Stair Falls & Baby Gates
Spot it
A staircase with no gate at the top or bottom; toys, laundry or shoes on the steps; a loose rug at the foot of the stairs; a missing or wobbly handrail; a baby carried down the stairs with something else in your hands, or a baby walker near the stairs.
Fix it
Nationwide Children's advice: keep stairs clear and in good repair, add a handrail if there is none, and use gates at both the top and the bottom (gates do not replace supervision). Avoid carrying a child on the stairs when you can; if you must, carry nothing else and keep one hand on the rail. About a quarter of injuries in infants under 1 happened while being carried, and those infants were more than three times as likely to be hospitalized. Avoid mobile baby walkers; stationary activity centers are safer. Our toddler checklist adds that a pressure-mounted gate is not suitable at the top of stairs.
Safer swaps
What actually fixes this — the category to look for, not a brand we were paid to name.
Clear the stairs and carry the baby with one free hand on the rail, nothing else in your armsHabit
Free; Nationwide Children's advice
Hardware-mounted gate for the top of the stairs, plus a gate at the bottom
Nationwide Children's: gates at both ends; our checklist: not pressure-mounted at the top
Carpenter to add or fix a handrailService
If there is no handrail or it is loose
Hardware-mounted gate for the top of the stairs
Screw-mounted into solid framing, not pressure-mounted, at the top; the maker lists it for banister or angled-wall stair tops (28 to 42.5 in). Check your opening fits, and that the mounting points are solid wood, not drywall or a loose spindle. Add a gate at the bottom too. Gates do not replace supervision. An example we have listed, not tested; we have not confirmed its current compliance certificate.
KidCoKidCo 28-42.5" Angle Mount Safeway Angeled Baby Gate for Stairs with Banister or Uneven Walls | No-Trip Top of Stairs Baby Gate No Bottom Bar | Quick-Release Mounted Hardware (White)
$89.95View on Amazon
Related product category: Home safety equipment
Sources cited
Sources
- From 1999 to 2008, children under 5 were treated in U.S. emergency departments for stair-related injuries at an average of more than 93,000 a year — about one every six minutes — Nationwide Children's Hospital, Center for Injury Research and Policy, study of stair-related injuries to children under 5 (1999–2008, NEISS data), Pediatrics, April 2012. (how we check this source)
Every source we cite is checked against our criteria first — see how we check our sources.
Related checks
- Window Falls — The other fall hazard with a hardware fix: windows.