If the master bedroom is on a different floor than the kids' bedrooms...

[maylips]

We are moving to a new house in another month and the master is downstairs while both kids' rooms are upstairs.

Right now, we're all on the same floor, and DD, who is going through an imaginative stage, runs into our room about 3-4 times per week in the middle of the night "scared" of something (just once per night if she comes in). If it's before 5:00 a.m., I'll take her back to her room; after 5:00, we'll let her in our bed to finish out the night.

We're a little concerned once we move, thinking about her running down the stairs in the middle of the night.

Has this ever happened to you? Anyone have any advice on what to do?

[mmsmom]

Our master in downstairs, kids are upstairs. When DS moved to a toddler bed we would close the gate at the top of the stairs at night so he could not come down without us. We used a monitor so we could hear if he needed us. Now that he is older (almost 4) the gate stays open at night & we put night lights in the hall & by the bottom of the stairs so it's not too dark. He does come down in the middle of the night sometimes & has been fine.

[nfowife]

I would put a gate on the top of the stairs. My kids are upstairs and we are downstairs. We don't have a gate right now, because my kids don't ever leave their rooms (at least, they never have!). We have had an issue lately with DS getting out of bed in the middle of the night/early in the morning to play or because he wanted to get up. We bought this:
http://www.amazon.com/Its-About-Time-IAT-100-Stoplight/dp/B002TKLN3C/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1288117357&sr=8-7

And it is helping. He has learned "when it's red, stay in bed!". It was driving me crazy because his room is right over ours and I could hear him doing what sounds like tap dancing starting at 6 a.m. and making me lose sleep.

[khm]

Our kids were 4.5 and 2.5 when we moved into a house with master on 1st, other BRs on 2nd. We were worried too, but it was a total non-issue. We put a cheapy pressure gate on the youngest's door. It stayed, probably until he was 3.5? Not even sure! He could clearly get out of the gate, but just never bothered, he'd just yell for us if he needed us.

We also left the LR light on dim, so they had light if they came down the stairs.

Monitors were not necessary with the way our setup was. We were a floor apart, but they right at the top, we right at the bottom. The sound carried just fine. :)

[cono0507]

When we moved and were between houses we rented a townhouse for 6 months where the master was on the top level and the kids' room on the lower level. DD was 2.5-3yo at the time and she would just come up to our room. We left a light on so the stairs were not dark. It wasn't much of an issue really and worked out fine.