I was wondering if anyone has any ideas or suggestion for how to keep my 1 year old off of the stairs. One side of our stairs is an oak railing and the other side is a wall. We use a big gate that just kind of goes across the frot of the stairs and put kitchen chairs on both ends to keep it in place. He now knows how to move the chairs. We do not know what to do. He is great at going up the stairs but when it comes to going down he tries to go head first. We keep trying to teach him to go backwards but he's just not catching on. Any gate suggestions?
We drilled in to the railing! I guess I thought what is more important, the kids safety or the railing?
Why don't you try to teach him how to slide down the stairs on his bottom or on his tummy. That's fun and safe and he'll probably catch on quickly!
good luck!
Hi, we have the same situation but with oak railings on both sides at the bottom of the stairs AND we have a one year old. We bought a plastic gate that uses tension and stays between the bottom of the posts, but then added bungee cords to keep the top part stable...hope that makes sense. So far it is working well.
Hi. I had a problem similar to yours. We ended up getting a nice mounting gate. It is mounted on the wall on one side and on the other a thin board was used. That way the gate would mount better and only 2 holes were put in the railing. Both have patched up nicely. Hope that helps. My other suggestion is to go to www.safetyfirst.com
they can come out and give you a free writeup on babyproofing and the cost. They might have another suggestion for you.
S.
I've got a sectional gate at the top of the stairs which has worked out well for us. Do a google search on baby gates and you can find what works for you and compare prices.
I just used a pressure mounted gate to put at the bottom of the stairs. If you put it up just right it will grab the ballister on the stairs.
D.,
I had the same situation. We took a wooden gate which normally would attach to both sides of a wall and then swing open. My husband took super thick zip ties and used them to attach a strip of wood to the oak railing. He then attached one side of the gate to the piece of wood in lieu of what would have been the wall. Then, he attached the latch side of the gate to our wall. It works great and when we are done with it, we can simply cut the zip ties and remove the gate hardware. Hope I explained it so it makes sense.
K.
