Climbing Stairs...?? - East Earl,PA

my daughter also didn't go down on her bum..... she basically crawled backwards. Then, as she got comfortable.... she kind of walked down them sideways. but she never wanted to go down sitting and bump from one step to the next.

My husband started teaching our son when he was around 11 months old. Going up with help was no problem but the coming down was trickier. Fortunately he taught him the phrase 'feet first' so that helped. Our son turns around with his hands on the upper step walks down the stairs one foot at a time. The phrase also reminds him about getting off chairs and other "high" places 'feet first'. He is a bit of a daredevil so he needs the reminding. Good luck.

I think a backwards crawl would be better than going down on her bum. I would just always be there for her until she has it down pat. They do figure it out, kind of all of a sudden. I can't remember the age that happened, but teaching them to climb down "backwards", so to speak, seems a lot safer than come down face forward.

Dawn

Both of my kids have had physical therapists, and they taught them to go down the stairs crawling. Maybe try teaching her that and maybe she will be more eager to learn that? My daugther who is about 1 1/2 can go down the stairs, although her and I both prefer for me to carry her, because we have a lot of stairs.

My son climbed up and down the stairs at a early stage, he has always been early on that stuff.

We also taught him "feet first" and would turn him around, feet first and help him climb down. We would repeat this over and over. He would climb up we helped him down feet first. We would keep saying "feet first" and then awhile later he was doing it on his own (with us behind him just in case) and he really learned that quick.

Now he is an expert stair climber at 2.

Just help her go through the motions. Move her legs down for her and do it a handful of times, to help her learn. She will figure it out soon, good luck!!

So my twin girls are 16 months too and we have the same issue. There are 2 of them so that makes the stairs even scarier. All 3 of us on the stairs is a bad idea. I have a 4 year old too and it's so funny how you forget when they do these little things. Anyway, we were at my sister-in-laws and my nephew who just turned 2 last month was walking down the stairs by myself and my SIL said that he just started doing that and was really proud of himself. So I'm anxiously awaiting their second birthday now and hoping for no accidents on the stairs until then :)

I don't think there's a magical age at which they're "supposed to know," it's a developmental step each child does in their own timing, especially since some children don't have stairs in their home. Since your daughter doesn't have the concept of going down them work with her and show her how to go down when she's ready to learn, crawling backwards at first would probably be best so she doesn't go head over heels on her bum. (I've seen it happen, he slipped two steps and tried to right himself but his momentum propelled him forward and he couldn't stop.) Use baby gates at the top and bottom until she masters them, and don't allow her to maneuver stairs up and down until she can.

My daughter started before she was a year and mastered them easily, we worked on them at least 4 times a day (morning, nap, up from nap, bath and bedtime.) Remember the saying, "Practice Makes Perfect" : )

My daughter didnt do this till she was about 2 and now she is almost 3 and can do it by herself but still crawls up them and goes down on her bottom

As soon as they learn how to go up, its a good idea to start teaching them how to come down safely. I taught my son to come down on his tummy at first. He would go up 3-4 steps, then I would get him to roll to his tummy and show him how slide down by gently pullling his legs. As he got older, he progressed to sliding down on his bottom, then eventually to walking down.