll take down that top gate. I like being able to close it at night, so I know DD1 won't wake and go downstairs. And I really think we'll want it closed at night when we transition DD2 out of her crib.

ASmallWonder · September 2013

I don't remember when we took the gate off the bottom but we still have one at the top and one across his door. Our hallway is tight so I don't want him tumbling down the stairs if he loses his balance goofing around in the hallway while we're getting ready.

As for the person who was saying her son can't get out of the crib and can't open doors so he couldn't get anywhere? Let me tell you lol My son couldn't either. Until he did. No warning just poof out of the crib and out the door, appearing next to our bed in the middle of the night.

rubber_chicken · September 2013

DD is 15 months old and we just installed another gate this weekend! Not for safety per se - we don't have stairs - but to keep her corralled and away from a part of the house.

We plan to have these for awhile.

JENandJEH · September 2013

elmoali said:

I don't remember when we took the gate off the bottom but we still have one at the top and one across his door. Our hallway is tight so I don't want him tumbling down the stairs if he loses his balance goofing around in the hallway while we're getting ready.

As for the person who was saying her son can't get out of the crib and can't open doors so he couldn't get anywhere? Let me tell you lol My son couldn't either. Until he did. No warning just poof out of the crib and out the door, appearing next to our bed in the middle of the night.

I'm guessing this is directed at my comment. Once my little shorty gets tall enough to touch more than the very bottom of the door knob, maybe I'll reevaluate but if he continues with his current personality, there is no way he would be quiet while getting out of the crib and opening the door (and unless he can pick up a side table, there is nothing in his room he could move over to the door to get a boost). He is a bull in a china shop and I am an incredibly light sleeper and have been known to wake up when I hear him roll over on the monitor. Either way, as we did with our oldest, when they start learning new things/tricks, we'll reevaluate the way we do things. I know they can be sneaky, crafty little boogers but baby gates aren't something we feel we need at this point.

DiveFrog · September 2013

rubber_chicken said:
DD is 15 months old and we just installed another gate this weekend! Not for safety per se - we don't have stairs - but to keep her corralled and away from a part of the house.

We plan to have these for awhile.

This is us as well. We own a tri-level and the gates we have installed at both sets of stairs are more for keeping DD corralled and keeping DD and our dogs separated when necessary. We had the gates installed before DD was born for the dogs, so I doubt they are going anywhere for a long time.

lucylove619 · September 2013

DD is 16 months and I don't plan on taking ours down any time soon. We have a 2 level wood staircase going from our first floor to second floor and she is good with stairs but it would be quite a fall if she slipped. If they were carpet I'd probably take them down, she has free reign to play wherever but the wood stairs just scare me! It's a really old house so they are also pretty narrow, I've slipped on them several times!

Want a personalized experience?

when will you feel comfortable taking down the baby gates?

Re: when will you feel comfortable taking down the baby gates?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards