Are you looking forward to the moment when your baby first starts to climb stairs or do you dread it. Stair climbing in babies is always about mixed emotions. On one hand, you are excited about your baby reaching a new milestone. On the other hand, you now have to worry more about safety.
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.
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