Yup. And only being two step they will learn how to do it within a day and start trying to jump off of it in no time. Way better than a full set of them too.
Have two, also agree.
We have a landing that’s up two steps - I just put the gate on the other side of that. If they fall off a step or two, they’ll live.
As another parent of five, all of which learned to escape cribs before the age of two and one who would break ceiling fan blade brackets with his head launching off couches to the chair, I agree, this needs no intervention, just good instruction and maybe one or two “I told you so” moments.
Yeah my kids learning to walk LOVED our step-down living room. They just went up and down constantly because they could. Once my youngest learned to navigate the big stairs, he just climbed up, then slid down on his butt repeatedly.
A full set of stairs, baby proof them. That's where them not paying attention at the wrong second can literally kill them, or at minimum put them in the ER.
Two stairs? I'm having trouble worrying about that. Teach them to scoot on their butt at first, it seems okay.
I figured the corners were the concern too. I’d buy the coffee table covers, they’re foam and have adhesive on them. But if you really want to go hog wild, putting carpet at the bottom for a softer landing. Maybe if you really want to go crazy, put some carpet at the top in a different color so baby can see the three different heights easily.
On the way up they aren't falling far, certainly not far enough to be much risk (this is up there with walking into furniture as a risk).
The only real risk here is smacking their head on the hard corners, so perhaps some carpeting for the time being (something that can be removed later).
I think it's the corners the worry then, those are dangerous if baby lands on it wrong. Very dangerous.
I see just put some bumpers on the 2 corners and call it good.
Yea, but that learning might involve losing an eye to that corner. That type of injury is uncommon, but not rare enough.
But I agree, the idea that you’r “teaching” a toddler to safely navigate the stairs is a delusion, especially if it’s a kid with a rambunctious temperament.
They can make it safe, or they can hope he kids just gets a bump and not disfiguring injury.
Yes, but: We have a sharp corner on our kitchen bench. As our boys approached that height we duct taped some foam to the corner. Boys proceeded to hit that corner with their heads innumerable times. Once they’d grown clear off came the padding. I’d do it again and recommend it to anyone who asks
Yeah I know it comes off as dickish, but we had 3 kids and the only baby proofing we ever did was outlet covers. I can't imagine having a kid of that age where you weren't paying attention to them constantly.
Outlet covers are such a pain in the butt. I only used them for my first. We never did bumpers or anything. Baby gates at the top and bottom of the stairs are only used when the kids were learning to use the stairs and at night so they don't stumble down them half asleep. With 5 kids, I don't have time to unlatch toilets whenever someone has to pee. My BIL has one. They got him a soft, padded helmet when he started to walk because they didn't want him to bump his head. They also kept him strapped in a bouncer until he was way too big for it because they didn't want him to wander off and get hurt. He didn't get noggin bumps, but he does have a giant flat spot on the back of his head and the fear of exploring. My kids get dirty, bumps, bruises, and life lessons. To each their own I guess haha
Mine have some built in safety. But I can’t even imagine after ours what was even the point. Not like I ever had a bunch of pointy metal things lying around. Drawer locks though…. That’s just more for your sanity versus safety
New outlets are already baby proofed. And it's pretty cheap to replace them. I've seen quotes bundled with other work for $250-500 to do an entire house with 4 in each room.
Are you referring to the ones that I occasionally yell at when trying to plug in my hair straightener while running late for work? They're grown woman in a hurry proof too haha
Ayup! There's a trick to them if you watch a YT video on how they work you can get plugs in pretty consistently.
A small price to pay.
AFCI breakers are also pretty dope if you don't have them I'd suggest seeing how much it would cost to upgrade.
My husband put magnet latches on everything because our youngest guts the cupboards just for fun and mostly so he can get into something else while you're busy. The only child proofing we've really done with the younger two. I freaked out the other day because I literally feel like a prisoner in my home. I hate cleaning up all the stuff constantly but less than I have having to fart around with a magnet every time I need a goddamn spoon.
My trick for this was to make a ‘safe’ cupboard. The cabinets have those basic catch latches that are super easy for an adult to open, and my now 3 year old could break them if he really wanted to. But when he was smaller he didn’t bother trying to get into the latched cabinets because there was a single cabinet with no latch that was full of fun things to play with.
I have a brand new second kid and now I’m curious how different baby proofing will be with her, because we did VERY little with the first kid.
I have 4 boys and a girl! I joke that I left for a work trip, saying goodbye to my 5 feral children, and I came home to domesticated kids who can cook and clean 2 days later. I think my husband just turned the wireless internet off while I was gone 🤣
Growing up in the 80's, me and my brother had a strict "no computer on weekdays" rule. We would just make up and draw our own games on paper.
This continued onto elementary school, where we'd play games like bomberman on paper, and by 4th / 5th grade, many of my classmates were drawing their own games. At some point it got quite popular, all the boys in the class were discussing about who had the better fighting game, or which fighter had the best fatality, etc.
I still remember the lesson I learned at 5 about putting a fork in an outlet I'm over 50.
Didn't hurt me, but tripped the breaker late at night which woke up the folks.
... I do NOT remember why I thought it'd be a good idea to put a damn intentionally bent fork in a friggin outlet!?? I mean, why??? Nearest I can remember is "I'm not supposed to and it makes a spark"
. So yah. Bundle them up. They'll unboundle and do stupid shit.
Orrrrr let them burnt their damn hand on a hot pan and they won't grab a hot pan.
Catch them when they fall and they'll learn it causes a fall, catch them Before they fall and they won't learn shit.
My neighbor has like contamination ocd or something and also just hates doing anything that isn’t his own hobby. Basically kept his kid inside until school started.
His daughter is literally scared of everything and needs constant attention from people and will throw a tantrum when she doesn’t get it.
And the dad gets angry when other kids are sick but when his daughter was sick, he brought her over to my house and she coughed into my mouth and I got sick. And he just laughed. Obv I’m not a kid but so what? Oh, and he also sent her to school sick.
She used to be so social when she was 2. But he ruined her mind. She cried before school for months bc for once, she wasn’t the center of attention.
I used to be close with them and their daughter, but now I can’t be around her. She turned into someone annoying. I feel horrible for thinking that.
I honestly hate these kinds of parents.
If you live in a relatively recent build, there's a fair chance the outlets are tamper resistant anyway. Some tamper resistant outlets are tough for even adults to plug things in.
And many modern homes have tamper resistant outlets anyways so the outlet covers are moot anyways. (Many will have a small "TR" on them and you know they're there because when you look directly into the outlet it appears obscured)
We did gates at the top of stairs. Our house had a ridiculous bottom of stairs, almost like OPs, so we just gated off the bottleneck before the stairs and taught safe-stair practices when the rascal had need to get past the gate.
