To think we can have a baby in a 1 bedroom apartment?

[MummyToBe89]

Hi All,

Our first baby is due in December and we're confused over whether we should move out of our one bedroom flat or stay there until the baby comes to need their own cot.

We currently live in a 1 bedroom flat. It's ground floor, has a small patio area and is an old Victorian era house, so nice high ceilings and fairly roomy living room, but doesnt have much spare space in the bedroom or much storage. A few of our friends have told us the baby won't need their own cot until they're about 6 months old and to not bother moving until then.

We live in a very expensive part of the country (currently paying around £1000 per month for our 1 bedroom place) and are trying to save a deposit for a house. Staying where we are would save us about £500 per month, but I'm just worried the baby will get here and I'll wish we moved to a bigger place and have a room to put all the baby's stuff.

Has anybody lived in a one bedroom place with a baby? How long was it before you put your baby in their cot or in their own room?

We could afford to move to a 2 bedroom place, it'd just mean a big hit to what we save each month towards a house deposit.

TIA :)

I co-sleep with my DC and don't think a child needs a bedroom until they're much older. However, the storage is for necessary! As I knew I'd be co-sleeping, I thought my one bed apartment would be fine, but had to leave unexpectedly. Ended up in a 2 bed with excellent built in storage and another walk in small storage room and I can't imagine how id have coped in the other apartment!

Thank you all so much for your comments.

I feel much better about staying where we are and will speak to the fire brigade about our fire. It's a smokeless fuel (Looks just like coal) fire so hopefully that's ok. It's things like this that scare the life out of me about becoming a parent, makes you realise how little you know!

I ordered some storage boxes for under the bed last night so hopefully that'll be enough.

Do you have a tumble dryer? If not, I'd look at getting a washer-dryer at the very least; if you have a refluxy baby or a baby prone to explosive poos you may struggle in a one bed with always having washing hanging up drying.

Yes. We lived in the centre of the city when our son was born in a one bed flat. Victorian so big rooms. It was completely fine. We had a next to me crib. We didnt have a changing table. But we did have a travel cot which we put up in the living room during the day just so there was so ewhere safe to place him once he started moving around a bit more, if I needed to leave the room for some reason. Just had a changing mat for the floor for changing nappies.
I have lovely memories of that flat!

We had a 2 bed flat with first ds and the bedroom was never used.
For some reason we moved to a 3 bed house when preg with 2nd didnt use 2 bedrooms. Still only just one
Moved back to a 2 bed flat as LL was a joke and didnt even want to repair a hole in the roof!
We only started using the secind bedroom when ds was 3 and dd was 1.
So we estimated we needed more space than we did.
If i could go back id rent a 1 bed until ds was 3 and then only a 2 bed.
We have 3 dcs now and are happy in 2 bed flat. Only problem is no garden but we have pots on window sills and a park so not too bad.

Just save your money and stay where you are. Baby can stay with you for years.

Yes totally doable.

We lived in a one bed till my eldest was nearly 3. Big bedroom though.

You don't need a changing table, just a mat.

You can also get space saving cots which will last for 1-2 years depending on the size of your child, or can use a travel cot which is smaller than a regular size cot.

Our baby has just moved into his own room at 6 months - to be honest it’s been OH who has slept separately during that time so he can get a decent enough kip for work, so as long as the couch is comfy enough you’ll be fine! Having the option to get out of the room where the baby is in can be a life saver but living room suits just fine for that.

We lived in a one bed until DC1 was 3 (DC2 was in my belly) it was fine although there was no adult only space - brio track and duplo everywhere (we didn't mind this but might drive other people mad).

Now we have a 4-bed house it would seem difficult to go back but at the time I think it was fine and at least easier to tidy up!

Do you have any indication of your baby's size? We have a next to me cot but at 5 months DS is getting too big and long for it.... so we will need to move him into a big cot I think.

Definitely don't need changing station though the ones with cupboard and shelves are handing for storing blankets/muslins etc.

Tricky dilemma for you.

I’ve had 4 babies and never had a changing table always changed them on a changing mat on the floor.

DS (no4) slept in with us until he was 2 1/2 as we had an extension built and he didn’t actually have a bedroom until then. I coslept with all my babies until a year then they were in a bedside cot wedged between the bed and the window. Not a lot of room but doable.

You’ll be fine for at least a year OP keep saving for your forever home.

You dont have to have a changing table. We had a cot-top changer which sat on top of the cot. It meant you didn't have to get down on the floor to change them and was more padded and with higher sides than a change mat. We used it until DD was nearly 2 and out of nappies.

My SIL has a 2 year old son who has always slept in their room (other bedrooms taken up by older children) and managed just fine.

It is preferable to have a second bedroom but its manageable to do with one.

Will you have room for all the other baby junk - pushchair, highchair, bouncy chair, toys?

We lived in a 1 bed apartment until our baby was 18 months, we just had her cot in our room. It was a bit of a squash but we were ok. If you can save some money it will be worth it.

It's doable but get a good quality sofa bed or something to sleep on in the living room.

Haven’t read the thread but I would say, if you have a car, store the pram in the boot. We have a reasonably large Victorian terrace but due to style of house, no large hallway and I didn’t want the pram shoved in a corner. Works fine.
I don’t think it’s too much to f a push to have baby in your room for a year. Def go with the ‘next to me’. We have one and it’s one of my favourite baby purchases so far.
We also change DD on the floor of our bedroom. You can kick the mat under the bed when you don’t want to have to look at it

We managed OK; when the baby needed a cot it went in the living room, and we kept our bedroom (which was also my work space).
We used a changing mat on the floor rather than a changing table.

I'm currently in a one bed with an 8 week old baby, though we're looking to upsize. It's absolutely fine at the moment, though I do sometimes wish I had a bit more space.

However, the problem is that we're struggling to find a suitable 2 bed, and I'm a bit worried that we won't manage to move before we get to a stage where it would be good for her to have her own room (ie. post-6 months). Part of me wishes we'd moved earlier for that reason - and because house-hunting while heavily pregnant and then with a tiny baby isn't much fun! - but most of me is glad we're saving money for the moment at an expensive time.

For now, I think the issue is less the number of bedrooms, more the overall amount of space. Some practical questions to think about:

-Is your bedroom big enough to fit a cot in, if you didn't manage to move before she needed one?

-How much storage space do you have?

• Do you have a reasonably large sitting room? Mine's currently very full, with lots of stuff I imagine I'd keep in the baby's room if she had one.

-Also, how easy would it be for you to move quickly once you need to, in terms of your financial situation, the housing market in your area and how picky you're likely to be about an eventual 2 bedroom home?

Picking up on a debate further up the thread, I'd definitely recommend a set of drawers with a changing table on top. I wasn't going to bother and wasn't sure I'd fit one in, but it's helped to keep all the baby's clothes together and made nappy changes a lot easier (both because nappies, wipes, mat etc are all laid out ready to use, and because it reduces the risk of the baby rolling off). They are surprisingly small so you should hopefully be able to squeeze one in somewhere.

Co-sleeping. Problem solved!

We lived in a small 2 bed (but the second room was tiny and we only really used it for a bit of storage) until baby was almost 2! We moved just before our second child was due. It was fine.

My 20 month old is still in with us, we only have a 2 bed whilst we save for house deposit and dds room is too small to fit a cot/bed in. It's very doable. Our living room is big enough, we manage pretty well. I'd say stay there and save your money.