The stairway to our basement is right off the front room, and it's an open stairway. Are baby gates secure enough to keep the baby from falling down the stairway once he starts crawling and eventually walking? The kind I've seen that are just pressure fit into the space seem like they could be knocked loose. Should I actually be looking for something that attaches to the wall? Would it be better if I put up a half door?

Baby gates secure enough for a short time only IMO. If it were me I'd be putting a door up. No sense in taking chances.

Is there a handrail up there. Try having one that is fairly low for the child, and be sure to walk with him/her often to be there incase there could be an accident.

Your baby is always going to want to explore. There are minimal things you can do besides the gate. But beware that they will want to go down sometime. Try holding his hand down the stairs.

I'd put up a door and be done with it. If that baby gate gives or comes loose, it's too late to think about it then. I wouldn't trust it.

Ditto on the door. Why take the chance?

Oddly enough we never put up a baby gate. The only staircase we had was a carpeted one going upstairs. We never really had any accidents with our two kids.

We have an open stairway leading out of our kitchen. What we do is we just put a gate up in the kitchen, leaving A.J. out of there completely. We also have an open stairway upstairs but it isn't as bad. He can walk down those stairs fine.

I never liked baby gates. They don't seem strong enough and that's why we put up a piece of ply board that was cut to about 4 ft high. We attached it to the banisters. One side had a door hinge and the other we just put a hook and eye on the inside of the stairway. It worked pretty well or until the kids learned how to reach around and unhook it.

When the kids were learning to come down the stairs I would make them sit and come down on their butts one step at a time. I would stand at the bottom and make a game out of it. Mornings were always more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

seeker

"Up" stairways aren't as bad as "down" stairways. Little ones just learning to crawl or walk aren't going to be able to fall upstairs. But, a basement stairway is very dangerous. My next-door-neighbor's granddaughter fell down his basement stairs. Incredibly, she wasn't hurt. But he immediately put a door up. If you're going with a baby gate, don't trust the pressure ones because they can be knocked loose. At least get something that attaches to the wall.