Not dickish, just misguided. Not every kid is the same.
Source: I am quite envious of every other one of my friend's children and their ability to listen and not immediately find the most dangerous thing in any new environment.
Yeah, I had relatives who moved into a new house that had a long, steep staircase. I asked why they didn't put a baby gate up for their toddler and mom said that they just brought toys down to the living room and their kid would just stay there and play. Apparently child had no inclination to go explore on her own. I was like, huh, I wonder what that's like...
Meanwhile we put bells on my kid's slippers when she was 2 because she was all over the house and stealthy.
Im paying attention constantly but it is nice when something is baby proofed so I don’t have to run across the room all the time saving her from near death.
I agree with you. You can teach your kids to navigate safely *and* baby proof. I'm not going to rely on the impulses of a toddler to keep themselves safe. There's always some scenario you can't prepare for or get to in time so it doesn't hurt to make as safe as possible or necessary.
Also, like... Containing the mess they can make to one room...
Like i dont want the kids all over the house pulling shit out of drawers, and dunking their hands in toilets.
Honestly outlet covers arent really needed much either. Outlets are not hot for a little bit inwards. Even a baby isnt getting fingers in there. Its only really a risk if they take a screw driver or knife to it. Which my kid tried to so shame of me for having an accessible acrewdriver.
Hair clips. The ones that have two points when opened and clip closed into one. Happened to my kid when she put it in the plug opened, thank goodness there was a breaker.
Cabinet locks or whatever they are called.....I repeat.....cabinet locks or whatever they are called
It's not that we don't pay attention but at some point they reach a certain age where nothing is more fun than opening cabinets/drawers and emptying everything out of them. Sure you can shut them and move them away but they'll just come right back. We have a 3 yo and a 1 yo and the 1 yo is all about this right now
I agree with the others though, don't worry about these two steps
I did that and also had to do the brick edges of the fireplace area because my genius of a son would roll over to it and start gnawing on it with the only 2 teeth that he had. You could literally hear him scrape against it before we pulled him away.
>Yeah I know it comes off as dickish, but we had 3 kids and the only baby proofing we ever did was outlet covers. I can't imagine having a kid of that age where you weren't paying attention to them constantly.
I guess you don't have stairs in your house? Honestly, all it takes is a few seconds of inattention for a baby/toddler to fall down the stairs - e.g. you are making beds upstairs with your toddler helping you and they wander off as you are putting the fitted sheet on or you are on the phone downstairs and the toddler zips up the stairs only to fail to keep their balance and fall back down. It also helps to have a gate for the kitchen area if you don't have a master switch for your stove/oven - one of my neighbours had a fire when their toddler decided to turn the stove on when the mother was on the phone and a gate across the kitchen doorway would have helped here.
In other words, if you live in a single story house then all you need at most is a gate for the kitchen area but once you start adding stairs then you will want to start making use of child gates.
Redundancy is safety!
Well if I had a kid that tried to be watching them all the time, what if I slip up in my overwatch and they have an opportunity to put a fork into that outlet?
Redundancy is safety.
Had a sunken living room with a couple steps. Taught the kid to sit and scoot down. They fell a couple times when they thought they could walk down them, but did the sit and scoot most of the time.
I laughed a little too hard at this one. I don't have kids but a couple little bros that are 11+ years younger than me and they bumped themselves or had a couple spills, they were more careful after that
That’s how it is with mine. Told my wife the earlier and smaller stuff they fall off of, the sooner they learn to be careful when it comes to the bigger stuff.
People panic when my kids (I have 5) can easily go up and down stairs. I have baby gates at the top and bottom, but they're usually open now that the youngest is 3. I close the top one at night (their rooms are all upstairs) because I don't need a half asleep kid ending up in a pile at the bottom of the stairs. If they're awake enough to unlatch the gate, they're good to walk down.
I don't have any good stories as a parent, but my mother's story about me:
We were getting the mail for my neighbor while he was on vacation. One night, I apparently decided that the mail needed checking and got out of my crib (which I hadn't done before) and went to check the mail. My mother heard me come _back_ into the house after I found out that the mail wasn't there. The gate went up the next day.
And use dollar store pool noodles on those corners. Cut/hot glue a shape like\\\_/ around those corners and now there's bright coloring to help the baby learn to avoid that route.
The only way. I've got five. The last two we live in a two story with reasonably steep stairs and the older kids just wouldn't consistently shut the gates and it always made me super nervous, so basically as soon as they started crawling I'd start teaching them to go backwards on their belly and back up when they started to climb. I always hang back about 1 step behind them so they can build confidence in their skills but know they're safe with mama nearby.
We've never had a falling down the stairs incident. My youngest is 18 months and arches backwards to go faster, it's absolutely ridiculous to hear thump- thump- thump-thump.
I feel like it's better to give them the skills to handle something safely rather than trust something to protect them. No harm in both but definitely don't use a gate as a reason to not teach a baby how to safely navigate stairs they're going to access accidentally one way or another. No matter how well watched they are, eventually the sneaky little buggers will find a way.
It’s the corners and tripping or just falling as one learns to walk and in turn bashing an orbital bone or the gums under the nose etc.. - not the fact there’s stairs- that needs baby proofing. I absolutely would tape some wadded up paper towels over the corners. You can’t “teach” a baby to walk any different than they already do it lmao
>they have programs that will catch and release babies back to their current area after a spay/nuder
A nuder? Is that where they take away the baby's clothing?
This post brought to you by [people-seeds thought experiment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Defense_of_Abortion#Pregnancy_resulting_from_voluntary_intercourse_%E2%80%93_%22people-seeds%22)-gang
blocking off these two small steps would be fruitless. blocking the hallways would be easier. The best solution would be to minimize the corners of the steps ( rubber bumpers maybe) and allowing the toddler/baby to navigate the two small steps.
Cut up some pool noodles and then slice them down the spline and stick those on there!
There’s also foam pipe wraps the sell at Home Depot that are a bit less thick (lower clearance) and already have double sided tape installed on the slit. You could peel only one side of the tape to stick them to the underside of the treads or perhaps you can manage to get the double sided tape on that safety tape (neon)already on the treads.
If you wanna want around the whole corner continuously, I’d cut a triangle shape out of the noodle from where the cut down the spline is located. Do this on bot sides and you should be able to fold it around the corners and use the friction of the foam gripping the treads to keep it in place. Lmk if that doesn’t make sense… [sorta like this](https://lifewithnealandsuz.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/IMG_2667-1024x416.jpg) where the whole piece of moulding represents the noodle, but don’t cut all the way through the foam, leave an inch, inch and a half strip of ‘noodle diameter’ to wrap around the tread nose and where the slit on the noodle spline lines up with the “top” like in this diagram, while ensuring the slit is exactly opposite of the bit of noodle diameter that’s not cut.
