Babies and Stair Climbingby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 24 Mar 2009 10:41 AM
So when should you expect your baby to begin climbing stairs? Well that all depends, largely in fact, on what your baby's main environment is like. If you baby spends most of his time in a home with stairs, then he is more likely to start climbing stairs earlier than would a baby who is not often exposed to stairs. Babies may start to climb stairs as early as six months old, before they even start cruising around, or they may wait until they are established walkers, around the age of 18 months. This age range is according to a recent study conducted by Sarah E. Berger at the College of Staten Island in New York. Going down the stairs is often more nerve wracking for parents of these stair climbers than it is for the babies. Most babies have a natural caution for heights once they begin at least crawling and may avoid going down once they have gone up. But, accidents do happen, so it is important to "spot" your baby when she starts exploring stair climbing. I've often been asked what is the best way for babies to get down stairs. After three stair-climbing kids, my own opinion is that going down feet first while sliding on their bellies seems to be the preferred method of new climbers and can give them the most control. For walkers, I liked to encourage my kids to come down the stairs by scooting down on their bottoms, at least until they were old enough to be able to hold on to a hand rail and understand about slipping. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right. Related Articles: Rocking and Bouncing Can Affect Your Baby's Music Preference You Tube: How to Swaddle Your Baby What the Average 12-Month-Old Should be Doing Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantbaby tags User Comments Samual (11722) 24 Mar 2009 10:53 AMPippa is in the love with the stairs, since she was 8 months old she has been going up and down, up and down, she will still sometimes go up and down several times before she gets bored. She still isn't allowed to do it on her own though, we keep the doors shut that lead to the stairs, so she can try as much as she likes but she can't reach that handle.  ruthann8 (6378) 24 Mar 2009 01:35 PMI kept all the doors to the staircases closed so Ellamae couldn't find them. But she discovered them when on Christmas vacation at my moms (about 11 months). Teaching her to go down was hard. Because she was already an established walker I tried to teach her to scoot down on her butt. But I soon learned b/c we have wooden staircases it was better for her to kind of crawl backwards feeling with her foot for each step. I still stay very close to her b/c it is so easy for her to loose her footing on our stairs and it has saved a couple of possible falls. We still have a hard time when we go somewhere with carpeted stairs b/c she thinks she can just run down them.  Mary Ann Romans |
Baby categories |
