Do I need baby gates?

[Anonymous]

We are moving to a house with stairs in a few weeks and our DD is almost 2.5. We don’t have stairs in our current house and thanks to Covid she rarely goes places so while she can go up and down stairs if she has a railing or something to hold onto, she isn’t very steady yet.

Should we put gates up in front of the stairs to ensure she doesn’t fall, or at this age does she just need a little practice and then there will be no need? Just curious what is best from a safety perspective.

[Anonymous]

I think you could do without them at 2.5, but they might be useful if you want to block her from accessing a level without you.

[Anonymous]

She will take to the stairs very quickly. Don’t waste the time and money on baby gates. For our second child who is now 2, we never put them up. He learned quickly how to safely navigate them.

[Anonymous]

Yes, because at her age, she will have friends with younger siblings and their parents will feel better about letting the younger siblings out of their laps if there is a gate at the top of the stairs.

[Anonymous]

We moved at the same age and did not put up the gates under younger DC was mobile.

[Anonymous]

We went from one story to a two story house just after DD turned 2. She had had experience using stairs out and about but not multiple times a day in our home. She is almost 3 and we still have a gate at the top and bottom of stairs. She is capable of going up and down on her own but we still walk behind it in front of her for the time being. We do have extremely steep narrow stairs that are open riser and backless so am a bit more cautious.

[Anonymous]

Honestly I can gate my son in our downstairs playroom and know he's safe down there if I need to run up stairs to do something with dinner or use the bathroom. Gates can be for containing a kid away from something dangerous (my kitchen is too open to be gated off and while kid is okayish, if I have to open the oven a lot I prefer he not be around) as well as the stairs.