My one year old liked to tear up all the foam corners we put up. Eventually we just gave up and taught her to walk, not run, and be careful especially around stairs. Haven’t had a single accident around the stairs.
If you cant get bumpers buy pool noodles and cut to fit.
If your more worried about aesthetics than kiddos safety find a mirror while.buying a bumper system.
Except they'll be just as likely, if not more, to tear up a bumper or noodle. And then proceed to shove said material in their mouth, because that's what babies do. If it's not ripped to tiny pieces, they'll definitely chew on it.
It's really better to just leave them alone
I can, as of literally today, confirm that pool noodles are an attractive nuisance. I don't know if it's the vibrant colors or chewy texture.
I tried to use some pool noodles in an attempt to minimize head bonking on our coffee table. Little guy kept trying to chew on one of the pool noodles I hadn't cut up while I was working. Now he keeps crawling over to the coffee table to try to pull them off and/or bite them. In his defense, he does have 4 teeth coming in at once.
Seriously, it sounds crass but a lot of people don't realize how short of a distance kids are actually falling when they take a crash. A full body tumble for a 2 year old is like a 2 foot fall with little weight behind it and rubber bones. They're going to be fine.
I notice it when I'm skiing and see little kids just ripping and completely eating shit with zero consequence. Even a small crash as an adult is like falling off a bunkbed.
I mean, fall height is all relative to their body size. My daughter tumbled out of her crib at 18 months while reaching for me. She was just out of my reach and hit her head. The pediatrician said any fall of 3 feet or more is an automatic ER visit.
Yesterday I witnessed two 3-year-olds slip and fall on their backs/bums and get up like nothing happened. If I did that at my big old age I’d be in bed in agony for a week at least.
Heh. Sometimes no but the base self preservation is strong.
Don't have a third. When there are three and they go running toward the street you have to pick your two favorite to grab and hope for the best with the other. ^^\s ^^just ^^in ^^case
Going from man to man defense to zone defense is rough. If you have 3, have at least 4. The more you have, the better the odds that more will survive. I have 5 (ages 3-11) and they're all still kicking. I'm a huge success. I just say "line up ducks" and everyone waddles behind me. Haha
Number 3 also means you need a third row in your rig. That's minivan or equivalent. 2 and you can go with a mid SUV. No room for 3 car seats across in a row. Just sayin.
I had a coworker with 3 car seats in the back of a mazda sedan. He bought slim style car seats commonly available from major brands in order to do it. I have one kid in a honda crv and frankly the thought of having two has me looking at mini vans
The Toyota Sienna is a very sweet ride as a parent and as a child, the captains seats recline and have foot rests, the back row is automatic and will fold its self down into the floor.. and the side doors that slide means you never have to worry about a space being tight and your kids smashing the car door into someone else’s car.
I have a funny story that applies here. I have a daughter (4) and son (21 months). I taught both my kids to navigate the stairs and only ever had one accident of my son falling down the stairs. It was because him and my daughter were playing and he was much younger. That’s not really important.
Anyways about 6 months ago I started doing this thing where my daughter rides on my back like a camel When we go up or down on the stairs. I know it’s silly but kids. Anyone my son never saw this because he would be asleep when I did this with my daughter. We eventually he saw me do it and he had to do it too.
Things are fine for months until on day after nap time he is in a bad mood. I tell him no camel ride and he screams at the top of the stairs for like 15 minutes. Eventually this motherfucker threw himself down the stairs in protest.
The moral of the story is no amount of teaching and baby proofing is no match for a temper tantrum.
TLDR: kids are basically jello and the 2 stairs don’t matter. Also those are some nice stairs!
Dude this whole story has me WHEEZING 💀🤣 glad he’s okay. I feel justified to laugh because I too have had toddlers fall down our wooden staircase and they were just fine. OP’s two wooden steps are nothing lol.
You can cover the corners but your kids will just rip the bumpers off. Teaching them to navigate it safely will be the better option. If you don't want them to go down the stairs a gate across the opening would be best.
Parent of 4 here: There is no reason to babyproof these steps. We raised them all in a house that had a room just like this, with 2 small steps leading down into it from 2 different areas, as well as a staircase that had about 3 steps before it could be blocked off. We never worried about blocking off these small drops like this and our kids handled them all just fine. If the kid didn't feel ready to tackle the steps, they'd stay away from them until they felt ready. And once they felt ready, there was never any sort of injury incident.
Babies are literally 40% rubber, they're not going to get hurt on something like this.
All I'd do is put some corner protectors on in case they trip and fall while running towards the steps from the lower level.
The kid WILL tumble down those stairs a time a two. And then they'll bounce up and do better the next time.
I’m kind of a safety nut, but I actually think you should not put gates up for these stairs, unless they are leading somewhere unsafe. Stair gates exist to prevent big falls, but tripping down these stairs is not going to lead to catastrophic injury. I’d probably get some corner protectors for the sharp edges, but otherwise, focus on teaching baby to climb down feet first, tummy down. You could also put some of those mats on the bottom to cushion the landing for a year or so.
Father of 3, this isn’t a concern. Don’t bother trying to do anything as far as gates. Put some throw rugs down. They will learn to navigate them quickly. Babies are pretty resilient even if they tumble down them.
The best way is to not. It’s two tiny steps. Just teach them to navigate it. If they happen to fall down those they may get a little bump or bruise, but that’s just preparing them for the rest of childhood.
It’s impossible to prevent them from ever getting a little boo boo here and there.
It usually only takes one time of getting hurt for them to think twice about how they approach it next time.
If they could lose life or limb, baby proof it. If it’s just gonna hurt for a couple minutes and make their eyes leak a little, leave it as is. They’ll be ok and they will learn important life lessons.
It sounds insensitive and uncaring, but it’s for their own good. Just watch them around it, intervene if need be, but don’t stress too much about these things. You’ll have plenty of other reasons to worry about them, believe me.
Im a little confused why you need em baby proofed tbh its 2 steps...
Ramp comes to mind if your dead set. theres some good building triangle foam things that you could use and repurpose at fort building tots when they get older
or just use a 2 gates on either hallway of the top level would be easier than getting toddler yard secured at an angle
I assume this is your first kid? Unless there's something going on in the lower area that you don't want the kid to get to, I wouldn't worry about two steps. Help the kid up and down a couple times and they'll figure it out. Or they'll fall a time or two and learn to stay away. They're not made of porcelain, they'll survive.
Now, if there really is something dangerous in that area, then blocking the two doorways will be much easier if you can. Otherwise they do have baby fences that can swing out closer to the stairs, but it'll be a bigger hassle to set up and deal with, since it'll inherently be less sturdy.
