10mth Old, CLIMBING STAIRS

Z is a little over 10mths old, we have stairs down into our lounge (about 4 steps) and then stairs UP into our bedroom (10 stairs).
So we have a gate for going upstairs that we don't use as DD1 can safely go up and down the stairs, we only have it for when other kids come who are not so confident.

We haven't been using it but now that Z is on the move we have been putting a stroller over the top of the stairs to the lounge, we don't have the $$ right now to get a gate put in and she can't get over the stroller.
She's been sitting at the bottom of the stairs and sooking if i leave the room, has never attempted to get up them so DP and i agreed it was 'safe' to leave her there and also not worry about the gate to upstairs just yet... wel we were WRONG.

Yesterday i was in the laundry and could hear her sooking, thought i will just finish folding these couple of shirts and go check her..she stops.. all good
Then i hear her babbling to herself and i thought hmm she sounds close, i step out of the laundry and there she is.. she's climbed the stairs and crawled up the hallway! :wall:

I mention it to DP and he says oh yeah i forgot to tell you she got up a couple last night :wall:
so now i don't have a 'safe' place to leave her while i get things done, am thinking i might not worry about a gate up from the lounge, she seems to have them mastered and i don't want to scare her off but i wont be letting her climb them so no more leaving her alone in there while i pop on a load of washing etc.
Also better get a better gate for up and down stairs!

DD1 couldn't climb this early, i don't think she attempted it til after she walked (although at the time we didn't live in a house with stairs).. is it just because she see's us getting up them?

Cheeky clever little girl...

how wide is your gap you need to cover? i have a gate here that is too wide for where i wanted it you can have if it will fit. wil measure in a little bit.

Oh really hun... thats awesome, because it's the stairs it's a bit wider than normal but DP can fit something to the wall if he need to.... umm might stalk the shed for a measuring tape!

We have external stairs, DD1 just suddenly started climbing them at that stage as well. She was an early crawler, earlier walker (standing / stepping at 9 months and fully independent walking at 10) and one day we just found her half way up the stairs LOL.

She has only fallen once, we taught her quite quickly how to use the rails and she is fine, little miss independent.

Clever girl! Probably best to invest in a gate.
Letting her climb up them supervised (and teaching her how to climb down backwards) is great for gross motor skills.

I have a climber too, DS managed to get up a 4ft ladder when he was 13 months LOL

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I have a climber too, DS managed to get up a 4ft ladder when he was 13 months LOL

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Hehe i think she watches her sister, A got 9ft up a ladder a couple of wks ago :wall:
Thanks girls, the funny thing is she has onyl just started crawling and it's not even crawling it's this weird butt shuffle thing BUT she has taken steps behind a few things so maybe she's just skipping straight to the fun stuff :)

Wowee that would have given you a shock ZF!

DS is almost 18 months now and climbs the most challenging things yet flatly refuses to walk! :wall:

ZF... woohoo on bum shuffling lol... Oskar was a bum shuffler and I love it! So cute :)

As for the stairs... we started with teaching the kids to go down either on their bums or turned onto tummy and kinda doing that slide down. Elijah will go on his bum. Our internal stairs we still have blocked top and bottom. Top mainly because of the obvious, if the kids are playing and knock each other we don't want them falling down a dozen or so stairs. Bottom, well yeah I need Elijah not to just take off on his own up them. He does go up and down the cubby stairs.. 4 or 5 I think and he seems to be ok doing that now. I've only recently allowed him to do it on his own though. I just started watching from where he couldn't see until I was sure he seemed to be confident and mastering it. It's tough with stairs isn't it!

DS was climbing stairs at that age. He loved them. Mind you, we don't have any at home and my parents' place only has 4 steps so it wasn't really dangerous. I just made sure to teach him the best way to climb down as well (backwards, feet first).

Thanks everyone, i am trying to teach her to go down the stairs backwards.. will see how we go, having 2 lots of stairs is a PITA.. DD1 feel down the top stairs once, she had mastered them and was fine until 1 day she decided to give them a go and DP hadn't turned the hall light on, it was still a little dark... i was nearly sick.. she fell down 10 stairs :(

Teaching her how to do it safely while supervised for a bit is a great idea. Otherwise they just test their own theories.
I promise that is coming from sympathy and empathy. DD had a loft bed when DS was little so she could have her own space that he couldn't get to.....until one day just a bit after he was 8months old (and was bear crawling) and he got to the top of the bunk ladder....all by himself :o

ZF... it's very scary when they fall down the stairs isn't it.... Oskar did the same thing, got himself to the top before I knew it but fell down even faster... luckily at that age they go floppy rather than try to brace so it was more of a scare. I think it scared me more than him though!

Hehe Ava was about 18mths old or something i think when she fell so not so floppy but she was still quiet flexible so i know Z will be too... lol just blocking them off with anything i can find at the moment.

At the top of our stairs we have a proper gate which is attached to the wall either side with the bolt/screws. At the bottom, we have one side of the play pen tied with DH's karate belt pmsl... but it stops Elijah getting up but Oskar can get over the lounge and around it to get up when or if he needs to.