when did you let your toddler go up and down the stairs unassisted? - Page 2

[treeoflife3]

My daughter was doing it at 20 months, but that was with spending many months teaching her to scoot on her butt or go backwards (she won't hold anything with both hands) and knowing that she won't move if she is trying to hold something she can't scoot on her butt or go backwards with.  She is a pretty cautious kid though who knows her limits.

[redpajama]

I don't know precisely, but...7 months?  8 months?  As soon as she was crawling, between 6 and 7 months, she began climbing the stairs.  We didn't gate them, but kept an eye on her for a while until it was clear she had mastered it.  for a while, she would climb up, but call for us (you know, in *her* language) from the top when she wanted to come down.  I would go up, help her get turned around so she was headed down feet-first, and help her climb/slide down on her belly, until she was able to do it herself.  She's almost 20 months now, and walks up and down, holding the hand rail.

[quantumleap]

Originally Posted by redpajama 

I don't know precisely, but...7 months?  8 months?  As soon as she was crawling, between 6 and 7 months, she began climbing the stairs.  We didn't gate them, but kept an eye on her for a while until it was clear she had mastered it.  for a while, she would climb up, but call for us (you know, in *her* language) from the top when she wanted to come down.  I would go up, help her get turned around so she was headed down feet-first, and help her climb/slide down on her belly, until she was able to do it herself.  She's almost 20 months now, and walks up and down, holding the hand rail.

This, exactly, except dd is 26months!

[Abraisme]

I've let my toddler go up and down stairs alone since 18mo or so.  It might have been earlier if we had our own stairs, but she only gets practice at other people's houses.

[triana1326]

We moved into our house when DD was 7 months old and was just learning to crawl. Her room had two small steps down into it from the kitchen. One day I plopped her in her room so I could do some dinner prep thinking that she would be "contained" for the time it would take to chop some veggies. I turned away for a minute and suddenly I felt a little hand pulling on my pant leg - she had climbed the stairs alone! We quickly taught her to turn around and go backwards down those stairs, which she mastered in a few attempts. She started going up and down the 15 step stairs in our house about a month after she mastered walking (about 13 months) holding onto the railing or a hand. About a month later, she was going up and down alone, holding onto the railing facing forward. She's only fallen once and it was from the bottom stair because she tripped over the cat. She carries things up and down as well, but she's been really coordinated and has amazing balance.

Long story short - it's very individual. Some kids I wouldn't let near stairs at 4 years old and 1 year olds I wouldn't bat an eye at letting them go.

[Aufilia]

DS is 18 months and has been able to go up and down the stairs for many months now. However, I always stay near him and have no intention of taking the gates down any time soon.  He's very physical and has great gross motor skills, but also has no sense of danger or self-preservation whatsoever.  He plunges headlong into everything. He's already fallen off of everything he can get onto.  I don't trust him not to manage to plunge headlong right down the stairs.  He knows perfectly well how to crawl up and down (which is safe enough) but he thinks he must walk since everyone else does. He's tall but there upper stair has no handrail and the decorative railing in the middle isn't up to modern baby-safe standards; the handrail on the lower stairs is just a bit too high for him. So, I let him walk if I'm with him, but he isn't allowed to use the stairs without strict supervision.

That said, when we moved into this house when my daughter was about 2, we never bothered putting up baby gates 'cause she was totally trustworthy on the stairs.  She had gross motor delays, but more to the point, she was also a very cautious child and never fell off anything.

[mikanmom]

It has been a  while since i posted this

but now i feel ok w/ DD going upstairs by herself, though i try to watch if i'm near,

going down though i'm less comfortable,

there's a turn in the steps that if you don't scoot towards the the wall it can be a sharp turn.

I fell at this point but luckily i had my arm over the bannister, but bruised my armpit! LOL

they are carpeted at least but it's a wood floor and a wall about 3 ft away at the bottom

the problem is that sometimes she wan't to carry a bunch of toys down the stairs....

we did find away to secure the gate that she can't undo by herself,

it's a short thick stretchy loop w/ a big plastic ball bead (kind of like a bigger version of one of those ponytail hoders)

for now it's working, hopefully by the time she figures it  out I'll be more comfortable w/ her agility

I just started her in gymnastics so maybe this will help