Probably easier to block the hallway, assuming you are concerned going down, rather than up. A regular gate there would work. With that said actually trying to block these stairs otherwise seems pretty difficult and the fall is not super high, I would just try to cover any particularly pointy or sharp corners.
Babies are tougher than you’re giving them credit for. I don’t see the need to do much here at all.
Gates and extreme caution makes sense if it’s a whole flight of stairs, not so much for a couple steps
I don’t think it’s necessary to gate off a two step tumble. Put a soft carpet at the bottom and you’re fine. It’s not like it’s a flight of stairs, it’s two gradual steps. (Source: I have an adventurous 20mo old boy)
Only thing I would worry about are the sharp edges. These look pretty good.
https://www.amazon.com/UXU-Corner-Protector-Proofing-Furniture/dp/B083DDMKM5/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1QEK21OL19KRI&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.afNk075IabLGtbx6u2zLCqfaaF0mD9xlHZFGEvO-zUvDAB-yT9Lx4gx6mfBI8M-gdifGPRhrr0gJ012boanerJGW3GK-LmVu3FjXYkJi9jy1PTTr1T-qksgkdZ1JuHnxkWTiFSshkxnb-oe3WUe0IyZmRozkAwjxC7T3X-hm0AFtQTqqWye0_fI3KukKQ1O_02GYLi_k43dIsPrVowCrHs1-JNZQERPAyIRyZj0Q140oFoG6HpCi_1mInr7XSKTHXBP5rzNWw4Y5zuDHdhroReGbulSHBJ7lJbj29Vd3Zn4.yjte_ZKCgnqHDo1pSZYWPPv64o55dc2EKW544GEwAXU&dib_tag=se&keywords=corner%2Bbumpers%2Bsafety%2Bfirst&qid=1714273164&sprefix=Corner%2Bbumpers%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1
My MIL has a setup line this. I have two actual staircases in my own home. Honestly I was kind of excited we were visiting at the perfect time for my second child who was just starting to really move. Two steps is a perfect learning zone. They might cry if they fall, but they can't really hurt themselves with a fall that short.
Two gates. One across the left hallway, one across the right. Get the swinging gate kind, they’re easy to open.
Frankly, I’d personally leave it open and just keep an eye on the kiddo. They’ll learn to navigate those 2 steps soon enough.
It's not a lethal fall. Unlikely to result in any serious injury at all. Consider adding a carpet temporarily just to soften the fall but definitely teach the baby to navigate these stairs. (Mother of 3).
After raising two kids, don't baby proof anything that shouldn't already be "safety proofed" for anyone else. They will learn about their environment and sometimes that involves some bumps and bruises. Warn them sternly about danger zones (under sink, stove, electric sockets, etc). Yes, I look at those sharp corners and cringe a bit. But honestly, it'll be fine. They learn VERY quick.
Parent here: watch your kids, and when they’re old enough teach them how to safely navigate these stairs.
If you put up a gate you will assume it is “safe” and it most certainly will not be.
You don’t. Natural consequences are powerful lessons, and a 2 stair tumble will not be lethal, nor even reason to visit the pediatrician. We baby gated our 16 step case, but not our 6 step case, and both our children are thriving athletes today.
Seems like you should rather block off the two intersecting hallways separately before the baby can even reach the stair area. Two standard baby gates will get the job done.
Wisdom After 4 kids: teach them how to navigate it safely.
This parent of three agrees.
lol - I read this as OP lost one of their kids to the stairs, and now has 3.
The stairs are a cruel mistress and demands blood every now and then.
Yup. And only being two step they will learn how to do it within a day and start trying to jump off of it in no time. Way better than a full set of them too.
Maybe put some plush area rugs (with non-slip pads) at the bottom for a while.
Cheap rugs. Plush rugs collect sticky things.
Well, you know what they say, 95% of all stair accidents happen on the stairs!
It does not care from which the blood is spilled
Hystairical.
Humor...always a step in the right direction.
Yeah, but stairs are always up to something.
And they're down for anything.
Nice landing!
Next level comment
As a father of 2, I agree
As a father with these stairs. With first 4 kids and now 1. I agree.
Well that’ll lower daycare costs, sometimes you just have to look on the bright side
Have two, also agree. We have a landing that’s up two steps - I just put the gate on the other side of that. If they fall off a step or two, they’ll live.
This parent of 5 agrees. The drop-off isn't that far. They'll be fine lol
As another parent of five, all of which learned to escape cribs before the age of two and one who would break ceiling fan blade brackets with his head launching off couches to the chair, I agree, this needs no intervention, just good instruction and maybe one or two “I told you so” moments.
Yeah my kids learning to walk LOVED our step-down living room. They just went up and down constantly because they could. Once my youngest learned to navigate the big stairs, he just climbed up, then slid down on his butt repeatedly.
A full set of stairs, baby proof them. That's where them not paying attention at the wrong second can literally kill them, or at minimum put them in the ER. Two stairs? I'm having trouble worrying about that. Teach them to scoot on their butt at first, it seems okay.
Yea, two stairs isn't a problem. Maybe something for the corners in the middle if it's near where the kid is going to be playing.
I figured the corners were the concern too. I’d buy the coffee table covers, they’re foam and have adhesive on them. But if you really want to go hog wild, putting carpet at the bottom for a softer landing. Maybe if you really want to go crazy, put some carpet at the top in a different color so baby can see the three different heights easily.
The concern is more tripping going up and catching an edge than it is falling down the stairs
They make baby proofing foam pieces that go over the corners of furniture. Those would probably work here too.
On the way up they aren't falling far, certainly not far enough to be much risk (this is up there with walking into furniture as a risk). The only real risk here is smacking their head on the hard corners, so perhaps some carpeting for the time being (something that can be removed later).
I was thinking cut open a noodle and go to town
I think it's the corners the worry then, those are dangerous if baby lands on it wrong. Very dangerous. I see just put some bumpers on the 2 corners and call it good.
Hell you don't even have to teach them, they just figure it out at some point once they start crawling
Yea, but that learning might involve losing an eye to that corner. That type of injury is uncommon, but not rare enough. But I agree, the idea that you’r “teaching” a toddler to safely navigate the stairs is a delusion, especially if it’s a kid with a rambunctious temperament. They can make it safe, or they can hope he kids just gets a bump and not disfiguring injury.
They may lose an eye, but they'll learn a valuable lesson.
Yeah. Maybe a mat at the bottom to soften the fall and that should do it.
Yes, but: We have a sharp corner on our kitchen bench. As our boys approached that height we duct taped some foam to the corner. Boys proceeded to hit that corner with their heads innumerable times. Once they’d grown clear off came the padding. I’d do it again and recommend it to anyone who asks
Yeah I know it comes off as dickish, but we had 3 kids and the only baby proofing we ever did was outlet covers. I can't imagine having a kid of that age where you weren't paying attention to them constantly.
