Baby Gates for a 3 year old?

Question

My son will be three next month. We live in a two story home and I have always had a baby gate on his room. I also had one at the top of the stairs as a precaution after we went to bed. So now, Mr. Inquisitive has found out how to get the baby gate down. I have no idea what to do now. Most would say for me to just leave it down. That's fine, but now he is after the top of the stairs baby gate. Which by the way if he gets that one down it will proceed to fall forward along with him. SO big danger there. I have also taken about 20 steps back with him due to his dad deploying and one night after I was super exausted with sick newborn, I let him sleep with me. BIG mistake. Now he wants to sleep with me every night. After an hour of fighting him for bed, he will go to sleep only to wake up again crying to sleep with me. Totally different issue which I am open to advice there. Anything work other than consistancy? Which I am very.

So back to the gates. Now if I take them down and let him be a "big boy", he just runs loose with it. I fear him being downstairs at any hour of the night and I may not hear him. Although my house is child safe...he WILL find something to harm himself...climbing,etc. So what should I do? Does anyone else related to the whole baby gate stair thing? I need some advice and options on what I can do to keep him safte. He just isn't old enough yet and has a mind of his own. I know my son very well! Help??

Answer 1

How tall is your son and have you tried an extra tall gate on his bedroom? These two are 36 inches tall and can be hardware mounted into the wall so your son won't be able to take them down. The Summer one has an alarm too, so if your son did figure out how to open it, you would be woken by the alarm.

As for the one on the top of your stairs -- you should never use a pressure mounted one there -- either take it down completely or change to an extra tall hardware mounted gate.

If you want to forego the gates, you could lock his bedroom door at night, although that would be a big fire hazard.

As for the sleeping issue, I would say just continue being consistent and your son will get the message. He probably misses his daddy and will take some time to adjust to his being gone. Maybe try to find some extra time to spend just with him each day? Probably close to impossible with a newborn and a deployed husband but those are two very big changes for a toddler to deal with and I'm betting he feels a bit lost and the wanting to sleep with you is in part because he wants to be close to you.

Good luck.

Answer 2

What is the baby gate blocking? At three, I would say that he should be able to understand that he cannot go into a particular area, gate or no gate. This isn't a logistical issue, it's a discipline issue. If the gate is blocking a dangerous area, it's even more important for him to start to understand boundaries and safety. My daughters (4 and 2) are not allowed to climb on or hang on our top-of-the-stairs gate. It's a safety issue, I'm laid back about alot but not that. My oldest went down the stairs at 2yrs. because the gate wasn't latched properly and all she did was shake the gate once. Again, he's old enough to understand that some things are just not safe and there should be consequences for climbing the gate (i.e. time outs etc, whatever you use for discipline).

Answer 3

Keep your other baby gates, but remove the one at the stairs right away. If there is more of a danger from it being there than not, you have got to remove it. If he were to climb on it or try to remove it and fall... he could seriously injure himself. I am sorry I don't have much more advice for you, but I have seen people advise others to put a lock on the outside of the child's bedroom if they are waking at night to wander the house... not to treat them like they are in prison, but for their own safety and well being. Good luck!

Answer 4

Instead of the baby gate how about having someone install a bi-fold door with a lock on it that he cannot open? I am going to be doing this soon because my son is also 3 and he gets his step-stool to try to climb over it.

Answer 5

Ok.. so here's the deal..

While Daddy is gone, you can sleep in my room, on the floor, in your sleeping bag (get one with an air mattress) BUT only if you leave the gates alone. If you mess with gates, you sleep in your own bed, in your own room.

Answer 6

You need to replace that gate with another. Try one that you have to drill into the wall- those have a swinging door with a latch that is child proof.