Top of the stairs baby gate?

[jackrose]

Is there a baby gate that is recommended for the top of the stairs?

We live in a first floor apartment with our door on the ground floor and the stairs to the door open to the rest of the house (Hall/living room). We have the entry to the rooms off the hall blocked at the moment to prevent access to the stairs but I am paranoid that someone will leave them open accidently - mum or babysitter when visiting or even Dh who is not always baby safety conscious . DD2 is a super fast crawler and makes a beeline for the door if she sees it open and is straight to the stairs.

I had a dream about her falling down the stairs last night - carpeted stairs with concrete on the bottom landing, lets just say it was a nightmare. I really need to find a gate we can use at the top of the stairs as a second safety measure.

Can anyone recommend one from experience?

[Life is Good]

We use a Dreambaby slam-shut safety gate. I think for the stairs they should slam shut. You can also get a taller version of the safety gate if you have a climber or are really worried. We feel really safe using ours with DS. I think the key-word here is "safety" gate as opposed to just a "baby" gate.

[Nelle]

I know that for tops of stairs they say to get one that screws to the wall, not pressure mounts. Can you have a rug at the bottom of the stairs too, just in case?

[jackrose]

Great advice, thank you ladies - I never thought about the distinction between 'safety' and 'baby' gates.

The carpet or rug at the bottom of the stairs is a good idea but wont work as the landing is only just big enough to allow the front door to open and the clearance at the bottom of the door is too low. Anything there would stop the door from opening. Our place is a rental too so we can't do anything about that.

I am leaning toward a retractable gate at the moment though as the last gate we had in our old house for DD1 was a standard slam shut gate. The gate ended up failing dismally due to my clumsiness though! It was positioned in a normal hall (no stairs to worry about ) and unfortunately the child lock to open it was very effective and numerous times I rushed through, thought I had opened it and crashed through it, tripping and falling over it... bloody dangerous when once I had DD in my arms. I ended up bending the gate so that it no longer locked properly. I am paranoid about doing that with another gate - not a great thing at the top of stairs.

I figure I will be unable to 'crash' through a retractable gate and will have to open it properly to use it!! Has anyone successfully used a retractable gate?