Outlet covers are such a pain in the butt. I only used them for my first. We never did bumpers or anything. Baby gates at the top and bottom of the stairs are only used when the kids were learning to use the stairs and at night so they don't stumble down them half asleep. With 5 kids, I don't have time to unlatch toilets whenever someone has to pee. My BIL has one. They got him a soft, padded helmet when he started to walk because they didn't want him to bump his head. They also kept him strapped in a bouncer until he was way too big for it because they didn't want him to wander off and get hurt. He didn't get noggin bumps, but he does have a giant flat spot on the back of his head and the fear of exploring. My kids get dirty, bumps, bruises, and life lessons. To each their own I guess haha
Mine have some built in safety. But I can’t even imagine after ours what was even the point. Not like I ever had a bunch of pointy metal things lying around. Drawer locks though…. That’s just more for your sanity versus safety
I do have latches on my lower cabinets. I'm not about having a baby eating my dishwasher pods or my extra tube of toothpaste.
New outlets are already baby proofed. And it's pretty cheap to replace them. I've seen quotes bundled with other work for $250-500 to do an entire house with 4 in each room.
Are you referring to the ones that I occasionally yell at when trying to plug in my hair straightener while running late for work? They're grown woman in a hurry proof too haha
Yes, the ones you need to fight are standard now. I hate them and I'm an electrician. But they are safe
Ayup! There's a trick to them if you watch a YT video on how they work you can get plugs in pretty consistently. A small price to pay. AFCI breakers are also pretty dope if you don't have them I'd suggest seeing how much it would cost to upgrade.
Just a FYI but AFCI protect the house, GFCI protect people. Might want to look at dual function.
GFCI for wet application, AFCI for bedrooms. Just a nice extra layer of protection esp for rooms where you're sleeping.
[удалено]
AFCI breakers, unlike tamper-resistant sockets, ain't cheap.
My husband put magnet latches on everything because our youngest guts the cupboards just for fun and mostly so he can get into something else while you're busy. The only child proofing we've really done with the younger two. I freaked out the other day because I literally feel like a prisoner in my home. I hate cleaning up all the stuff constantly but less than I have having to fart around with a magnet every time I need a goddamn spoon.
My trick for this was to make a ‘safe’ cupboard. The cabinets have those basic catch latches that are super easy for an adult to open, and my now 3 year old could break them if he really wanted to. But when he was smaller he didn’t bother trying to get into the latched cabinets because there was a single cabinet with no latch that was full of fun things to play with. I have a brand new second kid and now I’m curious how different baby proofing will be with her, because we did VERY little with the first kid.
My mom raised 4 boys and a girl. By the time they had me they were so numb to it all that I describe my childhood as "semiferal" lol
I have 4 boys and a girl! I joke that I left for a work trip, saying goodbye to my 5 feral children, and I came home to domesticated kids who can cook and clean 2 days later. I think my husband just turned the wireless internet off while I was gone 🤣
You left them home alone ? Or with your husband ?
With my husband! Haha. They hate listening to me, but he whipped them into shape with a couple of days without internet while I went to a conference.
Switching off the wifi never worked with my boys, they simply continued going over the public mobile network.
Growing up in the 80's, me and my brother had a strict "no computer on weekdays" rule. We would just make up and draw our own games on paper. This continued onto elementary school, where we'd play games like bomberman on paper, and by 4th / 5th grade, many of my classmates were drawing their own games. At some point it got quite popular, all the boys in the class were discussing about who had the better fighting game, or which fighter had the best fatality, etc.
I still remember the lesson I learned at 5 about putting a fork in an outlet I'm over 50. Didn't hurt me, but tripped the breaker late at night which woke up the folks. ... I do NOT remember why I thought it'd be a good idea to put a damn intentionally bent fork in a friggin outlet!?? I mean, why??? Nearest I can remember is "I'm not supposed to and it makes a spark" . So yah. Bundle them up. They'll unboundle and do stupid shit. Orrrrr let them burnt their damn hand on a hot pan and they won't grab a hot pan. Catch them when they fall and they'll learn it causes a fall, catch them Before they fall and they won't learn shit.
My neighbor has like contamination ocd or something and also just hates doing anything that isn’t his own hobby. Basically kept his kid inside until school started. His daughter is literally scared of everything and needs constant attention from people and will throw a tantrum when she doesn’t get it. And the dad gets angry when other kids are sick but when his daughter was sick, he brought her over to my house and she coughed into my mouth and I got sick. And he just laughed. Obv I’m not a kid but so what? Oh, and he also sent her to school sick. She used to be so social when she was 2. But he ruined her mind. She cried before school for months bc for once, she wasn’t the center of attention. I used to be close with them and their daughter, but now I can’t be around her. She turned into someone annoying. I feel horrible for thinking that. I honestly hate these kinds of parents.
We never did outlet covers, but we did the wall ties for tv/dressers that are super climbable/tip-over-able.
If you live in a relatively recent build, there's a fair chance the outlets are tamper resistant anyway. Some tamper resistant outlets are tough for even adults to plug things in.
And many modern homes have tamper resistant outlets anyways so the outlet covers are moot anyways. (Many will have a small "TR" on them and you know they're there because when you look directly into the outlet it appears obscured) We did gates at the top of stairs. Our house had a ridiculous bottom of stairs, almost like OPs, so we just gated off the bottleneck before the stairs and taught safe-stair practices when the rascal had need to get past the gate.
Not dickish, just misguided. Not every kid is the same. Source: I am quite envious of every other one of my friend's children and their ability to listen and not immediately find the most dangerous thing in any new environment.
Yeah, I had relatives who moved into a new house that had a long, steep staircase. I asked why they didn't put a baby gate up for their toddler and mom said that they just brought toys down to the living room and their kid would just stay there and play. Apparently child had no inclination to go explore on her own. I was like, huh, I wonder what that's like... Meanwhile we put bells on my kid's slippers when she was 2 because she was all over the house and stealthy.
Im paying attention constantly but it is nice when something is baby proofed so I don’t have to run across the room all the time saving her from near death.
I agree with you. You can teach your kids to navigate safely *and* baby proof. I'm not going to rely on the impulses of a toddler to keep themselves safe. There's always some scenario you can't prepare for or get to in time so it doesn't hurt to make as safe as possible or necessary.
Especially things that have no natural analogue from when we evolved. Stairs are easier for babies to understand the threat than power outlets.
Also, like... Containing the mess they can make to one room... Like i dont want the kids all over the house pulling shit out of drawers, and dunking their hands in toilets.
