Could you manage a baby in a one bed third floor flat?

[Lakely]

DH and I live in central London in a large one bed flat. It's on the third floor of a Victorian block with no lift. The rent is heavily subsidised through DHs work so we pay £690 a month for a flat worth £1,700 a month.

Our baby is due in December and I'm wondering if and how we will cope living here. There is a large front room, medium bedroom (enough space for our bed and a crib), small bathroom and decent sized separate kitchen.

We don't have any usable communal space downstairs to store a pram etc so everything will have to come up and down the stairs with us. We can't really afford to move as rent for a two bed this in area would be £2k a month plus and we don't want to leave this area yet if we can manage not to.

Has anyone done this? Are we mad to try?

I think you’ll just learn to be super organised so not having to carry a million baby bags up those stairs.
I’d suggest a lightweight, easily collapsible pram, a baby sling and using backpacks for the baby stuff rather than satchels to leave your hands free.

Lots of people do it. We were on the second floor, rather than the third, but also with no lift, and once you got down to the front door, there was another flight of steps down to street level. I will say it was challenging when I was recovering from a CS and was entirely alone with a newborn as DH was away from 7 am till 8 am at a demanding new job from which he couldn't take any parental leave, but it was generally perfectly manageable. (And being in central London makes up for a lot!)

To help, use a sling as much as possible, if you can, and buy the lightest possible pushchair. And hope not to have a CS.

I was all up for saying yes you are mad, but that's excellent rent for while you're on maternity leave. I'd sling the baby as long as possible. Do you have a car with streetside access you could leave the buggy in rather than hauling it up the stairs? Babies don't take up much space tbh.

You aren’t mad and we did it in what sounds like an even smaller flat with x2 babies. One of the happiest times of or lives really, so much simpler. It’s nice not to have a massive place to clear up and chase a baby around, I could whip round and blitz the tidying in ten minutes so it always felt less stressful than our now relatively massive place where there’s stuff everywhere. We kept a pram in the outer shed thing and used a sheepskin liner so that they weren’t cold getting into it, but mainly used carriers, which is also much more freeing. You would be mad to give up those savings just to have more room. Start a space-saving and organising thread and you’ll get tonnes of ideas.

You’ll manage fine. Get a sling and a small lightweight pushchair

X

Yes it is manageable, especially if you use a sling for the first six months or so rather then a ridiculous travel system! Then once the baby is big enough you can use a lightweight umbrella stroller.

The flat itself sounds big enough for a couple with one child.

Eventually, in two or three years you will have to consider moving though, it won't be sustainable long term.

I did..it was fine. Do you have a car? I luckily had a car and a carpark so I never took the pram or buggy upstairs...I'd just leave it in the boot of my car and carry the baby up, in a sling/baby carrier if I had other things to carry.

Do you have a car? Pram etc can be stored in there if so. If not, get the lightest pram you can, someday flat so are suitable from birth. Also, slings will be your saviour! Then you’ve got nothing extra to lug up and down the stairs. With your rent it’s absolutrly doable, also it’s your first baby and you’ve never lived anywhere else with a child, so it’ll become the norm for you very quickly.

I managed it with my daughter. Only up one flight of stairs but a tiny flat and nowhere to store the pram except car boot. We moved when she was 6 months old but only because her dad and I moved in together at that point. It is doable. It just gets harder when they need their own space.

I did it. I had a very light buggy which I cd collapse with one hand and used a baby carrier as much as I could in the early days. 5 flights of stairs in total. It was worth it to stay in central London; although we did move when Ds was 1 that was noisy neighbour related rather than a space/stairs issue. I do remember how amazing it felt just to wheel the buggy into the house when we finally moved, but at the time the stairs didn't really bother me as it was all I knew.

My friend is the same, she kept the pushchair in her car, is that an option for you?
If not get a babyzen yo-yo, super lightweight and brilliant on buses etc in London

A baby would be just about manageable. A toddler would be very difficult.

Yy what everyone else is saying, sling and then umbrella fold pushchair. Lots cheaper than the mad £800 prams I see now.

I did sling for ds2 more than the pram as I had two tiddlers too and it was fine.

You'll need to keep on top of the crap but that's true for any baby tbh. Make sure people don't buy you loads of big toys!! Good luck

Yes.
I didn’t use a buggy for 9 months with my first, just a sling which worked great for the stairs.

Haha two TODDLERS not tiddlers!

I live in a small central (not London) flat with two children age 8 and 10. We have been here their whole lives. It's fine. We don't do big toys and clutter, but other than that, I'd much rather a central flat than a house much further out.

I had a baby in sane situation actually two😃. You will be fine babies don't need a garden. A sling is your friend when going up and down stairs. Baby in your room for first 6months anyway. You might need a long term plan but l manged for two years. Get a light pram and get your shopping delivered. My first learnt to count to 64 at age of 2walking up 64 stairs.

I know lots of people who have babies in upstairs flats and manage. I've seen women carry two year olds up and down stairs in strollers who look amused when I try and help them.

Oh I also know over crowded families - they have a child or children over 5 in one bedroom flats. Obviously someone ends up sleeping in the living room if it is children.

Get a foldable yoyo pushchair

m.youtube.com/watch?v=FwnFYQHhAX8

It’s the Parisian standard for walk up appartements - they’re amazing !

Yes. I had two, two years apart, in a 2nd floor flat.

A friend of mine lives in a flat (2nd or 3rd floor, can’t remember) with her DH and nearly 4 yo DD and manages fine. It’s actually a 2 bedroom but they can’t use the second bedroom for sleeping in for various reasons. They are now trying for baby number 2 though and are looking to upgrade.

So I would say fine for one baby.

Doing it currently on the 4th floor - it's fine! Baby carrier has been so much easier than the pram.

Thank you all this is reassuring. We have a very small car but I'm going to look into the Babyzen Yo-yo as hopefully that will work and then we can store it in there and get a baby carrier to go up and down stairs.

One of my queries was how people go to the supermarket and carry everything back so think we will have to start online shopping and just pick up bits and bobs throughout the week.

Me and dp did and was there until ds was 2 and a half yrs and ds was 3m.
We managed. Initially I didn't go out when ds was baby we just had travel system which was just to heavy and dangerous to hurl down stairs

I lived in a tiny 2nd floor flat until DD was a year old. Wish I hadn't moved then, either, tbh. It was fine - kept the buggy in the car boot, co-slept with DD.