Bedtime dryness

[Guest]

She’s done so well and is waking between 7-8 am to use the toilet.

Is this time I’m meant to remove the stair gate?

She was 4 in December.

Thanks

[Helen]

My little boy is 4 and we still have a stair gate. He has to walk past the top of the stairs half asleep to use the loo first thing and I am worried he may fall down them. Once awake he's fine on stairs so it's not locked just pushed shut x

[Emily]

We took ours off before age 2 as it was more of a danger them messing and swinging on it. They know to hold on going up and to sit on their bums going down. Everyone is different though only you know what's best x

[Susie]

Staire gate for where the stairs or their room I never had one on my daughters room. Only on the kitchen because it could be dangerous.

[Amy]

It depends on the child I’d say. If it’s on their room door maybe move it to the top of the stairs? I think we took ours away around age 4 but my girl isn’t a climber and loves her sleep so I didn’t think there’s be a danger of her going near the stairs x

[Vicki]

Not sure how the two relate? Is the gate on her bedroom door? We left the top staircase on for our daughter until she was a quite old, purely because when she got up to use toilet/find us in the night she had to pass the top of the stairs and, even with the night light out there, she wears glasses and we weren't 100% sure she wouldn't misstep in the dark and fall down them.

[Alexandra]

I've not had a gate for years and mine are 6 and 4. I guess it depends on the layout of the house and the maturity of the child. Mine have free run of the house whether I'm up or down stairs. Neither of them go down in the morning without waking me up first. X

[Danielle]

Personally, in regards to the stair gate, my youngest is 3.5 and we haven’t had a stair gate for around 2yrs. At 4 yrs old she should be fine on the stairs. If you’re concerned maybe a stair gate for the kitchen but personally I don’t think they’re necessary at that age unless there is a specific reason.

[Helen]

My youngest is 4 soon and we took the stair gates down once she was safe so around a year ago.

Depends a bit on your stairs though, ours curve at the bottom so not a sheer drop.

Btw children are generally way safer on the stairs than adults. I’ve worked in A&E for 25 years and see adults with injuries most shifts. Rarely see children apart from very young toddlers!

[Louise]

My youngest is 2.5 and we still have the gate at the top of the stairs but it's purely there incase she wakes up before everyone else and gets up to mischief downstairs. She's fab at walking up and down the stairs herself.

[Rachel]

Depends whether you think it is safe for her. We live in a bungalow but still use stair gates at the top when we stay with grandparents.

One of our twins (7, nearly is a sleepwalker and also visually impaired, so I feel more comfortable having it there.

But if she is familiar with the environment she's unlikely to fall. Would she go down in the night/early morning and cause trouble? I'm guessing probably not, because generally the kids determined to do that find a way through or over the stair gates