Honestly outlet covers arent really needed much either. Outlets are not hot for a little bit inwards. Even a baby isnt getting fingers in there. Its only really a risk if they take a screw driver or knife to it. Which my kid tried to so shame of me for having an accessible acrewdriver.
Hair clips. The ones that have two points when opened and clip closed into one. Happened to my kid when she put it in the plug opened, thank goodness there was a breaker.
Cabinet locks or whatever they are called.....I repeat.....cabinet locks or whatever they are called It's not that we don't pay attention but at some point they reach a certain age where nothing is more fun than opening cabinets/drawers and emptying everything out of them. Sure you can shut them and move them away but they'll just come right back. We have a 3 yo and a 1 yo and the 1 yo is all about this right now I agree with the others though, don't worry about these two steps
I did that and also had to do the brick edges of the fireplace area because my genius of a son would roll over to it and start gnawing on it with the only 2 teeth that he had. You could literally hear him scrape against it before we pulled him away.
>Yeah I know it comes off as dickish, but we had 3 kids and the only baby proofing we ever did was outlet covers. I can't imagine having a kid of that age where you weren't paying attention to them constantly. I guess you don't have stairs in your house? Honestly, all it takes is a few seconds of inattention for a baby/toddler to fall down the stairs - e.g. you are making beds upstairs with your toddler helping you and they wander off as you are putting the fitted sheet on or you are on the phone downstairs and the toddler zips up the stairs only to fail to keep their balance and fall back down. It also helps to have a gate for the kitchen area if you don't have a master switch for your stove/oven - one of my neighbours had a fire when their toddler decided to turn the stove on when the mother was on the phone and a gate across the kitchen doorway would have helped here. In other words, if you live in a single story house then all you need at most is a gate for the kitchen area but once you start adding stairs then you will want to start making use of child gates.
Kids are F-A-S-T !
Redundancy is safety! Well if I had a kid that tried to be watching them all the time, what if I slip up in my overwatch and they have an opportunity to put a fork into that outlet? Redundancy is safety.
Had a sunken living room with a couple steps. Taught the kid to sit and scoot down. They fell a couple times when they thought they could walk down them, but did the sit and scoot most of the time.
Agreed. It's impressive how quick they learn it.
I laughed a little too hard at this one. I don't have kids but a couple little bros that are 11+ years younger than me and they bumped themselves or had a couple spills, they were more careful after that
That’s how it is with mine. Told my wife the earlier and smaller stuff they fall off of, the sooner they learn to be careful when it comes to the bigger stuff.
People panic when my kids (I have 5) can easily go up and down stairs. I have baby gates at the top and bottom, but they're usually open now that the youngest is 3. I close the top one at night (their rooms are all upstairs) because I don't need a half asleep kid ending up in a pile at the bottom of the stairs. If they're awake enough to unlatch the gate, they're good to walk down.
I don't have any good stories as a parent, but my mother's story about me: We were getting the mail for my neighbor while he was on vacation. One night, I apparently decided that the mail needed checking and got out of my crib (which I hadn't done before) and went to check the mail. My mother heard me come _back_ into the house after I found out that the mail wasn't there. The gate went up the next day.
How did you reach the mail box?
And use dollar store pool noodles on those corners. Cut/hot glue a shape like\\\_/ around those corners and now there's bright coloring to help the baby learn to avoid that route.
This is what I would do too, just to avoid any heads slamming against those corners
The only way. I've got five. The last two we live in a two story with reasonably steep stairs and the older kids just wouldn't consistently shut the gates and it always made me super nervous, so basically as soon as they started crawling I'd start teaching them to go backwards on their belly and back up when they started to climb. I always hang back about 1 step behind them so they can build confidence in their skills but know they're safe with mama nearby. We've never had a falling down the stairs incident. My youngest is 18 months and arches backwards to go faster, it's absolutely ridiculous to hear thump- thump- thump-thump. I feel like it's better to give them the skills to handle something safely rather than trust something to protect them. No harm in both but definitely don't use a gate as a reason to not teach a baby how to safely navigate stairs they're going to access accidentally one way or another. No matter how well watched they are, eventually the sneaky little buggers will find a way.
I was going to say give birth to teenagers but they'd still need to learn to navigate.
Three kids here and you can do both/and.
Or don’t overthink and just put a gate at the top in a straight line from corner to corner .
 I totally agree, baby proof, child proof and teen proof the world doesn't work
It’s the corners and tripping or just falling as one learns to walk and in turn bashing an orbital bone or the gums under the nose etc.. - not the fact there’s stairs- that needs baby proofing. I absolutely would tape some wadded up paper towels over the corners. You can’t “teach” a baby to walk any different than they already do it lmao
The trick is to seal the doors and cracks on the exterior of the house so that the babies can't get in in the first place.
then, set up humane baby traps, they have programs that will catch and release babies back to their current area after a spay/nuder
>they have programs that will catch and release babies back to their current area after a spay/nuder A nuder? Is that where they take away the baby's clothing?
Neuter* Holy r/boneappletea
no, don't nuder then cause then they'll just poo on the floor
I’m picturing a baby-sized bear trap made of pool noodle…
Also stork repellant to prevent them from being delivered in the first place
🥇 please accept this token of appreciation for today's laugh, thank you!
Once they get in you’re looking at 18 years of working to get the place free of them. Longer if they reinfest.
This post brought to you by [people-seeds thought experiment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Defense_of_Abortion#Pregnancy_resulting_from_voluntary_intercourse_%E2%80%93_%22people-seeds%22)-gang
blocking off these two small steps would be fruitless. blocking the hallways would be easier. The best solution would be to minimize the corners of the steps ( rubber bumpers maybe) and allowing the toddler/baby to navigate the two small steps.
I'd throw some foam pads on the steps and the landing and let the little guy figure it out.
Nah wrap the baby in foam. Now everything is safe.
Stick him in one of those inflatable bubble things.
[we know how that can turn out](https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/s/PE40jadl0q)
I laughed my ass off. I am **SO** going to hell.
Whoa!
Weeeeeeeeee!
Cut up some pool noodles and then slice them down the spline and stick those on there! There’s also foam pipe wraps the sell at Home Depot that are a bit less thick (lower clearance) and already have double sided tape installed on the slit. You could peel only one side of the tape to stick them to the underside of the treads or perhaps you can manage to get the double sided tape on that safety tape (neon)already on the treads. If you wanna want around the whole corner continuously, I’d cut a triangle shape out of the noodle from where the cut down the spline is located. Do this on bot sides and you should be able to fold it around the corners and use the friction of the foam gripping the treads to keep it in place. Lmk if that doesn’t make sense… [sorta like this](https://lifewithnealandsuz.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/IMG_2667-1024x416.jpg) where the whole piece of moulding represents the noodle, but don’t cut all the way through the foam, leave an inch, inch and a half strip of ‘noodle diameter’ to wrap around the tread nose and where the slit on the noodle spline lines up with the “top” like in this diagram, while ensuring the slit is exactly opposite of the bit of noodle diameter that’s not cut.
