going down stairs?

[dakotablue]

When did you teach your LOs to go downstairs? I don't think I'd be comfortable with DS doing it with out me hovering near by anytime soon, but I was thinking in terms of when I'm bigger and when the baby gets here.

Also, how did you do it? So far I've showed him half standing half sitting to go down holding onto the railing (sitting to reach next step then stand to reposition self)

[Marissamom]

we taught DD how to go down backwards on her hands and knees at 12 months. she also goes up the same way. she has also started sometimes going down by sitting down and sliding down to the next step (she's 17 months, but her legs are too short to step down still). she doesn't do stairs without one of us nearby, but we do have her go up and down under her own power.

[crunchy_mommy]

I think around 9 months old he started climbing down them backward & somehow by the time he was a year or so he taught himself to walk down them. He holds on to the handrail and/or my hand. You could just let him practice near the bottom of the stairs with you hovering nearby, and he'd probably figure it out himself??

[colsxjack]

My DD wont go down backwards.
We have kind of taught her to sit on her bum and slide down, but she wants to stand and walk down like everyone else. Only problem is that she can't. We have to really watch her because she wants to do everything herself and likes to practice things alot. We let her practice on the bottom couple of steps.

[treeoflife3]

my 19 month old knows how to do it now (we don't have stairs but we have friends who do) but I'm not comfortable with her doing it without me knowing and being able to observe from a not too far distance. I'm confident in her abilities to where I don't need to hover, but I would rather be at the bottom of the steps than not paying attention currently.

[~Amy~]

I never taught my son to do stairs (was I supposed to? ooops). He figured it out somewhere between 18 months & 2 years, I think. Now at 30 months, he walks up & down stairs unsupervised just fine.

[tzs]

i taught dd to go down as soon as she figured out she could crawl up....10 months??? we did it crawling down backwards and it took a few weeks of me pulling at one leg to get her started but one day it just clicked. we don't have anything gated off so it was safest to teach her asap.
i didn't realize i'd be so in the minority but at 13 months so goes up and down unsupervised
to be honest she's way safer when i'm not there or she doesn't know i'm there. when she see's us she gets a little too hyper, starts going a bit too fast, and stops paying attention to what she's doing. but we have wood stairs and no tumbles yet (knock on wood.)
i figure the walking or butt-sliding down she will learn on her own in her own time.

[just_lily]

My kid just would. not. go on her belly. She wanted to just walk off the edge. And she walked at 10mo and is on the smaller side, so there is no way her legs were long enough to do that.

I had to hold her hand and walk down with her until she was nearly 2yo. Now she does them like a pro. The funny thing is that if we were somewhere that only had one or two steps she would do the belly thing... but a whole flight of stairs? She would walk right off.

We still use our stair gate quite a bit, but mainly because our stairs are in the middle of our living area and we have big dogs (60lbs and 100lbs) and I worry about them accidentally bumping DD down the steps.

[alegna]

I taught both kids to go backwards or on their bums ("bump bump bump" )

They both started learning when crawling between 6 and 9 months.

-Angela

[Drummer's Wife]

About 9-10 mos? Right before learning to walk. I figure it's safer while they are still crawling and are closer to the ground -- rather than trying to walk up and down them before mastering walking.

[larzanna]

I taught DS how to go down stairs on his belly at 6-7 months (when he was crawling well and knew how to go up them)
It was our waste away the afternoon game, he would crawl up then i would physically TURN him around and say "how do we go down stairs" then pull him down my his legs/feet. He got it pretty quick.
He was not really totally safe alone on them until around 8 months i think.

I taught him to go down walking with the handrail at 15 months (when he was trying to do it anyway, may as well teach him how to be safe about it)
I prefer if he holds my hand still, but our handrail has slats so he can reach and hold on. I would say that he was not safe alone on them until about now at almost 18 months.
I will say that people are AMAZED, just jaw dropping amazed that he could/can go down stairs (either method) from such a young age, I guess most of the people i know just get a gate, but i hate gates.

[AndtheStars]

I'm with tzs. DS figured out how to go up stairs crawling and figured out how to go down on his belly about a month or so after figuring out how to go up. He's never fallen or slipped. I watch him about 75% of the time but allow him to get a head start (up or down) unsupervised if I'm finishing something up. He shows zero interest in learning to step up or down.

[kayleesmom]

my son figured out up the stairs crawling up that is about 13 months. he was delayed in walking. and then down the stairs about 18-19 months before that he would stand at of stairs and cry for someone to come and get him. and then my daughter 6 was scooting down stairs on her bum holding him. and countiously kept scooting down whenever she would come down stairs.and he learned from her. and does it to this day at 20 months.

[ChetMC]

Our older DS learned when he was 11 months when we were staying with friends. He hadn't really been exposed to stairs before that.

Our younger DS was working on going down between 9 and 10 months. He couldn't do the whole flight though. Our stairs are longer than normal, and wind in two sections. He'd get tired around the middle and cry for somebody to come and get him. Then he had a fall around 10.5 months and for about six weeks he'd just sit at the top of the stairs and yell for somebody to get him. At 12 months he started going down again and could do the whole flight on his own.

We never really taught any of our kids to go down stairs. I'd spot, but I didn't want to encourage one method if another method was more natural for them so I let them take the lead.

[jennifercp8]

I taught both of my kids to go down stairs when they learned how to climb them on their own - between 7-11 months. I taught them to go down backwards, and they use the stairs with no problems.

I don't gate the stairs, or prohibit them from playing in their rooms. It tends to drive people a little batty when we are out in public and I let them navigate the stairs on their own. But DD is now 18 months, and a couple months ago I taught her to use the handrails and come down. It totally freaks people out that I don't carry my kids everywhere.

[Auraji]

DD learned how to go down backwards sometime around 10 months. She sometimes wants me to go get her and I do. She now tries to go down standing up and holding onto the rail, she does one or two steps (17 Months), but not the whole stairs.

[Auraji]

Originally Posted by jennifercp8

I don't gate the stairs, or prohibit them from playing in their rooms. It tends to drive people a little batty when we are out in public and I let them navigate the stairs on their own. But DD is now 18 months, and a couple months ago I taught her to use the handrails and come down. It totally freaks people out that I don't carry my kids everywhere.

Same here. People are always freaked out when she's near the stairs. DP's cousin was here the other night and he actually blocked the stairs with a big toy and I asked what was he doing and he said "she's trying to go upstairs" haha, he doesn't have kids though, but people with kids freak out too.

[dahlialia]

DD (14 months) does the bum slide down, with one of us there to watch (she's new at it). DH used to hold her on his lap, and bump down that way with her, for fun. I think that's how she got the hang of it.

[nwatt]

As soon as DD tried to go up the stairs we started showing her how to go down the stairs backwards, I think that it was when she started crawling at around 7 months. We also showed her how to get of the couch/bed/anything elevated the same way at the same time. Now at 14 months she goes down the stairs on her bum. She is good enough at it to do it by herself, but I am always with her. She does go down the deck steps (3 of them) without me right next to her, but within sight. She is trying to walk up and down steps, but I am not really encouraging that because she almost always falls immediately upon trying.

ETA: DD would most likely be entirely safe on them if it weren't for our cats and dog who like to run up and down the stairs with total disregard for anyone else who might be on them. The cats distract her and she tries to catch them; the dog just barrels by often bumping into her.

[CherryBombMama]

about a month ago, ds1 (17months at the time) magically sat down, and went down each step by himself by scooting.

previous to that, i had been trying to show him how to do it (holding on to the rail, going backwards...) but i just had to wait for him to do it himself.