We are moving to a new house soon where my 4 1/2 year old daughter will be in a bedroom downstairs, but I also have a 16 month-old son and new baby on the way who will be in bedrooms on the main level. There is no door blocking the stairs so I need a baby gate at the top of the steps that my 4 year old can open herself from the step side, but my son won't be able to open from the other side. Any suggestions on a baby gate that might work for this purpose? Thanks!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE my gate from Retract A Gate.
It's the only one I've ever found that doesn't become a permanent eye sore. Bonus - the kids can't climb it! And I can verify from years of person use that it works 100% - even when they come charging into it with full force!
You fix it to the wall, and then it can roll up when you don't want to have it up.
http://www.retract-a-gate.com/
We have a Safety 1st gate at the top that is hard-mounted (screwed in) to the wall. Downstairs we have a pressure-mounted gate.
One thing we had to take into consideration when choosing the gate for upstairs is that the handrail is too low for a lot of the taller gates. Our older daughter will be three Tuesday(!) and is very tall for her age (wears size 6/6x). We have not had any concerns about having a gate that wasn't extra tall (thankfully!).
When my boy was 16 months he had to learn how to get up and down stairs - so we started with him sliding down on his little butt and put a handrail halfway down on the wall so when he was more confident he could walk.
I would definately get one that bolts into the wall... my kids learned at an early age how to push through the pressure mounted ones. I would also get one that's a bit taller so he can't climb over, as well as one with parallel bars so he can't get a grip with his feet. If you check out babies r us, they can recommend a specific brand :)
Something like this, but that bolts into the wall:
We had a gate that we loved - we got it at babiesrus (almost 7 years ago). It was white metal and could either be attached to the wall or via pressure mounting. It had a release button on the top and you had to lift the gate door slightly to get it to open. I think that Summer was the vendor. Good luck!
