Anyone NOT Gate off the Stairs

Mine guys are starting to roll....so I know what is coming next . I'm wondering if anyone has babyproofed without gates on the stairs.

I'm thinking if I gate the living room instead and close doors in other rooms when they are in there, that we can forego the gate on the stairs. I am up and down those stairs so many times a day that I cannot imagine having to fuss with the gate constantly. They would also be in a room that is gated or has the door shut or be in a secure spot like a PNP, highchair, or superyard. We don't have older kids, so there's not an issue of someone forgetting to shut a door or gate.

If this is something you have tried, please let me know how it worked for you.

 

We have the living room gated off and then the stairs gated as well. If people are going up and down the stairs a lot and the twins are secured in the living room, the gate to the stairs can be left open. If I "let them lose" into the rest of the house, I make sure it is closed off to the stairs.

Roo

 

We only gated the top of the stairs. We have the family room/kitchen gated off so they cannot go down the basement stairs. We want the top of the upstairs gated, just in case one baby slips away during bathtime or playtime.

 

I think with babyproofing you have to be flexible to your child's developmental stage. Since yours are just rolling, it will be a while before you are several rooms away from them. We have a split level and right now we have gates closing off the kitchen and family room so that those two rooms are completely enclosed. The babies often play in our front room because we don't have a need for a "sitting room" so we never put any furniture in there. It is open and they can just have toys everywhere and crawl around. It is a big enough room that we don't have the doorway gated since we are always in there with them and if they start out crawling toward escape we can just grab them. We have not yet gated our stairs for similar reasons to yours and if they are playing in their bedroom we just close that door so they can't take off toward the stairs. I think eventually we will have to gate the stairs at the top so that someone doesn't take a tumble down, but I think we can wait until they are walking for that. I think once yours are pulling themselves up, crawling, etc you can revisit your needs and decide then where you want your gates. You may find that over the course of the first couple years you change the location of your gates several times depending on which rooms you and they spend the most time in.

 

Mine are almost 18 months old and I haven't gated the stairs at the top or bottom. We spend most of our time updstairs in the bonus room that is gated. They can't get out of that room, so they can't get to the stairs. If they are in their bedroom (which is also upstairs) that door is shut and I am with them. If we are downstairs, there are no gates anywhere and could climb the stairs, but I just try to make sure I am always close by. We don't ever just roam downstairs for long periods of time so it really hasn't been an issue for us. So, in my opinion, it is certainly doable. It may change at some point, but I think I'll be ok. They can usually make it up and down by themselves anyway, although I certainly don't chance it.