Any top tips for teaching baby to get down the stairs?

[Keef]

Our daughter has taken to bombing it up the stairs whenever she gets the chance, but as yet, has no idea about getting down, and when she's on your lap or something, she will happily try to dive straight off you, so I'm worried she'll just try to take a plunge.

Don't want to just put a baby gate at the top of the stairs, as there is a school of thought that suggests the are like a red rag to a bull, and baby will just keep going at it, and they could both end up going down.

I know that going down backwards is safest, but am not sure how to show her this.

Anyone got any tips?

[snowboarder]

Just physically show her - baby snowboarder and I spent a happy morning up and down stairs recently - he bombed up and I made him slide down on his tummy saying go down backwards.....And then when he tried to nosedive down the one step into the kitchen, I just said backwards, remember, and he turned round...I was SO impressed!!

We do have gates too though....

[jrthomas_uk]

Hi Keef,

With our little one I put him into the position where he was kneeling on the stairs backwards and moved his legs/knees down the stairs saying "down, down, down" so he was forced into coming down the stairs in the right way.

It took a while but eventually he started doing the motions himself and whenever we said the words "down, down, down" he would automatically start to crawl down backwards. This was really helpful as he always first tried to go head first. This all worked a treat until he started walking when he then wanted to walk down...

He now slides down feet first, on his tummy like a speed demon :-)

We also have gates as I like to be around whenever he heads down the stairs just in case...

[Keef]

Need to think about the gate thing. Definitely plan on getting one at the bottom, but not sure about the top.

Thanks for the tips. It's amazing how difficult it can be trying to show them stuff. I almost fell backwards down the stairs the other day when I was trying to crawl up them!

[pebbles]

From the moment when Pebbles junior was able to get up the stairs we pretty much never carried him down again (obviously within reason).

"backwards" was the word that we all used and for a good few weeks we would be in front of him turning him around everytime he tried to go forwards and saying backwards at the same time.

it probably took us 3 weeks in all however we've never had to carry him down the stairs since (apart from fabulous 2 year old tantrum reasons!!!) and we also didn't get stairgates for exactly your reason.

Do stick with it Keef cos although it's a hassle for a few weeks in the long run it makes life sooooo much easier.

Good luck

[Belle]

hmm - so far I've managed to teach mine to get off the sofa/bed the right way but stairs is impossible as he just wants to go up - so won't let me show him about coming down!

[helena handbasket]

I understand your reasoning about the gate, we felt that way too. However as previously mentioned, you can leave the gate open for supervised practice but these little ones are fast and it only takes a second of distraction for them to tumble down and really get hurt. I also found it gave my son a bit of independence to toodle around upstairs when the gate was locked and I was just nearby. I think we took it off again around 18 months when we were confident that he had good stair instinct.

But then I have a boy who tended to dive head first off of everything and the gate was probably to calm my poor nerves!

[Keef]

But then I have a boy who tended to dive head first off of everything and the gate was probably to calm my poor nerves!

We have an adrenaline junkie too, so I too have frayed nerves.

[Pickle]

Our daughter has been a keen stair-goer from an early age... she's an adrenalin junkie too. We don't have stair gates, right from the start our mantra has been "backwards backwards backwards", and her older brother also goes down the stairs backwards which helps. At 21 months she's now absolutely fine going up and down by herself, in the earlier days I just made sure she was contained if I was leaving her alone.

[The Nappy Lady]

We have stair gates top and bottom, but always let the little one do it herself, unless time doesn't allow / tantrums etc.

At the top it means I can shower and she and big sister can play in the bedroom but go back and forth to me, without the stair gate I would be a nervous wreck thinking she might decide to bomb off down the stairs herself - and she too is determined to walk down them now, so it is a bit scary. Of course the other 'problem' to throw into the mix is having a 5 year old sister who is often trying to push past / help / catch her to reclaim a toy or whatever.

I do understand the theory behind not having stairgates, but for me it is just too scary a thought as I know I could get distracted too easily. Hopefully not too much longer to go with them now though.

On rainy days practicing going up and down the stairs is a great way to wear them out!

Molly

[Moos]

We have one very steep set of stairs, and although the nightly dreams about dropping the baby down them have faded (they lasted well over a year, insane me), we still have the gate. Moosling is far too prone to running about like a madman laughing his head off and not looking where he's going. He's absolutely capable of walking up and down the stairs on his own, but I'm fairly sure he's still capable of falling down them too. *shivers*

Anyway, back on topic, when he first started to tackle stairs it was just a question of turning him around when he got to the top and telling him 'backwards' which was clearly counter-intuitive, but he got the hang on it quite quickly and enjoyed all the praise when he did it right.

[Mrs Humm]

My little one absolutely refused to come down backwards - so we taught her the bumping bottom method... (does what it says on the tin...).

In fact it when she stands up halfway UP the stairs that it freaks me out, I think that she is going to topple over backwards! It is a 'nobody move or breath or anything' scenario.