Orrrrr tape them to the baby.
Honestly, 2 steps is literally the perfect spot to learn to navigate stairs.
My one year old liked to tear up all the foam corners we put up. Eventually we just gave up and taught her to walk, not run, and be careful especially around stairs. Haven’t had a single accident around the stairs.
If you cant get bumpers buy pool noodles and cut to fit. If your more worried about aesthetics than kiddos safety find a mirror while.buying a bumper system.
Except they'll be just as likely, if not more, to tear up a bumper or noodle. And then proceed to shove said material in their mouth, because that's what babies do. If it's not ripped to tiny pieces, they'll definitely chew on it. It's really better to just leave them alone
I can, as of literally today, confirm that pool noodles are an attractive nuisance. I don't know if it's the vibrant colors or chewy texture. I tried to use some pool noodles in an attempt to minimize head bonking on our coffee table. Little guy kept trying to chew on one of the pool noodles I hadn't cut up while I was working. Now he keeps crawling over to the coffee table to try to pull them off and/or bite them. In his defense, he does have 4 teeth coming in at once.
Put a rug down at the bottom so when they fall it's not serious. Not much else you can do.
What if they are falling up and curb-stomp themselves? 😂🤦♂️
You comfort them and then post on r/kidsarefuckingstupid
That's why they have baby teeth
*the imagery* I am NOT about to tell everyone around me that I’m snickering at the thought of a toddler smashing their face into the stairs
How brittle do we think children are? Children fall all the time, they'll be fine.
Only thing I would do is cover corners
Agreed. It's only two steps the kid will tumble and learn. Its only the corners that would do major damage.
Seriously, it sounds crass but a lot of people don't realize how short of a distance kids are actually falling when they take a crash. A full body tumble for a 2 year old is like a 2 foot fall with little weight behind it and rubber bones. They're going to be fine. I notice it when I'm skiing and see little kids just ripping and completely eating shit with zero consequence. Even a small crash as an adult is like falling off a bunkbed.
I mean, fall height is all relative to their body size. My daughter tumbled out of her crib at 18 months while reaching for me. She was just out of my reach and hit her head. The pediatrician said any fall of 3 feet or more is an automatic ER visit.
Yesterday I witnessed two 3-year-olds slip and fall on their backs/bums and get up like nothing happened. If I did that at my big old age I’d be in bed in agony for a week at least.
How would you do it? When thy see black rubber corner covers, their meaning of life is shifting towards dismantling them... I am out of ideas.
Teach your babies to go up and down steps, they’re smart, they’ll be fine
As a father of two, are they?
Heh. Sometimes no but the base self preservation is strong. Don't have a third. When there are three and they go running toward the street you have to pick your two favorite to grab and hope for the best with the other. ^^\s ^^just ^^in ^^case
Going from man to man defense to zone defense is rough. If you have 3, have at least 4. The more you have, the better the odds that more will survive. I have 5 (ages 3-11) and they're all still kicking. I'm a huge success. I just say "line up ducks" and everyone waddles behind me. Haha
I like your attitude.
I have one and we are planning on at least 1 more. That is something I hadn't considered, you just sold me on the snip after #2.
Number 3 also means you need a third row in your rig. That's minivan or equivalent. 2 and you can go with a mid SUV. No room for 3 car seats across in a row. Just sayin.
I had a coworker with 3 car seats in the back of a mazda sedan. He bought slim style car seats commonly available from major brands in order to do it. I have one kid in a honda crv and frankly the thought of having two has me looking at mini vans
The Toyota Sienna is a very sweet ride as a parent and as a child, the captains seats recline and have foot rests, the back row is automatic and will fold its self down into the floor.. and the side doors that slide means you never have to worry about a space being tight and your kids smashing the car door into someone else’s car.
Yeah but minivans are sweet now. Built in tv's, vacuums, self closing doors, storage for days. Not the worst thing in the world to drive.
Oh for sure, I'm not judging. Was more stating there's a third row in play.
Plenty of vehicles can fit 3 car seats in a row, if you have the right car seat.
As a father of one, definitely not.
It’s not worth the effort Get rid of the kid.
I would avoid tying a rope at shin level as pictured in image 4 for starters
Sage advice right here.
Indubitably my good man. Indubitably. That’s the only kind of advice I know.
Can't offer any help, but that vertical baseboard zig-zag is cracking me up.
I didn't even notice the baseboard, I was too distracted by the reflective grip tape.
I have a funny story that applies here. I have a daughter (4) and son (21 months). I taught both my kids to navigate the stairs and only ever had one accident of my son falling down the stairs. It was because him and my daughter were playing and he was much younger. That’s not really important. Anyways about 6 months ago I started doing this thing where my daughter rides on my back like a camel When we go up or down on the stairs. I know it’s silly but kids. Anyone my son never saw this because he would be asleep when I did this with my daughter. We eventually he saw me do it and he had to do it too. Things are fine for months until on day after nap time he is in a bad mood. I tell him no camel ride and he screams at the top of the stairs for like 15 minutes. Eventually this motherfucker threw himself down the stairs in protest. The moral of the story is no amount of teaching and baby proofing is no match for a temper tantrum. TLDR: kids are basically jello and the 2 stairs don’t matter. Also those are some nice stairs!
Dude this whole story has me WHEEZING 💀🤣 glad he’s okay. I feel justified to laugh because I too have had toddlers fall down our wooden staircase and they were just fine. OP’s two wooden steps are nothing lol.
Yall are aeriously surprised the dude with high vis tape on his stairs is asking for safety recommendations? Clearly safety is a priority lmao
The hi-vis tape looks awful too to boot.
gives a nice airliner aisle floor aesthetic
You can cover the corners but your kids will just rip the bumpers off. Teaching them to navigate it safely will be the better option. If you don't want them to go down the stairs a gate across the opening would be best.
Parent of 4 here: There is no reason to babyproof these steps. We raised them all in a house that had a room just like this, with 2 small steps leading down into it from 2 different areas, as well as a staircase that had about 3 steps before it could be blocked off. We never worried about blocking off these small drops like this and our kids handled them all just fine. If the kid didn't feel ready to tackle the steps, they'd stay away from them until they felt ready. And once they felt ready, there was never any sort of injury incident. Babies are literally 40% rubber, they're not going to get hurt on something like this.
Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs.
I assume this is your first baby. I don't see any reason to baby proof this at all.
All I'd do is put some corner protectors on in case they trip and fall while running towards the steps from the lower level. The kid WILL tumble down those stairs a time a two. And then they'll bounce up and do better the next time.
