Staircase fears / open to below

We have a new home that we recently moved into, and the staircase is partially circular with rod iron pickets.
From the second floor, there is a half wall overlooking the staircase and down to the main floor; and in certain areas of the stairs themselves it is a steep drop over the railing.

I had a girlfriend suggest that we have a net installed just in case they twins ever climb over the railing / walls

Has anyone ever done this?
anyone else with major fears of their staircase ? sonce we moved in a week ago i have had dreams about it every night.

the twins are 7 months now - and not crawling yet ... but its coming soon

 

It's hard to imagine what you are describing but I don't think babies can climb over the stair rail, or at least it's not common and even if they tried, it would take a Lon time and I doubt you would leave them alone for so long.

I have not heard of fishnet protection, seems excessive ;-)

 

I am not worried immediate - i am thinking once they are a year / year and a half. Once they can start climbing. Especially if i return to work and we have a nanny watching them.

Do you ever have worries that your babes will fall through or down places .
Maybe I am being irrational ?? ardon:

 

You could attach some plexiglass to the railings. That's what we did upstairs where there is a railing overlooking the foyer and stair landing. Its not exactly pretty but its not permanent either.

 

I completely understand the stair thing. I still try to take them downstairs/upstairs myself and always make sure people hold the rail and are not allowed to wear socks while carrying babbies up and down the stairs. I am terrified of slipping. They are also not allowed to talk and have to watch their steps ;-) Talk about loony mom here ;-)

Mine are all over the place walking and climbing furniture but I can't see them getting over the rails. I have a long staircase that twists and has a bullnose at the end with steel pickets. Again like I said, I am having a hard time picturing your staircase so maybe I just don't get it.

 

You can buy plexiglass products for this situation. I remember looking into it for my first, although my DH refused to actually do it.

 

We have something like this http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=353763&cmSource=Search which we put up between rooms that have a railing, our railing is white so it sort of blends in, my girls are small so I didnt want them to be able to get through the railing, or get their head stuck.

we went this route as opposed to the plexiglass, because there is a big air conditioner in the living room, which cools off the house, so I didnt want to block the ventilation,

We also redid our staircase as a first project when we moved in, we had open back stairs, which we closed off, but they were not circular, so it was probably easier

Good luck figuring things out.

 

this looks like a great solution!

you might consider installing something like that if for no other reason than to ease your fears so you can sleep at night. that said, the best thing you can do to prevent accidents is make sure you don't give them access to the area adjacent to the railing without supervision.

 

Thanks so much for the great ideas!!! I have been looking at the plexi glass and mesh both. i am not sure which we will go for but it will be something like that.

As for the open space to below - i am not sure how to illeviate my fears that they will finda way to climb up and over. LOts of constant supervision - and a little nurotic parenting and all will be well