Parenting Tips for Your 10 Month Old Baby
There are some things you can do to help make this risky learning experience safer.
Show your baby how to climb up and down, on and off safe objects. When you have time to help your baby with her climbing exercises, show her how to climb up. Show her how to come down crawling backward, so she doesn't do it head first.
You may want to put gates halfway up the stairs so she can't climb too high. Show your baby how to get down the stairs by coming down backward with feet first. After a few practice sessions, she will soon remember and be safer because of it.
Let your baby climb on the steps only when you are able to help her. You may want to block off the steps with a gate when you are not able to help your baby. Gates at the top or bottom of the stairs, depending on where the baby is, can prevent accidents. Don't use an accordion-style gate or a gate with a V-shaped opening. These have caused accidents and deaths. To see a picture of an unsafe gate, go to the Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5085.pdf.
Other styles of baby gates, such as a straight-top edge, a rigid mesh screen, and a gate with openings too small for a child’s head to enter, do not present the entrapment and strangulation hazard.
