He crawls up our stairs in seconds now. Gate at the bottom, or teach him to come down feet first?

silver_veranda_370321 Jul 2026

Our son has worked out the staircase at home this month. Going up is no trouble for him; coming down, he tries head first. His daycare is all on one floor, so this only happens in the evenings and at weekends. I've read about teaching babies to turn around and slide down on their tummies. Did anyone manage that at this age, or did you put up a gate and wait? I'd like to know what worked for others before I buy anything.

2 comments

coral_window_380422 Jul 2026
Not there with ours yet, he's a month old, but my in-laws' house has exactly this staircase so I'm reading every reply. Did you find a gate that fits stairs with a railing on only one side?
rose_window_970224 Jul 2026
We did both with our younger one. A gate for when nobody was watching, and practice going down feet first when someone was. It took about three weeks of turning her around on the bottom two steps before she did it on her own. The gate stayed till she was nearly two, because knowing how to come down didn't mean she always chose to.
- fig_violin_70125 Jul 2026
  That last line is the part people leave out. Did you practise on the bottom steps only, or the full flight once she had the hang of it?
- silver_veranda_370325 Jul 2026
  Thank you, this is what I wanted to know. We'll order a gate this week and start with the bottom two steps at the weekend.