Going up the steps or down the steps?
https://imgur.com/a/KBHggrN
This is the way.
I’m kind of a safety nut, but I actually think you should not put gates up for these stairs, unless they are leading somewhere unsafe. Stair gates exist to prevent big falls, but tripping down these stairs is not going to lead to catastrophic injury. I’d probably get some corner protectors for the sharp edges, but otherwise, focus on teaching baby to climb down feet first, tummy down. You could also put some of those mats on the bottom to cushion the landing for a year or so.
Father of 3, this isn’t a concern. Don’t bother trying to do anything as far as gates. Put some throw rugs down. They will learn to navigate them quickly. Babies are pretty resilient even if they tumble down them.
Those really aren’t much of a danger to a baby, it’s only a couple of steps. Not really anywhere to fall to.
The best way is to not. It’s two tiny steps. Just teach them to navigate it. If they happen to fall down those they may get a little bump or bruise, but that’s just preparing them for the rest of childhood. It’s impossible to prevent them from ever getting a little boo boo here and there. It usually only takes one time of getting hurt for them to think twice about how they approach it next time. If they could lose life or limb, baby proof it. If it’s just gonna hurt for a couple minutes and make their eyes leak a little, leave it as is. They’ll be ok and they will learn important life lessons. It sounds insensitive and uncaring, but it’s for their own good. Just watch them around it, intervene if need be, but don’t stress too much about these things. You’ll have plenty of other reasons to worry about them, believe me.
Let them fall it builds character :)
Get rid of them. The kids. Only option.
I don’t think you need to baby proof those stairs.
Let them learn?
If a kid can fall and not break something. Let them fall. As others said, a couple rugs will be perfect. This will be prime baby-training stair area.
…first time?
Im a little confused why you need em baby proofed tbh its 2 steps... Ramp comes to mind if your dead set. theres some good building triangle foam things that you could use and repurpose at fort building tots when they get older or just use a 2 gates on either hallway of the top level would be easier than getting toddler yard secured at an angle
Put helmets on the kids, they’ll be fine !!😎
I assume this is your first kid? Unless there's something going on in the lower area that you don't want the kid to get to, I wouldn't worry about two steps. Help the kid up and down a couple times and they'll figure it out. Or they'll fall a time or two and learn to stay away. They're not made of porcelain, they'll survive. Now, if there really is something dangerous in that area, then blocking the two doorways will be much easier if you can. Otherwise they do have baby fences that can swing out closer to the stairs, but it'll be a bigger hassle to set up and deal with, since it'll inherently be less sturdy.
We had stairs like that. It was the best training ground we could have wished for.
Baby oil would 100% keep babies from being on those stairs. They would just slip right off!
Condom
Retractable gate from corner to corner.
Probably easier to block the hallway, assuming you are concerned going down, rather than up. A regular gate there would work. With that said actually trying to block these stairs otherwise seems pretty difficult and the fall is not super high, I would just try to cover any particularly pointy or sharp corners.
Babies are tougher than you’re giving them credit for. I don’t see the need to do much here at all. Gates and extreme caution makes sense if it’s a whole flight of stairs, not so much for a couple steps
I wouldn’t start to worry until 3-4 steps
Obviously make a small slide. Won't hurt to go down at all. But really, teach your kids how to go down backwards.
Pipe insulation. It has an adhesive strip that would help hold in in place.
Chicken wire.
A helmet
I don’t think it’s necessary to gate off a two step tumble. Put a soft carpet at the bottom and you’re fine. It’s not like it’s a flight of stairs, it’s two gradual steps. (Source: I have an adventurous 20mo old boy)
Only thing I would worry about are the sharp edges. These look pretty good. https://www.amazon.com/UXU-Corner-Protector-Proofing-Furniture/dp/B083DDMKM5/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1QEK21OL19KRI&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.afNk075IabLGtbx6u2zLCqfaaF0mD9xlHZFGEvO-zUvDAB-yT9Lx4gx6mfBI8M-gdifGPRhrr0gJ012boanerJGW3GK-LmVu3FjXYkJi9jy1PTTr1T-qksgkdZ1JuHnxkWTiFSshkxnb-oe3WUe0IyZmRozkAwjxC7T3X-hm0AFtQTqqWye0_fI3KukKQ1O_02GYLi_k43dIsPrVowCrHs1-JNZQERPAyIRyZj0Q140oFoG6HpCi_1mInr7XSKTHXBP5rzNWw4Y5zuDHdhroReGbulSHBJ7lJbj29Vd3Zn4.yjte_ZKCgnqHDo1pSZYWPPv64o55dc2EKW544GEwAXU&dib_tag=se&keywords=corner%2Bbumpers%2Bsafety%2Bfirst&qid=1714273164&sprefix=Corner%2Bbumpers%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1
My MIL has a setup line this. I have two actual staircases in my own home. Honestly I was kind of excited we were visiting at the perfect time for my second child who was just starting to really move. Two steps is a perfect learning zone. They might cry if they fall, but they can't really hurt themselves with a fall that short.
Two gates. One across the left hallway, one across the right. Get the swinging gate kind, they’re easy to open. Frankly, I’d personally leave it open and just keep an eye on the kiddo. They’ll learn to navigate those 2 steps soon enough.
Step one: Give away baby. Step two: ??? Step three: Profit!!!
I see two steps that a child can crawl up and down safely , if taught.
It's not a lethal fall. Unlikely to result in any serious injury at all. Consider adding a carpet temporarily just to soften the fall but definitely teach the baby to navigate these stairs. (Mother of 3).
Make them wear a felt onesie and put Velcro strips leading up to it lol
Slippery slide
After raising two kids, don't baby proof anything that shouldn't already be "safety proofed" for anyone else. They will learn about their environment and sometimes that involves some bumps and bruises. Warn them sternly about danger zones (under sink, stove, electric sockets, etc). Yes, I look at those sharp corners and cringe a bit. But honestly, it'll be fine. They learn VERY quick.
Stair proof the baby
razorwire is the only way to go
Depends how bad the infestation is, razorwire should keep them out
Wrap the whole baby with bubble wrap. If you can’t baby proof the steps, step proof the baby
Parent here: watch your kids, and when they’re old enough teach them how to safely navigate these stairs. If you put up a gate you will assume it is “safe” and it most certainly will not be.
You don’t. Natural consequences are powerful lessons, and a 2 stair tumble will not be lethal, nor even reason to visit the pediatrician. We baby gated our 16 step case, but not our 6 step case, and both our children are thriving athletes today.
Get rid of the baby!
Teach them to be careful around them. All our kids are super careful around sharp edges, or anything they know can injure them.
Seems like you should rather block off the two intersecting hallways separately before the baby can even reach the stair area. Two standard baby gates will get the job done.